Kevin Greening (30 December 1962 – 29 December 2007) was a British radio presenter, who co-hosted ''

Radio 1 Breakfast ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' is a radio show that is broadcast across the UK on BBC Radio 1. It is hosted by Greg James since 20 August 2018 as the show's 16th presenter. The show ran six days a week until February 1968 (seBBC Genome Project, then fi ...

'' on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

with

Zoe Ball Zoe Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is a British radio and television presenter. She was the first female host of both '' Radio 1 Breakfast'' and '' The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' for the BBC, and presented the 1990s children's show ''Live & ...

from 13 October 1997 to 25 September 1998.

Early career

Kevin Greening grew up in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

where he worked voluntarily for the Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service and was educated at

Bristol Grammar School Bristol Grammar School (BGS) is a 4–18 mixed, independent day school in Bristol, England. It was founded in 1532 by Royal Charter for the teaching of 'good manners and literature', endowed by wealthy Bristol merchants Robert and Nicholas Thorn ...

. He later studied

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Camb ...

, where he was station manager at

Cambridge University Radio Cam FM (formerly known as Cambridge University Radio and later CUR1350) is a student-run radio station at the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University. The station broadcasts on an FM frequency of 97.2 MHz and online. It curre ...

. His first job was as a

construction worker A construction worker is a worker employed in the physical construction of the built environment and its infrastructure. Definition By some definitions, workers may be engaged in manual labour as unskilled or semi-skilled workers; they may be sk ...

on the Humber Bridge. He then trained as a studio manager and began his broadcasting career at the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

. After a brief spell as a Programme assistant at BBC Radio Solent, in 1989 Greening joined London's Local station

BBC GLR BBC Radio London is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM frequency, DAB, Virgin Media channel 937, Sky channel 0152 (in the London ...

as a producer, before becoming a presenter of their Breakfast show in 1991. In April 1993, Greening joined the newly launched

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio launched in the United Kingdom in 1993. In 2008, Virgin Radio UK was sold to TIML, a subsidiary of The Times of India group, and the name was changed to Absolute Radio; the Virgin Radio name was not included in the sale. In 2001, ...

, presenting a Friday and Saturday evening show and a Sunday morning show. After two months, he took over their weekday afternoon show, where he remained until he quit Virgin in December 1993.

Radio 1

In January 1994, Greening joined

, presenting the Weekend Breakfast Show (Saturday and Sunday 710am). In the summer of '94, Radio 1 agreed to cover the

Gay Pride LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to s ...

event for the first time and these reports into the general days' output were fronted by Greening; the success of these led to Radio 1 becoming a regular fixture at Gay Pride events. In May 1995 Greening was named in

Gay Times ''Gay Times'' (stylized in all caps), also known as ''Gay Times Magazine'' and as ''GT'', is a UK-based LGBTQ+ media brand established in 1975. Originally a magazine for gay and bisexual men, the company now includes content for the LGBTQ+ commu ...

' ''Top 200 Gay Men and Lesbians'' as an out gay DJ. In November 1994, Greening took over the Weekend Lunchtime show (Saturday and Sunday noon to 2pm). Again he featured many of his comedy characters (usually voiced by

Andrew McGibbon Andrew McGibbon (a.k.a. Andrew Paresi; born 1961 in Chiswick), is an English comedian, actor, writer, musician and composer. He has also produced and directed extensively, chiefly for radio. Education The son of James, a prominent educationali ...

) featured on Weekend Breakfast. October 1995 saw Greening move back to Weekend Breakfast where he would remain for another 16 months. Greening was given the Drivetime show in February 1997. Regular features on the show included the "Joke du Jour", "60 Second Cinema", and the "Evening Procession". Early mornings seemed to play a big role during Greening's time at Radio 1, as he had presented Weekend Breakfast and had also been the main stand-in presenter for Steve Wright, Chris Evans and Mark Radcliffe on the weekday breakfast show, but October 1997 saw Greening present ''

The Radio 1 Breakfast Show ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' is a radio show that is broadcast across the UK on BBC Radio 1. It is hosted by Greg James since 20 August 2018 as the show's 16th presenter. The show ran six days a week until February 1968 (seBBC Genome Project, then fi ...

'' alongside

, where he would remain for 12 months. Greening moved to a Sunday morning show from 6:30 to 10am in September 1998. At the time he was also presenting shows for

and a TV show for digital station

BBC Choice BBC Choice was a British digital television channel which was owned by the BBC and was launched on 23 September 1998. It was the first British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in digital format, as well as the BBC's second non-analogue-terres ...

. It was during this period that Greening became the main stand-in presenter on the network, covering for many weekday presenters including

Scott Mills Scott Robert Mills (born 28 March 1973) is an English radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor. He is best known for presenting the '' Scott Mills'' show on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2022 and since then, on BBC Radio 2. Mills has also ...

Simon Mayo Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo (born 21 September 1958) is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022. Mayo has presented across three BBC stations for extended periods. From 1986 to 2001 he worked for Radio ...

and Mark Radcliffe. There was also a period when Greening took over the weekday lunchtime show whilst regular presenter

Jo Whiley Johanne Whiley-Morton (born 4 July 1965), better known by her professional name Jo Whiley, is an English radio DJ and television presenter. She was the host of the long-running weekday later weekend '' Jo Whiley Show'' on BBC Radio 1. She curre ...

was away on

maternity leave Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, Paternity (law), paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" an ...

. He occasionally made light of his status as a stand-in presenter, giving an alternative

Email address An email address identifies an email box to which messages are delivered. While early messaging systems used a variety of formats for addressing, today, email addresses follow a set of specific rules originally standardized by the Internet Engineer ...

as supply.dj@bbc.co.uk (his main address being kevin.greening@bbc.co.uk) On Sunday 16 January 2000, Greening presented his final Radio 1 show. In the last half-hour he played some of the sketches from his time with the station.

Radio 5 Live

Not long after he left Radio 1, in 2000 Greening moved to BBC Radio 5 Live, where he was a stand-in presenter for various daytime slots. In March 2001, whilst undertaking supply work at Five Live, he began co-presenting a Saturday Morning show on GLR's replacement,

BBC London Live BBC Radio London is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM frequency, DAB, Virgin Media channel 937, Sky channel 0152 (in the London ...

, alongside Amanda Hussain, the show went out from 8 to 11am on Saturday mornings and lasted until September the same year when the show was taken over by

Danny Baker Danny Baker (born 22 June 1957) is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Throughout his career he has largely presented for London's regional radio and television. Baker was born in Deptford to a working-class fami ...

Commercial radio

From late 2001 into 2002, 102.2 Jazz FM employed him for various slots, then in May 2002, he briefly joined London's Heart 106.2 presenting their 26pm weekend afternoon show. In June 2002, he joined London's Rock station XFM, sitting in for

Christian O'Connell Christian Liam O'Connell (born 7 April 1973 in Winchester, Hampshire) is a British radio disc jockey, television host, writer, and comedian living in Australia. He presents ''The Christian O'Connell Show'' on weekday mornings on Gold 104.3 in ...

on the Breakfast Show. One month later, he took over the station's mid-morning slot from 10am to 1pm, where he remained until December 2003. In January 2004, he was moved to the Station's ''Best of X'' show on Saturday evenings from 6 to 9pm. After a stand-in stint on the

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...

's Night Train programme, and in addition to his Saturday evening show on XFM in April 2004, he re-joined 102.2 Jazz FM to present a Sunday morning show from 10am to 2pm. Shortly after, he also took over from

Clive Warren Clive Warren (born 1967) is a British radio presenter. Early career Warren's first experience of radio broadcasting came at Radio Moorfields, the hospital station at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, which broadcast from 1974 until 2006. Fro ...

on Saturdays from 10am to 2pm. On 7 June 2005, he took over the 10am3pm slot on 102.2 Jazz FM's replacement, 102.2 Smooth FM. From 26 March 2007, he moved to a 14pm weekday afternoon slot on the relaunched 102.2 Smooth Radio where he built up a cult following. His "game with no name" quiz show, in which listeners had to suggest the most suitable song to play against a particular news item, was particularly popular. He also presented Saturday afternoons from 2 to 5pm on the station.

Personal life

Greening was awarded a Fellowship by The

Radio Academy The Radio Academy is a registered charity dedicated to "the encouragement, recognition and promotion of excellence in UK broadcasting and audio production". It was formed in 1983 and is run via a board of trustees, with a chair and a deputy chair ...

in 2001. He was the only non-executive ever to be so honoured in the academy's 25 years. Greening was openly gay and had a previous long-term relationship with Andy Lowe, whom he often referred to on air as his "lesbian life-partner" or "live-in chum". When their relationship came to an end in 2005, after a brief separation they continued to share their house in

north London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nor ...

. At the time of his death Greening had been in a relationship with Sean Griffin for some time.

Death

On 30 December 2007, Chris North, Greening's agent, announced that Greening had "died peacefully in his sleep" one day before his 45th birthday. His boyfriend, Sean Griffin, was arrested the following day in connection with his death, and for possession of a

Class A drug These drugs are known in the UK as ''controlled drugs'', because this is the term by which the act itself refers to them. In more general terms, however, many of these drugs are also controlled by the Medicines Act 1968, there are many other dru ...

, but charges in relation to Greening's death were not pursued by police. On 3 January 2008, it was revealed following the

post-mortem An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any dis ...

that Greening died of a heart attack after taking large quantities of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

, ecstasy and

GHB ''gamma''-Hydroxybutyric acid (or γ-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), also known as 4-hydroxybutanoic acid) is a naturally occurring neurotransmitter and a depressant drug. It is a precursor to GABA, glutamate, and glycine in certain brain areas. ...

. He had spent part of the night prior to his death at the Recon event held at The Arches nightclub in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

, London. Greening was buried on 18 January 2008 in a woodland burial ground after a

secular humanist Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system or life stance that embraces human reason, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality ...

farewell ceremony in accordance with his wishes. At the inquest into his death, a verdict of death by misadventure was recorded as a result of a self-induced drug overdose during a bondage session.DJ Died After Gay Bondage Session
'' Sky News'' After his death an award was named after him at the Student Radio Association's annual Student Radio Awards. The Kevin Greening Award is dedicated to recognising unique on-air creativity, for which Greening was known.

References

External links

Obituary in ''The Times'', 1 January 2008

BBC obituary

The Kevin Greening Story

Obit in ''The Scotsman''

kevingreeningtribute.blogspot.com – clip archive

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greening, Kevin 1962 births 2007 deaths People educated at Bristol Grammar School Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge British radio DJs British radio personalities Drug-related deaths in England LGBT people from England People from Kent Mass media people from Bristol People from Wandsworth Virgin Radio (UK) British radio people LGBT broadcasters from the United Kingdom LGBT DJs BBC Radio 1 presenters BBC Radio 6 Music presenters 20th-century LGBT people