About Paul Williams
In a July 2024 interview, Paul Williams, CEO of Derwent London, discussed the company’s focus on walkable Central London office locations and its long-term portfolio strategy. He stated that the company’s portfolio has been "curated over 30 odd years" and would be "really difficult to try and create this portfolio again." Williams described London as "remarkably resilient," noting that while there is "negativity" about the city from America, the West End vacancy rate is "about three and a half percent," which he said is lower than in other parts of London and the United States. Williams said the company has a pipeline of "about 1.8 million square feet of new build over the next decade" and "800,000 square foot of refurbishments," aiming to create "amenity rich green buildings." He also mentioned a "little known fact" that the company owns "five and a half thousand acres up in Scotland" where they plan to build a solar farm. Regarding sustainability, Williams stated the company is "rolling out intelligent buildings" with sensors to reduce energy consumption and is focused on "embodied carbon" in its development decisions.
Transcript (29 segments)
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Charles Osgood0:00
We've only just begun was a big hit for the Carpenters and for Paul Williams, the man whose other songs include the Academy Award-winning Evergreen. He is a bit of an evergreen himself, surviving even thriving after some years of obscurity. Anthony Mason has his story.
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Anthony Mason0:19
If you live through the 1970s or early 80s, it was almost impossible to avoid Paul Williams. His music was all over the radio. Just an old fashioned love song playing on the radio. He wrote huge hits for the Carpenters, Barbara Streisand, even the Muppets. The lovers, he sang his own songs too in what one critic called the craggy, forlorn voice of a sad munchkin. At 5'2", he didn't really have the stature of a celebrity, but he became one. It didn't take long before it seemed like you were everywhere.
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Paul Williams1:30
Yeah, I said yes to everything. I was just a little media, it's just... it was horrific.
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Anthony Mason1:37
He appeared on game shows, variety shows, and talk shows. Johnny Carson loved him; he was on The Tonight Show 50 times. And then there were the acting roles in The Odd Couple, The Love Boat, Police Woman. But then by the end of the 1980s, Williams all but disappeared. And filmmaker Steven Kessler, a longtime fan, assumed the worst.
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Steven Kessler2:20
I always thought he died too young, until he started looking into Williams' life and I found out something that amazed me: he's not dead.
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Anthony Mason2:30
Kessler's new documentary, 'Paul Williams Still Alive,' is an affectionate look at the songwriter's descent and recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, and it's put Williams back in the very place he'd fled for the past two decades: the spotlight. Are you happy with the film?
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Paul Williams2:49
I'm really happy with the film.
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Anthony Mason2:51
But Williams didn't want to do it at first.
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Paul Williams2:54
There's nothing to me more pathetic than some little old man going, 'Please sir, may I have another cup of fame.' Just just if you'd throw that camera on me for just one more time. You know, I had a sober lifestyle and I didn't know if I wanted to go poke the bear again. This is the sort of the Hall of Fame. This is the Hall of Fame. This is all of these songs that have won the Oscar, you know.
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Anthony Mason3:15
So three years ago, Williams was elected president of ASCAP, the organization that represents music writers and publishers. This is you here.
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Paul Williams3:23
This is me.
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Anthony Mason3:30
He's up on the wall too. He won his Oscar for Evergreen.
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Paul Williams3:33
I've been nominated six times. This is the only time that I've ever won, and it's the most amazing moment. You walk on that stage, you hug Barbara Streisand, and they get what I actually said was I was going to thank all the little people, then I remembered I am the little people.
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Anthony Mason3:47
Born in Omaha, Williams was always the smallest kid in class. He was 13 when his father, an architect, died, and he was shipped off to live with an uncle in California. Did you have any musical education as a kid?
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Paul Williams4:00
None, none. No, I didn't. But I could write. You know, I could play enough to write. Just an old fashioned love song playing on the radio. It's as complicated as anything Beethoven ever wrote.
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Anthony Mason4:12
His breakthrough hit would come from a tune that was never meant for the radio. We've Only Just Begun had all the romantic beginnings of a bank commercial, but the Carpenters happened to see the ad. 'We've Only Just Begun' and then an angel sang it and everything changed. Then the floodgates opened. Three Dog Night, Helen Reddy, and David Bowie 'Fill Your Heart' would all record Paul Williams songs. Do you have a favorite among all those?
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Paul Williams5:03
Rainbow Connection has to be my favorite song that I've ever written.
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Anthony Mason5:07
Why are so many songs about rainbows? In one sentence, you know that he's got an inner life. It's written in Kermit speak. Why are there so many songs about rainbows? You know, he's actually very tough sometimes to write in the voice of a frog. Williams says his own vulnerability came out in his music. Where did that vulnerability come from?
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Paul Williams5:34
You know, when you're in high school and you're 4'6", I just didn't fit in. That says Williams is why celebrity became so intoxicating. Something switched in me. You know, I went from being different to being special, and that's addictive.
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Anthony Mason5:48
In the documentary, Kessler confronts Williams with one of his most embarrassing moments when he guest hosted the Merv Griffin Show while obviously high.
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Paul Williams6:00
It's the most grandiose, vapid, shallow, arrogant, nasty little creature that I had become. But I realized that if this is going to be a film that ultimately is about recovery, that this it's got to be in there. So we put it in. I lost 40 pounds through willpower and about $3,800 worth of amphetamines. You got to show where you had bottom. It's still hard for me to watch.
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Anthony Mason6:24
It would take two trips to rehab before Williams finally cleaned up his act.
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Paul Williams6:31
March 15th, 1990, is my sobriety birthday. Right. In the last 22 years, I have been given a totally different life.
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Anthony Mason6:36
He volunteers as a drug and alcohol rehab counselor, and as head of ASCAP now, it's the greatest honor I've ever been given. He represents other songwriters.
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Paul Williams6:46
I have a black belt in back slapping, you know. It's like, and on my height, you got to be careful because I get a little more familiar sometimes. Oh, I'm sorry.
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Anthony Mason6:58
And then there's the documentary. Yes, Paul Williams is still alive. And the film he was reluctant to be a part of is even generating some Oscar buzz. When the light sort of got turned on you again for this movie, how'd that feel?
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Paul Williams7:14
Annoying.
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Anthony Mason7:17
You don't look that annoyed.
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Paul Williams7:17
Yeah, when the media reared its loving head, yes, the response has been so respectful, has been really kind. I mean, it's been really kind, and who doesn't want to need a little more kindness in their life? Where you been?