Face for Radio.


Today, I did the nicest of nice radio interviews to promote next week’s St Albans Mostly on Radio Verulam, followed by the nicest of nice halloumi salads in the café below the studio.

Me being me, I was nearly late, after missing the bus I had in mind, for the second bus to never come, making the whole bus-catching thing a third-time lucky experience. The first one would have taken me to St Albans direct, while the third meant a change in Luton, which I made in good time, for the connecting bus to be the tardy one; I disembarked at the stop nearest the studio with five minutes to spare and no idea which direction to take; after some vague pointers from a passerby who seemed more lost than me, I made it by the skin of my teeth (my teeth are very skinny).


Today’s biggest setback was the lack of a Glyn Doggett, who’s away this week, tour-managing a show in Scotland. While I would sooner have shared the interview with him, I managed to stave off the tears, thanks largely to my Doggett-smelling blanket; you don’t want to know where I rubbed it to catch his scent.

While I’ve done my fair share of radio interviews over the years - the most embarrassing ones while pretending to be Buddy Holly - my last was probably in Edinburgh last summer; tell a lie: it would have been in January, when I spoke to BBC Three Counties (I think) about the sad passing of Sean Hughes. Thankfully today’s was more cheery, calling to mind Glyn’s and my SG1 Radio / In Your Inner Ear days (which finished in June 2016; Christ, time moves quickly).

Being in the studio reminded me how much I enjoy radio; while compiling stuff weekly for IYIE was time-consuming and ultimately unpaid, it was worth it for the fun of it. If only Glyn and I could find a station to take us on, as the idiom plays to our strengthsStill, I’m sure we’ll be back on Radio Verulam in the Autumn promoting our forthcoming Maltings Theatre dates; if we barricade ourselves in, they’ll never get rid of us.

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