‘I do not want homeless people working on the streets for a moment longer than they need to’

Lee Welham: So the first question is, where did you come up with the idea for The Big Issue?

John Bird: I didn’t come up with the idea. I came up with a name. The idea came from New York. Gordon Roddick of The Body Shop, who was the person who gave me the money to start The Big Issue, he was in New York and this guy – Gordon said he was like a wardrobe walking down the road – asked, “Would you like a copy of my paper called Street News?” He said, “I buy it for 50 cents and sell it for a dollar.” Gordon asked, “Why do you do it?” And he said, “I’m just out the penitentiary. I’ve been in and out of prison most of my life.” So Gordon thought, wow – this is brilliant, we’ve got to try that over here.

LW: Did you think it would be popular?

I was interested in something very simple. I had been a rough