Frank Mitchell, U105
Broadcasting House, Radio 4
Sunny weather outside and the voice of sunny reason on the radio.
Frank Mitchell is an easy listen for a September morning – taking on the topics of the day and inviting on people who know what they’re talking about to give the lowdown.
Cue Brendan Mulgrew on the Casement debacle. The news that the government would not be funding Casement Park for the 2028 Euros dropped on a Friday evening – timing at its most calculated?
Brendan is well-versed in this story – where did that £400m figure come from? - and measured too, counselling that Casement was high on Hilary Benn’s agenda when Labour took power... so let’s see.
Sitting in a queue in rush-hour traffic, watching the weaver birds weave, cyclists seemed the perfect topic.
It’s those who break the rules that make trouble. So the question of how they should be sanctioned was interesting.
Ask Patricia, who contacted Frank to say she had been knocked down and ended up with a broken wrist.
So where do you stand with someone who has no insurance?
When radio legend Ken Bruce left the BBC after 30 years, his fan base were deeply upset… I know, I shared a work desk with one.
Bruce took his brilliance elsewhere. But he popped up on Broadcasting House to chat about his dear friend and co-creator of PopMaster, Phil Swern, who has died aged 76.
He drew an affectionate portrait.
He first met Phil in the late 1980s and found that he knew everything about music and had amassed a vast collection of vinyl 45s.
The collection began when Phil was just 10 and ended in the 1990s at a car boot sale when he found the “treasure” of Diana Decker singing Poppa Piccolino (Do Google).
“Not a song an awful lot of people would want to collect,” said Ken, but for Phil and his collection it was gold dust – it cost him 50p and he’d have put down £50.
There was the time when Jimi Hendrix had a flat above the record company where Phil worked and he invited Phil up for a cuppa.
Phil was terrified Hendrix was going to offer him drugs (“Phil was one of the straightest people I knew,” said Ken).
Jimi gave him tea and cucumber sandwiches.
“The legend of Jimi Hendrix will always be different for me,” Ken laughed.