2017 is the 54th consecutive year…

…..that Tony Blackburn has been on air. He’s been written off so many times but still he bounces back. On Friday he began a new show on Radio 2, a year after the station sacked him for challenging a BBC story relating to the Savile enquiry. The corporation claimed, even though there was no record of it, that Blackburn had been questioned by police for sexual misconduct. He robustly denied this, saying that if it had happened, he’d definitely remember it. But rather than lose face, the BBC fired him. Now they’ve been forced to re-instate him. He still doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. On the Radio 1 breakfast show back in 1971, he played this obscure album track every morning until Motown released it as a single. It went straight to No.1. Apt really, because if the BBC are waiting for Tony Blackburn to retire, they’ll still be waiting many years from now.