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No regrets, says Chris Evans at autobiography launch
Last updated at 07:49am on 02.10.09
Chris Evans at the Radio Academy Awards earlier this year
Chris Evans launched his autobiography, saying he has "no regrets" about the decisions he has made in life.
It's Not What You Think describes his hellraising behaviour during the two years he was at the helm of the Radio 1 breakfast show, from 1995 to 1997, when he "acted like a spoilt child".
But speaking at the launch party for the book in London's West End he said: "I don't regret what happened at all.
"Do I wish that I had done something else maybe? Do I wish I had carried on working, got better, got stronger? I probably do, but I didn't, so that's the end of it.
"I wouldn't be here now and I wouldn't have my wife and my child and I wouldn't know the things I know."
Evans, who took just 12 weeks to write the book, continued: "I don't know why I messed it up. A lot of people say when I was younger I had an old head on young shoulders. I think I wanted to reverse that situation.
"I had worked so hard for so long, not like a coal miner works hard, but doing what I do, and I had amassed a sizeable fortune and I had several opportunities I never thought I would encounter, and I thought 'I'm going to have a bit of a party now'. But I forgot to go home, that was the problem.
"I had to have some kind of break, I had to take some time out, whether it was voluntary or... I did it the wrong way.
"Do I wish I had taken a deeper breath before making some decisions? Absolutely, but that didn't happen so you can't regret it. If I didn't learn from it then I would regret it."
He said his worst mistake professionally was taking SMG, the parent company of Virgin Radio, to court because he had "absolutely no grounds to do that" and it cost him millions of pounds.
The book covers the period from Evans' early life in a Warrington council estate up to his ownership of Virgin Radio and a second volume is planned.
He said: "I haven't held anything back at all that I wanted to say.
"There were certain people I didn't write about because when I had a problem with someone I would rather not write about that.
"The best way to deal with that is to leave it out."
He was also uncomfortable with including too much detail about people in his private life.
"Without their permission I don't think you can do that. I wanted it to be warts and all about myself, a bit about other people, but that would be it."
The ginger-haired DJ is due to take over Radio 2's morning show in the new year from veteran presenter Sir Terry Wogan.
He said he had been making "very calm but very meticulous preparations".
Asked if he was worried about how the audience would react, he said: "You don't want people not to like you but you can't let the tail wag the dog.
"Noel Coward said it's my job to entertain the majority, therefore I won't worry about the opinions of the minority.
"You've got to think 'This is what I do, I trust my own thoughts and opinions and decisions so I'll go with them', so I think we'll be OK."
It's Not What You Think by Chris Evans, published by Harper Collins, is out today in hardback, priced £20.
