Mark Radcliffe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mark Radcliffe (born 29 June 1958) is an English broadcaster who has worked in various roles for the BBC since the 1980s and remains one of Britain's most recognised DJs. He is currently a presenter on BBC Radio 2, where he hosts an evening show four nights a week (Monday to Thursday 8pm - 10pm) alongside Stuart Maconie, called the Radcliffe and Maconie Show.
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[edit] Biography
Radcliffe was born in Bolton, Lancashire (now annexed by Greater Manchester), educated at the independent fee-paying Bolton School and The University of Manchester, where he studied English and American studies. He took an interest in music from a young age; playing drums in several bands. In some respects he is a very traditional British DJ, with a wide knowledge of rock and pop. His northern English-style sense of humour and quick wit have led to comparisons to John Peel and Peter Kay. As of 2007, he lives in Whitley, Cheshire and is married with three daughters. Radcliffe is a supporter of Manchester City Football Club. He has a pet Cocker Spaniel called Toto.
[edit] Radio and music
Radcliffe's radio career began in late 1982 at Piccadilly Radio, where he hosted a Friday night show called Cures For Insomnia. He came to prominence as a DJ on BBC Radio 5's Hit The North in 1990.
[edit] Radio 1 career
Radcliffe joined BBC Radio 1 in 1991, presenting the one-hour Monday evening show Out on Blue Six. Starting in early 1993, he presented the arts programme The Guest List on Thursdays.
His most famous work was as part of the act Mark and Lard (with Marc The Boy Lard Riley) on BBC Radio 1. The duo began in a 10pm-midnight slot on Mondays to Thursdays in October 1993. This show was unique for Radio 1 because it was based around non-playlist music and featured live music sessions, poetry readings and comedy. Having taken over the 'graveyard shift' from October 1993 onwards, Radcliffe and Riley hosted a show of unprecedented variety incorporating poetry readings from regular guest Ian McMillan (a series of readings of Philip Larkin's prose by Julianne Regan was particularly impressive), off the wall, irreverent comedy, bizarre quizzes 'Fish or Fowl', 'Bird or Bloke', 'Bard or Blake' (amongst others), and a play list that rivalled the great John Peel in terms of eclecticism. The show also held some of the best sessions from up and coming and alternative bands of the time, including Throwing Muses, Moloko, Nick Cave, Pulp, Baby Bird, The Divine Comedy and Mice. He is also credited with the success of White Town's Your Woman in January 1997.
Following Chris Evans' sudden departure from Radio 1 in early 1997, Radcliffe and Riley were moved to a brief and unsuccessful position on the breakfast show.[1] Their style of music and broadcasting was not a success in this slot (which catered for a more mainstream audience), and they were quickly moved to the early afternoon slot from 2pm-4pm. Then moved to 1pm - 3pm until they left in March 2004. They won a Sony Gold award in the process.
[edit] Radio 2 transferral
Radcliffe left Radio 1 in March 2004 and moved to an evening slot on BBC Radio 2 in June of the same year. The new show was reminiscent of the graveyard shift he had previously occupied on BBC Radio 1; with live music and studio guests. The respect Radcliffe had garnered as a broadcaster was cemented when he successfully scooped a major interview with Kate Bush in late-2005, her first in several years. For many months prior to this, he had been running his own 'Bush-O-Meter' on his show, questioning the possible whereabouts and activities of the elusive singer-songwriter and adding a photo of the day's guest or the 'Blessed Kate' to the chart until she appeared on the show. Radcliffe also won a Sony award for this show. Riley moved to BBC 6Music. Starting on 16 April, 2007, Radcliffe joined forces with Stuart Maconie to present a new show on BBC Radio 2 on Mondays to Thursdays from 8-10pm.
He is a frequent stand-in during the 2pm-5pm slot when Steve Wright is away.
[edit] Band member
Radcliffe experienced brief commercial success with Shirehorses, a parody band (its name based on the short-lived band The Seahorses) spawned from his Mark And Lard antics. Earlier in his career, he had played in other bands, including the punk rock band Skrewdriver (briefly, before their reincarnation as a white power skinhead band, in which he played no part). Mark has written about his part in this band in his book Showbusiness and also when talking to Phil Williams about his novel "Northern sky "on five live he was asked about his part in the band too. As of 2007, Radcliffe was a member of the more folk-oriented The Family Mahone and the Four Counts.
[edit] Television
Radcliffe presented a live music TV programme, The White Room, for Channel 4 in 1995, and has regularly appeared in the BBC's coverage of the Glastonbury Festival and the Cambridge Folk Festival. Along with Marc Riley, he presented a music-based quiz programme, Pop Upstairs Downstairs, for the BBC/Flextech digital TV channel UK Play in 1999 and 2000. He also presented the BBC 1 football retrospective show Match Of The Nineties, which aired in summer 1999. In 2006, he won the ITV1 singing competition Stars in Their Eyes with an appearance portraying The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan singing "The Irish Rover".
The Shirehorses were due to appear in an episode of the sitcom Phoenix Nights as the folk band Half a Sixpence, but couldn't attend the filming due to a busy schedule. They were replaced at the last minute by Tim Healy.
[edit] Writing
Radcliffe wrote the autobiography Showbusiness: The Diary Of A Rock 'N' Roll Nobody; a critically-acclaimed history of his attempts at a career as a musician, including his exploits with Shirehorses. His novel Northern Sky — based around a folk music club in an imaginary northern English city — was published in 2005
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Chris Evans |
BBC Radio One Breakfast Show Presenter 1997 |
Succeeded by Kevin Greening and Zoe Ball |
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