Parky Profiles: Kevin Cahill
Ex Comic Relief supremo on living well with Parkinson's
This week’s Parky Profile on the Movers and Shakers podcast is a man who raised a billion pounds to battle poverty and promote social justice mainly by making people laugh. You probably won’t have heard of Kevin Cahill but according to Paul Mayhew-Archer he played as big a role as Sir Lenny Henry and Richard Curtis in the success of Comic Relief.
For nearly 20 years Kevin was the dynamic boss of the organisation which got comedians and the general public to have a laugh raising serious amounts of money for good causes.
He tells us he had a great job running the education programme at the National Theatre when a “fresh faced young man” called Richard Curtis asked him to do something similar for Comic Relief. “He made me an irresistible offer I couldn't refuse to leave a cushy, comfortable job and join something that was a startup and might never have a future.”
Just a few years later he was chief executive, running a complex international organisation and doing deals with big companies like Sainsbury’s which sold the famous red noses:
“I took the chief executive of Sainsbury's to Malawi, and on the way back we were negotiating on the plane, and managed to do a deal that subsequently was worth £53 million.”
Perhaps a more challenging part of the job was dealing with the celebrities - comedians and musicians - who were key to opening the purses of the public. They often have a reputation for being difficult but when we try to draw out of him stories of nightmarish behaviour and temper tantrums Kevin isn’t playing ball.
“They’re all luvvies and they’re all lovely,” is as far as he will go.”I think Comic Relief often brought out the best in people who could probably be more challenging in their day jobs.”
He would rather talk about the stars who would always go the extra mile for Comic Relief, people like Billy Connolly. Listen out for a hilarious story about how Billy came to raise £1 million by running naked around Piccadilly Circus.
Which brings us to Parkinson’s. Kevin knew little about it when he was diagnosed last year but he did know that Billy Connolly had it and had seen some film of him recently in which he appeared to be a changed man.
His first symptom was difficulty in writing his signature - “I used to sign cheques all day at Comic Relief and it was less fluent than I was used to, and I thought, why can't I just write my name in the same way?” Then he noticed while walking his dog that his gait had changed and he went to see a doctor.
“I went in and he felt my two wrists, asked me to walk around the room. I sat down, and he said ‘You've got Parkinson's.’” Kevin says he was on an emotional rollercoaster and we prepared for another of those gruesome diagnosis stories featuring an unsympathetic neurologist. Not a bit of it - Kevin’s doctor might have been a bit brusque but he says he was extraordinarily positive..
He told him Parkinson’s was a manageable condition, advised him to take as much exercise as possible, and when asked if he could continue to drink alcohol, answered in the affirmative. Kevin’s plan for managing his condition seems to reflect the calmness and good sense he brought to running Comic Relief:
“I'm traveling optimistically with it, taking as much exercise as I possibly can, and drinking as much fine wine as I possibly can.”
He retired from Comic Relief once that billion pound milestone had been hit, but is still involved in other charity work. And he retains a sunny optimism about the generosity of the general public:
“People are very, very prepared to give their own money to make a difference to the lives of people who are more disadvantaged or lead more challenging lives than themselves. So my general opinion about the general public is they have enormous capacity for generosity and for caring.”
Meanwhile, what with playing football and tennis and regular trips to the swimming pool, Kevin has a very busy life. But he has found a perfect way of relaxing - sailing his Dutch barge very slowly across the waterways of Europe. He and his partner and their dog spent two years puttering through the Netherlands and Germany at 6MPH. Now they are about to take on the canals of France.
As he describes the planned journey we all think it sounds idyllic. Moving slowly but with purpose - now that is a philosophy many of us with Parkinson’s could embrace.
On the subject of fundraising don’t forget to tune in to BBC Radio 4 on Sunday 7 July at 7:54am or 9:25pm to hear Paul Mayhew-Archer present the Radio 4 Appeal for Cure Parkinson’s.