Category Archives: Worlds Shortest Radio Show

6th February – Bob Marley Day to commemorate the great man’s birthday. There’ll be a lot of parties, a lot of reggae, and a lot of people just chilling with a cheeky spliff. Not a lot of work’s going to get done. Meanwhile, this morning most of Britain is affected by either severe flooding or […]

So she had first hand knowledge of Bob Crow’s predecessors. She wasn’t a great fan of the transport unions because she never forgot them saying “We’re not giving our jobs to women or blacks”. That sort of misogyny and racism may have been reined in but their “Stuff you. What’s in it for me?” attitude […]

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know almost every word to almost every Kinks record. Our house was full of their pink Pye 45s. So Ray Davies is rightly renowned as one of the greatest songwriters of all time. But what’s often forgotten is that in 1964, on this groundbreaking record, Dave Davies […]

…..was the radio treat of the week. Bob Harris is one of my broadcasting heroes. Kind, interesting and knowledgable. I’ve worked with him a few times and he’s exactly like that in real life. At heart, he is the bearded hippie who presented The Old Grey Whistle Test but his musical tastes cover every genre. […]

…..he could make you feel whatever he was feeling when he wrote the song you’re listening to. Play “We’re a Winner” and you’ll believe that you’re a black American civil rights campaigner in the 1960s. Listen to “Superfly” and you instantly become a Harlem drug dealer in a 70s blaxploitation movie. And as for the […]

Because today, no other track will do. After the wettest January since records began, the first day of February has brought brilliant sunshine. But doesn’t it look and feel quite weird? The really obvious thing to do would be to play Johnny Nash’s 1972 original but I prefer Jimmy Cliff’s cover from about twenty years […]

Of course he shouldn’t. Though movie stars swapping their names for more memorable monikers was once completely normal. The same was also true of pop stars. The man we’ve always known as “Cliff Richard” is actually called Harry Webb. Terence Nelhams was re-named Adam Faith but I think Ronald Wycherley, re-branded as Billy Fury, got […]

And we’re reminded of what a genius Nile Rodgers is. Some of us don’t need reminding. We went to see Chic and Sister Sledge at the Hammersmith Odeon when we were still at school. And as my friend Tony Harris said “We never thought disco sucked”. Tony also likes to ensure that famous artists’ not-quite-so-famous […]

Like anyone who loves music, I adored John Peel But right at the other end of the broadcasting spectrum, I am in awe of Tony Blackburn. Very mainstream and happy to be ridiculed, he nonetheless continues to enjoy an astonishing career. He’s 71 today, so let’s congratulate the most famous DJ this country has ever […]

The people of London are being blamed for powering the UK’s economic recovery. It’s not fair, apparently, that those in London who work so hard to earn money for the rest of the country are seeing their city surge way ahead of everywhere else. Even worse, cry those in other regions, the vibrant, creative and […]