Simon Mayo
Birth name	Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo
Born	(1958-09-21) 21 September 1958 (age 53) Southgate, London, England[1]
Show	Simon Mayo Drivetime
Station(s)	BBC Radio 2
Time slot	5-7pm GMT/BST weekdays
Show	Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews
Station(s)	BBC Radio 5 Live
Time slot	2-4pm GMT/BST Fridays
Country	United Kingdom
Website	Simon Mayo Drivetime Kermode and Mayo's Film Review

Simon Mayo (born 21 September 1958 in Southgate, London) is an English radio presenter who has worked for BBC Radio since 1981. As of January 2010, Mayo is presenter of Simon Mayo Drivetime on BBC Radio 2 and, with Mark Kermode, presenter of Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews on BBC Radio 5 Live.

In 2008, Mayo was recognised as the "radio broadcaster of the year" at the 34th annual Broadcasting Press Guild Awards^[2] and the "Speech Broadcaster of the Year" at the Sony Radio Academy Awards, receiving the latter for his "ability to paint colourful pictures of location and event and his ability to bring the very best out of his guests, encouraging conversation and interaction between them while skilfully nudging and controlling them" and for being "a master of light and shade, handling serious and lighter issues with aplomb."^[3] Known as a committed Christian, Mayo has criticised the BBC for marginalising religion and being anti-Christian.^[4]

Early career[link]

Mayo attended Solihull School^[5], an historic independent school in the West Midlands, and after graduating from the University of Warwick in 1980 with a degree in History and Politics,^[6] Mayo spent some time honing his skills at Southlands Hospital Radio^[7], worked for five years as a presenter with BBC Radio Nottingham, before joining the national pop network BBC Radio 1 in 1986, presenting a two hour Saturday evening show from 7.30-9.30pm.

In October 1987 he progressed to the weekend early slots from 6.00am-8.00am and then became presenter of the weekday evening show in January 1988, which went out from 7.30pm-10.00pm. Five months later he was offered the Radio 1 breakfast show, regarded as the most prestigious presentation job in UK radio.^[8][9]

Radio 1 Breakfast Show[link]

Mayo spent five years presenting the Radio 1 Breakfast Show. Throughout his tenure on the breakfast show, Mayo was joined by news anchor Rod McKenzie and went through a series of sidekick weather girls, including Carol Dooley, Sybil Ruscoe, Jakki Brambles and Dianne Oxberry. The show's producer was Ric Blaxill who also made regular speaking contributions. A regular conceit was that the show was being overseen by a celebrity "guest producer", played by Blaxill without making any attempt to disguise his normal voice.^{[citation needed]}

He started his first breakfast show by playing Somewhere in my Heart by Aztec Camera, which was preceded by a montage of previous breakfast show hosts and then Mayo himself saying 'It's me, Simon Mayo, good morning.'

The programme became known for various features, including On This Day In History, soundtracked by a looped version of George Michael's "I Want Your Sex", and the long-running cryptic game The Identik-Hit Quiz, where Mayo and his cohorts would 'act' a short scene which cryptically led listeners to the title of a hit song.

He also ran his Confessions feature where members of the public sought absolution for their (often frivolous or humorous) "sins", and it moved to a television series in later years. Mayo had already presented the dilemma show Scruples for BBC television, and had joined his BBC Radio 1 colleagues on the host roster for Top of the Pops.

Both On This Day In History and Confessions spawned spin-off books.

Due to frequent plays from Mayo^{[citation needed]}, several unlikely hit singles reached the UK charts, including "Kinky Boots" by Patrick Macnee and Honor Blackman; "Donald Where's Yer Troosers?" by Andy Stewart; and "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", sung and written by Eric Idle. For helping Monty Python have a hit with the latter 13 years after it first appeared on the soundtrack to The Life of Brian, Idle presented Mayo with a model bare foot, in the style of the animated version which used to end the opening titles to the TV show.

Presenters who covered the breakfast show when Mayo took holidays included Bruno Brookes, Gary King, Phillip Schofield, Nicky Campbell, and Mark Goodier.^{[citation needed]}

Mayo, like all of Radio 1's high-profile presenters of the time,^{[citation needed]} would take his turn to spend a week in a coastal area of the UK during the Radio 1 Roadshows which occurred for three months of the summer. For a short while, he also presented an additional weekend show for the station on a Sunday afternoon and provisionally titled O Solomon Mayo - to cover for the absent Phillip Schofield, who was working in the West End.

Radio 1 mid-mornings[link]

Mayo officially gave up the breakfast show in 1993, though he had been on an extended period of paternity leave when the announcement was made. His stand-in Goodier was his replacement. Mayo moved on to the mid-morning slot from 9 am to 12 midday, and survived the cull of long-standing presenters which Radio 1 underwent the same year on the arrival of controller Matthew Bannister and his wish to rebrand the station as younger and more 'cutting edge'.^{[citation needed]}

In addition to his mid-morning show, from April 1994 - October 1995, Mayo also presented Simon Mayo's Classic Years, where he got to play two hours of classic pop tunes. The show originally went out on a Sunday lunchtime from 12.00noon-2.00pm, but in November 1994 went out from 10.00am-12.00noon on Sundays.

In January 1997, Mayo made a brief return to the breakfast show for three weeks when Chris Evans was dismissed, but both Mayo and Radio 1 ruled out the possibilities of a permanent return to the programme. On his first morning as breakfast stand-in, he read out an email from a man who had emigrated to New Zealand four years earlier and had arrived back in the UK that morning, and was "delighted to hear you're still doing the breakfast show".

In 1999 Simon Mayo broke a world record by broadcasting for 37 hours in aid of that year's Comic Relief.^[10] This record was broken by Chris Moyles and Dave Vitty on 17th March 2011.^[11][12]

Mayo remained on the mid-morning slot until he left Radio 1 in 2001, seeing breakfast-show presenters Mark Goodier, Steve Wright, Chris Evans, Mark and Lard, Kevin Greening, Zoe Ball & Sara Cox, come and go from the slot.

His final show was on Friday 16 February 2001 and before signing off, he said, "One of the reasons I'm not going to do a DLT is that I've nothing to complain about at all - though as I'll still be employed by the BBC it'd be a stupid thing to do. I always thought as a kid working at Radio 1 would be the most fun and the best place for any presenter to work and I still think that's true."^[13] His final track played on BBC Radio 1 was Ace of Spades by Motorhead.

Five Live[link]

In May 2001, after 15 years with Radio 1, Mayo joined another national BBC station, Radio Five Live to present an afternoon programme.

Mayo began broadcasting on Five Live every weekday from 1.00pm to 4.00pm, where he remained until December 18, 2009. He was on air in 2001 when the 9/11 attacks took place in the United States, broadcasting live as the events unfolded.

The programme generally combined topical debates, interviews and reviews. It came live from Westminster each Wednesday for live coverage of Prime Minister's Questions, with discussion and debate afterwards with political correspondents and MPs. The programme also featured Mayo's old Radio 1 sidekick Mark Kermode reviewing the new movie releases each Friday afternoon. The banter between Mayo and Kermode in this section of the programme was described by both men as "wittertainment at its most wittertaining."^[15] (The neologism wittertainment is a portmanteu of witter and entertainment, and was coined in a – now deleted – Wikipedia entry.^[16] However, Kermode and Mayo took note of the article before its deletion and have since been using the term regularly to refer to their show.^[17][18][19])

In a May 2008 interview with The Guardian, Mayo mentioned he "signed a contract for the next two years" and was uncertain whether he would still be at Five Live when it moves to Greater Manchester.^[20] It was later confirmed that Mayo was to move to the Radio 2 drivetime slot, though he will also continue to host a weekly two-hour film review show on Radio 5 Live with Mark Kermode.^[21]

In May 2009 Mayo and Kermode won a Gold Sony Radio Award in the Speech Award category, due to continued good work and passion for radio ^[22]

Radio 2[link]

In addition to his daily programme on BBC Radio 5 Live, from October 2001 - April 2007, Mayo hosted the Album Chart show each week for BBC Radio 2. Alongside this, on 2 January 2006, he presented The Ultimate Music Year for the station, where listeners got the chance to vote for their favourite year for music. He has also presented many Sold on Song projects, presented the Top 100 Albums and provided holiday cover for Johnnie Walker on Sundays. From April 2007 - April 2008 Mayo took over the Radio 2 Music Club every Monday night from 11.30pm-12.30am.

In January 2010, Mayo took over from Chris Evans on the Drivetime show,^[23] noting he was "very lucky to be given a second chance in such a high-profile slot."^[14] The programme includes a number of regular daily features including a "Nigel's Recipes", "Confessions", "Homework Sucks" and "The Showstopper".

As his opening theme Mayo has used a 2003 recording by Jools Holland and Prince Buster of the 1948 song "Enjoy Yourself (It's Later than You Think)" by Carl Sigman and by Herb Magidson. Later editions of the show have also used the popular 1950 hit version by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians.

In May 2011, Mayo won a Sony Award for "Best Music Show" for his work and that of his team on the BBC Radio 2 drive time slot.^[24]

Other work[link]

Radio 4[link]

Mayo presents Act Your Age, a panel game for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast on Radio 4 on 27 November 2008.^[25]

Television projects[link]

On TV he presented the first and second series of BBC show Winning Lines as part of the corporation's National Lottery output; he also hosted a TV version of his radio feature "Confessions".^{[citation needed]}

In 2005 he presented a series "The Big Dig" on BBC TV about allotments in the Rhondda Valley contrasted with others in Highgate, London.^[26]

Mayo currently hosts a revival of the classic quiz show Blockbusters, which began airing on Challenge on the 14th of May 2012.^[27]

Books[link]

Confessions based on the hit game from his BBC Radio 2 drivetime show^[28] was released in October 2011. The book is a compilation of the best confessions sent to the show by listeners.

Mayo's debut novel, Itch, was released on 1st March 2012. The titular protagonist is a fourteen year old boy who discovers a never-before-seen element.^[29]

Radio credits[link]

• BBC Radio Nottingham - The Simon Mayo Show 1981-86
• BBC Radio 1:
  • Saturday evenings 7.30-9.30pm 1986-87
  • Weekend early mornings 6-8am Late 1987
  • Monday-Thursday evenings 7.30pm-10.00pm January-May 1988
  • Breakfast Show 6.00am-9.00am May 1988-September 1993
  • Mid Morning Show 9.00am-12.00 noon October 1993-February 2001
• BBC Radio 5 Live - Afternoon Show 1.00pm-4.00pm May 2001-December 2009
  • Wittertainment 2.00pm-4.00pm January 2010–Present
• BBC Radio 2:
  • Album Chart Show Monday evenings 7.00pm-8.00pm October 2001-April 2007
  • Music Club Monday nights/Tuesday mornings 11.30pm-12.30am April 2007-April 2008
  • Drivetime Mon - Fri 5.00pm-7.00pm January 2010–Present
• BBC Radio 4 - Act Your Age 6.30pm November-December 2008

Personal life[link]

Mayo was educated at Solihull School, a boys' Independent school in the English West Midlands, and Worthing Sixth-Form College, West Sussex. He subsequently graduated from the University of Warwick, Coventry, with a degree in history and politics.^[30] While at university, he was a presenter on the student radio station, Radio Warwick.^[31] In 2005 the university awarded him an honorary Doctor of Letters.^[31]

Mayo married Hilary Bird, a Radio Nottingham colleague,^[32] on 11 October 1986 in Burton Joyce, Nottinghamshire. They have two sons (born 1991 and 1999) and a daughter (born 1994).^{[citation needed]} He is a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur.^[1]

References[link]

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2008)

External links[link]

• Simon Mayo Drivetime from BBC Radio 2
  • Simon Mayo's blog for the Radio 2 Drivetime programme
• Kermode and Mayo's Film Review from BBC Radio 5 Live
  • Film review video podcast by Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode, from Radio Five Live's website
• Flickr photo sets from Radio 5 Live:
  • Mayo in the USA from October 2008
  • Simon Mayo's Guests
  • Mayo at the 2008 Wentworth PGA Championship
• Simon Mayo from Radio Rewind's website
• Shed of the year 2011 judge Simon Mayo

Mark Kermode
Kermode performing with the Dodge Brothers in 2009.
Born	Mark Fairey (1963-07-02) 2 July 1963 (age 48) Barnet, North London, England
Residence	Brockenhurst, New Forest, Hampshire, England
Nationality	British
Citizenship	British
Education	PhD (English)
Alma mater	University of Manchester
Occupation	Film critic, presenter, musician
Employer	BBC, The Observer, Sight and Sound
Known for	Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews, The Culture Show, The Dodge Brothers

Mark Kermode (born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons.^[1] He also co-presents the BBC Two arts programme The Culture Show and discusses other branches of the arts for the BBC Two programme Newsnight Review. Kermode writes and presents a film-related video blog for the BBC.

Early life and education[link]

Kermode, born Mark Fairey^[2][3] in Barnet, North London, England,^[4] attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, an independent boys' school in Elstree, a few years ahead of comedians Sacha Baron Cohen, Matt Lucas and David Baddiel and in the same year as actor Jason Isaacs.^[5] He was raised as a Methodist, and is now a member of the Church of England.^[6]

Mark Fairey's parents divorced when he was in his early 20s and he subsequently changed his surname to his GP mother's maiden name by deed poll.^[7] (Neither of them is related to the literary critic Frank Kermode.^[8])

He earned his PhD in English at the University of Manchester in 1991, writing a thesis on horror fiction.^[4] Kermode has stated that "I was a revolutionary communist affiliate in the 80s", but that "none of us had any respect for Stalin".^[9]

Personal life[link]

Kermode lives in Brockenhurst with his wife, Linda Ruth Williams, a professor who lectures on film at the University of Southampton and has written The Erotic Thriller in Contemporary Cinema and co-edited Contemporary American Cinema.^[10] In October to November 2004, they jointly curated a History of the Horror Film season and exhibition at the National Film Theatre in London.^[10] Kermode and Williams have two children.^[7] Kermode has been described as "a feminist, a near vegetarian (he eats fish), a churchgoer and a straight-arrow spouse who just happens to enjoy seeing people's heads explode across a cinema screen".^[11]

Career[link]

Horror specialisation[link]

Kermode is a visiting fellow at the University of Southampton, having gained a PhD at the University of Manchester in modern English and American horror fiction.^[12] He has also contributed to Fangoria magazine,^[13] authored the monograph The Exorcist (BFI Modern Classics), and worked on film-related documentaries like The Fear of God; 25 Years of the Exorcist, Hell on Earth: The Desecration and Resurrection of Ken Russell's The Devils, The Edge of Blade Runner, and The Cult of The Wicker Man.^[14] He calls The Exorcist (1973) "the best film ever made".^[15] He recommends The Witch Who Came From the Sea as one of the best video nasties of the 1970s.^[16]