Gary Barlow

Every single day has been so special. I love that I was the guy at school who worked every weekend as a piano player at the age of 11. I love that when I left school, I said to the careers officer, ‘I’m leaving school to be a pop star.’ I love that at aged 19 I joined the most successful boyband of the 1990s. I love that I fell out with Robbie and we split up. I love that everybody liked my first solo album and everybody hated the second. I love that I was dropped from my record label and publicly humiliated for not being the next George Michael - most of them are here tonight. I think you all got dropped eventually as well. I love that I spent seven years in the wilderness; never performing, never singing, rarely writing… and mostly eating. All right - you didn’t need to laugh that loud. I love that in 2005, Take That were asked to tour again as a four-piece. And I also love that a promoter actually said, ‘I can’t see this working without Robbie Williams.’ I really love that we then went on to sell 5 million albums, did two stadium tours, won four Brits and two Ivor Novello awards… Fuck you. I love that after 20 years, all five members of Take That got back together, made an album and did the biggest UK tour in history. I love learning as much as achieving, the lowlights as much as the highlights. And I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you how much winning this award means to me tonight.