INTERVIEW
First things first
INTERVIEW
First things first is your chance to share in the memories, anecdotes and general banter of a well-loved public figure. Traversing the tightrope of time this month is that eternal champion of fine broadcasting, the Radio 2 DJ Mark Radcliffe.
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From the anarchic antics of Mark & Lard to the musical knees up of his current evening show with Stuart Maconie, Radcliffe’s commitment to diverse, eclectic playlists has seen him heralded as one of the last of a dying breed of disc jockey: witty, knowledgeable and warm. With an intriguing new memoir on the horizon, Mark told KUDOS about buying records in Boots Bolton, saucy school discos and a band named after cooking fat… Mark Radcliffe, Disc Jockey. Born 1958 in Bolton, Lancashire. Few have lived a more musical life than Mark Radcliffe. Thank You for the Days is a new, nonchronological memoir of his career, concerned only with “the interesting bits of my life in radio.” Much of this semiautobiography covers his changing roles within the BBC, in whom he claims he is “an absolute believer,” though he admits that his current home, Radio 2, is in need of change. “What we want – and I know Stuart feels this as well – is that what we’re doing will shape the future of the daytime sound of Radio 2.” Unlike many contemporaries, his dedication to searching out good, new music is unwavering, a stance he claims is “absolutely vital. I can’t understand why everybody’s not like me. If you’ve always loved music, why would you stop liking new things?”
My first… …memory is of floating matchsticks in a puddle in a park in London. I voiced this to my mother, and she sketched in a bit of it: we were watching a big parade, people were lining the streets and my dad’s not tall, so I probably just couldn’t see even though I was on his shoulders. Because I was bored of trying to see, I sailed matchsticks in a puddle.
…holiday would have been in Devon. I can remember being in a little motor boat – somewhere like Babbacombe or Ilfracombe, I’m pretty sure it ends in ‘combe’! – we were in the sea and my dad allowed me to take the wheel of this motorboat. Then I was pretending to be running pleasure trips, they were asking me all kinds of questions, but I got all the place names wrong!
…kiss was at Bolton school. I must have been about 13 or 14 at a school disco: we had bands on, good bands actually. The girl’s look in those days was left over from the hippy era. They had cheesecloth shifts on and very long hair, and very short skirts…sound great even now! She had very long, wavy hair, and glasses…and fantastic legs! I remember striding out of the school and over to the cricket pavilion and having a kiss there. It didn’t last long – I don’t mean the kiss, though that probably didn’t last long! – but it wasn’t an ongoing relationship. Very soon after that, I went out with my first serious girlfriend, who
INTERVIEW
was called Hilary Wardle, so the first kiss was left behind.
…gig would have been at the school discos: they were obviously just local bands but they seemed like megastars to me, because they had proper electric guitars and a full drumkit and everything. There was a band called Blue-Eyed Toad and one called Iron Maiden – but not that Iron Maiden!
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My first band was called S.Pry, after a brand of cooking fat. One of our three members, Paul, couldn’t play at all, but he had great hair!
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My first big gigs were in Manchester in about 1972/73, I’ve tried to work out which was first, but I can’t quite work the dates out, but at the Manchester Hard Rock I saw David Bowie just before Aladdin Sane came out and was absolutely blown away…I don’t think a gig could possibly have the same impact on me as that. It just seemed amazing that he was there in the flesh. The other one around that time was Genesis, with Phil Collins on drums and Pete Gabriel singing, that would have been just before Selling England by the Pound. Those were my first two big gigs, so I count myself pretty lucky!
…vinyl was bought in Boot’s the Chemist in Bolton. I bought my first single there, which I’ve always said was Virginia Plain by Roxy Music but I think that might have been the second one. I think the first might have
been The Pushbike Song by The Mixtures…absolutely dreadful! The first album I bought from a shop was by The Temperance Seven, I’ve still got it, it was called Direct from Ballspond Cocoa Rooms, it was about 6 shillings. They were a kind of slightly wacky, Bonzo Dog-ish, 1930s Palm Court Orchestra sort of band! They did the Charleston, but they were quite wacky, and I quite liked it. I still quite like it! I probably bought it because it was cheap.
a bass player. Jimmy sadly died, and the dedication of my first book was to him.
…band was called
round the corner from the BBC studios. I bought it for £26,000 and sold it for 35 the next year! Making 9 grand on it made it feel like I’d won the lottery! I’d love to have that flat still…it’d be a great pied-à-terre when I’m down in London…
Berlin Airlift. Though that metamorphosised out of a band called S. Pry. That name was because T. Rex got their name because ‘Trex’ was a cooking fat and so was ‘Spry’, so we were S. Pry! I think it was quite a good name! There were three of us, and one of us couldn’t play: Paul. He couldn’t play, but he had great hair. I was on the drums, there was a guy who could play piano and guitar called Jimmy Leslie and we decided we needed other people, so we got a guitarist and
...car was a Renault, I’m not sure what model it was, but it was cream coloured, with a hint of rust. It was my mum’s old car and my parents gave it to me as a birthday present: I remember working on it in the garage, trying to get the rust off. As I recall, I did a real botch job of it!
…flat was in Maida Vale,
Mark Radcliffe can be heard every weeknight on BBC Radio 2 on Maconie & Radcliffe Show from 8 to 10pm. His new memoir Thank You for the Days is published 2nd April: for a chance to win one of two copies, turn to page 13.