TV Cream

Radio 1

Bits and Pieces – TV Cream’s Top 50 Radio 1 Memories!


When Radio 1 decided to do a calendar picturing the DJs with their heroes, John Peel insisted on posing with a competition-winning listener, and was wryly amused when panic-stricken memos started flying around about the risk of ending up with someone unphotogenic.

Well, we also think the audience are the most important people – except when we’re rigging our polls – and we asked for your tales about your own encounters with The Nation’s Favourite. Here’s our Top 50 – compiled by Gallup*! And there’ll be Mike Read Tee Hee mugs heading to everyone who was kind enough to contribute.**
*Not really **Another instance of ‘not really’, sorry

50. “Top day at the Roadshow in Barry Island fairground – was only eight!” – Andy Bowd
49. “Growing up in Barry, I saw the Roadshow regularly, mostly Gary Davies, Mike Read or Mike Smith” – Mark Durridge
48. “Saw a Bruno and Liz Roadshow in Weymouth” – Mark Fraser
47. “I saw Steve Wright at in Falmouth while staying at my aunt’s guest house” Scott Holmes
46. “I won tickets to see Blur the day 13 was released and I still have the letter that came with them” – Neil Miles
45. “I went to a Margate Roadshow and witnessed Betty Boo doing the do” – Phil Creighton
44. “I saw Arnee And The Terminators live on stage at the Roadshow” – Darren Rigby-O’Neill
43. “I sent an adult condiment set in to Simon Mayo; he called it ‘disgusting’ but sent me some CDs anyway” – Ron Logan
42. “I won a competition on Nicky Campbell’s show by guessing the connection between washing up liquid and the Eiffel Tower” – Phil Taylor
41. “During 1979, I had six requests read out by Annie Nightingale – she called me a regular contributor” – Mark Wyman

40. “I had a lot of jokes read out by Mark And Lard, mostly nonsense” – Mark Thompson
39. “I got my name read out on the School Desk feature on Mike Read’s Breakfast Show just before a primary school trip” – Phil Benton
38. “I got two requests played on Radio Tip Top – Do The Hucklebuck and Hi-Fidelity” – John Miller
37. “I won a £10 record token on Mark and Lard’s Craptown Factor; I bought a Shirehorses album with it” – Mitch Warriner
36. “I went to a Roadshow to interview Mike Read for the school newspaper and ended up winning Bits and Pieces!” – Anna Stolli
35. “Won a t-shirt on Bits and Pieces from Steve Wright at Bowness-On-Windermere” – Lee Thompson
34. “I was on Simon Mayo’s Knocking Off Work Quiz and my wife heard it while she was at the dentist’s” – Phil Benton
33. “Will Self mentioned me on Mark and Lard’s show after I sent him my fanzine Zombie Waistcoat” – Mark Griffiths
32. “I had a couple of records on Nicky Campbell’s Teasingly Topical Triple Tracker and Jo Whiley read out some of my bad puns” – Nick Hutchings
31. “Won an 808 State album on the Evening Session, saw Mark Goodier at an in-store appearance and went to say thanks – he gave me some free 12”s” – James Bradley

30. “My message ‘I Like Christopher Lee!’ was read out on Nicky Campbell’s 1990 Halloween Special” – Daniel Cunningham
29. “I went to the 25th Birthday Roadshow with Aswad, Del Amitri and Status Quo – this was the same day that Nirvana headlined at Reading” – John Miller
28. “Jakki Brambles sent me a massive jar of sweets as a prize for requesting a Mystery Song on Drivetime – I’ve still got them!” – Andrew Shimer Wong
27. “My sister took my pac-a-mac to the Portrush Roadshow; I was at guide camp without it and got drenched” – Emma Pears
26. “Margate Roadshow with Phillip Schofield, I saw Trevor and Simon swinging their pants on the beach!” – Jo Malley
25. “I sent John Peel a letter about my sister breaking my record player; he referred to it ‘fluttering pathetically to the bottom of the request pile’” – ‘Hinge Xanderl’
24. “I was at an Aberystwyth Roadshow where Sonia forgot the words to her song and gave up trying to mime” – Mark Sheffield
23. “Nemone asked people to text in and say what they were doing – I said I was in bed and she could join me if she wanted; she read it out and got a bit flustered” – Graham Lister
22. “I walked past the Roadshow in Blackpool in 1989; Liz Kershaw was singing ‘Blackpool Nights’ over the top of The London Boys’ London Nights” – David W Poole
21. “I got a Three to Eleven onto Nicky Campbell’s Through The Night, it was a sequence of ‘Mama’ songs – Slade, Junior and Howard Jones” – Matt Rudd

20. “My sister proposed marriage to David Gower via the Mike Read show; he never replied” – ‘Beat City Tone’
19. “I won a Mike Read Tee Hee mug for singing his jingle upside down on a rollercoaster in Belgium; I never heard I’d won because I was on my paper round” – ‘Somebody Else’
18. “I won my first ever CD by sending Phillip Schofield a letter about a Walkman mishap that left my Bon Jovi tape playing backwards” – Anthony Hamer-Hodges
17. “We took a French exchange student to a Roadshow in York where Mike Read kept hitting tennis balls into the crowd” – Richard Shaw-Wright
16. “I won tickets to see Odyssey on Bits and Pieces at Cleethorpes Boating Lake when I was about 10 or 11 – the other contestants were all much older!” – Katie Burgess
15. “I was at a Roadshow on Portobello Beach when the tide came in!!” – Nick Hutchings
14. “I got the right year for the Golden Hour, but Simon Bates described me as being ‘in the Wirral’ rather than ‘on the Wirral’” – MerseyMal
13. “Mark Goodier called me a ‘smartarse’ live on air at the Southport Roadshow in 1997” – Seb Patrick
12. “I won a pair of Gary Davies boxer shorts at an Amsterdam Roadshow; they said ‘I like The Bit In The Middle’ on one leg” – Jules Bennett
11. “I went to the Roadshow at Margate in the 1990s, where the council had instructed that the crowd were to sit down at all times. Every act, inevitably: ‘Everybody on your feet!’ Crowd, miserably: ‘We’re not allowed.’” – Steven Perkins

10. “I rang up John Peel for a request one night and the man himself answered the phone” – Jon Welch
9. “I went to a Bedford Roadshow where they announced Fred West’s suicide on the news and people cheered, then Stiltskin mimed to Inside” – Garreth F Hirons
8. “Steve Lamacq offered to hold my friend Anna’s coat for her, she replied, ‘Don’t be ridiculous, it weighs more than you do’” – Simon B
7. “I saw Simon Mayo at Blackpool in 1990, he was dressed as a Ninja Turtle” – ‘JBO’
6. “I gave Mark Radcliffe a signed copy of my book about Radio 1 comedy; he recognised my handwriting from sending in requests to Out On Blue Six” – Tim Worthington
5. “Memorable lineup of Urban Cookie Collective, 2wo Third3 and Ride at Roadshow in Oxford in 1994; Mark Gardener from Ride signed my Silk Cut packet” – Kathyrn Cook
4. “I persuaded Mark and Lard to advertise my café for sale on their afternoon show; it didn’t work” – Chris Diamond
3. “I was at the Roadshow in Exmouth in 1989 and Kylie Minogue came on stage ‘in disguise’ as an audience member” – Tanya Jones
2. “My sister and her friend got a humorous ‘school report’ about our teacher Mr Forbes read out by Mike Smith; a ‘cool kid’ stopped me later that day and told me it was, ‘Quite funny’” – Graham Kibble-White
1. “I saw Mark and Lard do their show live from a bus at my University; I couldn’t get close enough to see them, but did witness live Pixie Dancing being choreographed outside” – Steve Williams

2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Palitoy

    September 30, 2017 at 3:48 pm

    Great memories! Mark and Lard were particular favourites as was Nicky Campbell! And Chris Morris’s radio show livened up Boxing Day 1994 for me no end! However.Which photos and of whom doing what did Chris Moyles have? Has anyone ever met anyone who actively listened to or liked him? A blot on radio 1’s landscape.

  2. Glenn A

    October 1, 2017 at 9:20 pm

    I still rate Adrian Juste, hearing him yesterday with a sketch about Bob Dylan doing a cover album of Bucks Fizz songs and a concerto on Radio 3 featuring a night storage heater shows how close he was to being the next Kenny Everett. Three hours of madness on Sunday mornings, and a worthy successor to Noel Edmonds, whose Sunday show was pure genius.

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