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Phil James<\/p>\nMatt WeigoldStoke-on-Trent<\/p>\n
Phil James<\/p>\n
Paul Weller met Phil James in Italy before a cycling challenge up Mount Vesuvius<\/p>\n
A recovering alcoholic marked two years sober by cycling up an Italian volcano and was overjoyed to meet his music hero in the process.<\/p>\n
Stoke-on-Trent cyclist Phil James bumped into The Jam’s Paul Weller on the streets of Sorrento and they shared their sober journeys, with Weller’s spanning two decades.<\/p>\n
The father-of-two described the Modfather as “massively supportive” when he explained he was in the country to pedal up Mount Vesuvius as part of his recovery.<\/p>\n
“It blew my mind, if I’m honest with you,” reflected Mr James. “We were just talking together about how good it is to have sobriety.<\/p>\n
“It’s strange to bump into one of your idols and have that kind of normal conversation about something you’ve got in common.”<\/p>\n
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Phil James<\/p>\n
Mr James added Mount Vesuvius to his list of epic cycling journeys, which includes Snowdon, Ben Nevis and Teide in Spain<\/p>\n
Mr James, from Tunstall, has found cycling an effective way to avoid drinking since going cold turkey in 2023.<\/p>\n
Before that, he would spend entire days consuming alcohol and smoking cigarettes in a darkened room, whilst on a waiting list for NHS support with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).<\/p>\n
He was diagnosed with the condition after becoming homeless at 16, and took up the guitar at 19 as a coping mechanism after his first nervous breakdown.<\/p>\n
“It’s like the stars had aligned or something,” he said, referring to the chance meeting with The Jam’s lead singer.<\/p>\n
“One of the first songs I learnt to play was Country by Paul Weller. So I was standing there telling Paul Weller – he looked a bit bemused!”<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Paul Weller has had solo hits with You Do Something To Me and Wild Wood<\/p>\n
Mr James told Weller his Vesuvius trek was the latest in a long list of extreme cycling challenges he had set to give himself focus away from drinking.<\/p>\n
The singer shook his hand in recognition of his achievements and wished him luck on his next adventure, he said.<\/p>\n
Mr James explained he shared his own story often to inspire others facing similar challenges.<\/p>\n
“But when someone like that encourages you – and he knows what he’s talking about, he’s 15 years sober.”<\/p>\n
Mr James’s subsequent bike ride was a success, and raised awareness of the support network M.A.T.E. (Men And Their Emotions), which helped him during his depression.<\/p>\n
Next, he hopes to conquer Mount Etna in 2026 and complete 35 journeys up his favourite mountain, Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), before the year is out.<\/p>\n
“You’ve got to be well to achieve your goal,” he said. “So it helps maintain your mental health and your sobriety.”<\/p>\n
Listen on BBC Sounds – Paul Weller: The musical ups and downs of my life<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matt WeigoldStoke-on-Trent Phil James Paul Weller met Phil James in Italy before a cycling challenge up Mount Vesuvius…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-197413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}