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Mark Radcliffe (born 29 June 1958) is an English radio broadcaster, musician and writer. He is best known for his broadcasting work for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, for which he has worked in various roles since the 1980s.
Radcliffe began his broadcasting career in local commercial radio in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
before a move to the national station
BBC Radio 5, where he met and formed a partnership with
Marc Riley
Marc Riley (born 10 July 1961 in Manchester) is an English radio DJ, alternative rock critic, musician, and former music businessman. He currently presents on BBC Radio 6 Music.
Formerly a member of the Fall, he co-owned a record label, In-Ta ...
, a former guitarist with
the Fall. In 1991 he moved to
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, ...
, closely followed by Riley with whom, under the moniker
Mark and Lard
Mark and Lard was the stage name of Mark Radcliffe (Mark) and Marc Riley (Lard), who presented various weekday shows on BBC Radio 1 from 1991 to March 2004.
Career
Radcliffe, then a Radio 1 producer, began presenting specialist shows on the ne ...
, he worked for 11 years on the station. The pair's stint on Radio 1 included a brief and opinion-dividing spell on the flagship ''
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 ...
'' and a subsequent afternoon slot show that garnered three prestigious
Sony Radio Academy Awards
The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...
.
When the Mark and Lard duo left BBC Radio 1 in 2004, Radcliffe joined
BBC Radio 2 and has also presented various TV shows for the BBC, including its coverage of the
Glastonbury Festival. He remains a presenter on BBC Radio 2, where he presents the weekly programme ''The Folk Show''. On
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 ...
, he co-hosts the weekend breakfast show with
Stuart Maconie
Stuart Maconie (born 13 August 1961) is an English radio DJ and television presenter, writer, journalist, and critic working in the field of pop music and popular culture. He is currently a presenter on BBC Radio 6 Music where, alongside Mark ...
; they previously co-presented the weekday afternoon show on the same channel, and before that the evening show on Radio 2.
Personal life
Radcliffe was born in
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...
, Lancashire, and educated at
Bolton School
Bolton School is an independent day school in Bolton, Greater Manchester. It comprises a co-educational nursery, co-educational infant school (ages 3–7), single sex junior schools (ages 7–11) and single sex senior schools including sixth fo ...
and the
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
, where he studied English, American Studies and Classical Civilisation. He took an interest in music from a young age, playing drums in numerous bands while at school and university and into his working life. As of 2007, he lives in
Knutsford
Knutsford () is a market town in the borough of Cheshire East, in Cheshire, England. Knutsford is south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and 12.5 miles (20 km) south-east of Warrington. The population at the 2011 Census wa ...
, Cheshire; he is married to Bella Sharp (since 1997), with three daughters (1 from his first marriage), and became a grandfather in October 2008. In July 2011, he was awarded an honorary
Doctorate of Letters
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...
from the
University of Bolton
, established = 2004 – gained University Status 1982 – Bolton Institute of Higher Education
, type = Public
, endowment = £160,000 (2009)
, administrative_staff = 700+
, chancellor ...
. On 3rd October 2018, he announced on his BBC Radio 2 show that he had "cancerous tongue and lymph node issues" and he would take a break from his radio broadcasting for a while.
Radcliffe returned to the show on 13 February 2019.
Radio and music
During his student years, Radcliffe was a member of a number of bands, including a short stint as the drummer for the band
Skrewdriver
Skrewdriver were an English punk rock band formed by Ian Stuart Donaldson in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, in 1976. Originally a punk band, Skrewdriver changed into a white supremacist rock band after reuniting in the 1980s. Their original l ...
but left before their later transformation into a
white power group. Radcliffe's radio career began in late 1982 at
Piccadilly Radio
Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West is an Independent Local Radio station based in Manchester, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio Network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester and North West Eng ...
, where he hosted a Friday night show called ''Cures For Insomnia''. He later hosted ''Transmission'', an eclectic show playing local and nationally recognised
new wave and
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
bands as well as European
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
and
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
.
Radio 5 career
Radcliffe came to prominence as a DJ on
BBC Radio 5's ''Hit the North'' in 1990, but also appeared on other shows such as ''Cult Radio''. Nearly twenty years later, in 2009, he briefly stood in as a presenter on
BBC Radio 5 Live, the station that replaced it, to cover
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 ...
's afternoon show.
BBC Radio 1
Radcliffe's
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, ...
career began in 1983 when he produced sessions at
Maida Vale Studios
Maida Vale Studios is a complex of seven BBC sound studios, of which five are in regular use, in Delaware Road, Maida Vale, west London.
It has been used to record thousands of classical music, popular music and drama sessions for BBC Radio 1 ...
for
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
's show. In 1991, he started 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. Also in 1993, Radcliffe presented ''Skyman'', an odd show that he presented in character as a visiting alien, and all the records played were space-related. This half-hour show aired immediately before ''Out on Blue Six'' on Monday evenings.
His most famous work was as part of the act
Mark and Lard
Mark and Lard was the stage name of Mark Radcliffe (Mark) and Marc Riley (Lard), who presented various weekday shows on BBC Radio 1 from 1991 to March 2004.
Career
Radcliffe, then a Radio 1 producer, began presenting specialist shows on the ne ...
(with
Marc ''"The Boy Lard"'' Riley) on Radio 1. The duo began in a 10pm–midnight slot, the
graveyard shift
The shift plan, rota or roster (esp. British) is the central component of a shift schedule in shift work. The schedule includes considerations of shift overlap, shift change times and alignment with the clock, vacation, training, shift differenti ...
, on Mondays to Thursdays in October 1993. Mark and Lard hosted a show of unprecedented variety, incorporating poetry readings from regular guest
Ian McMillan, off the wall, irreverent comedy, bizarre quizzes 'Fish or Fowl', 'Bird or Bloke', 'Bard or Blake' (amongst others), and a playlist that rivalled
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
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
Throwing Muses are an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Newport, Rhode Island, United States, that toured and recorded extensively until 1997, when its members began concentrating more on other projects.
The group was originall ...
,
Moloko
Moloko () were an Irish-English electronic music duo formed in Sheffield, England, consisting of vocalist Róisín Murphy and producer Mark Brydon. Blending elements of electronica and dance music, they are best known for their UK top 10 sin ...
,
Nick Cave,
Pulp
Pulp may refer to:
* Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit
Engineering
* Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture
* Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
* Molded pulp, a packaging material
...
,
Cardiacs,
The Bluetones
The Bluetones are an English indie rock band, formed in Hounslow, Greater London, in 1993. The band's members are Mark Morriss on vocals, Adam Devlin on guitar, Mark's brother Scott Morriss on bass guitar, and Eds Chesters on drums. A fifth m ...
,
Babybird
Babybird are an English rock band formed by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Jones, who has been releasing music since 1995. While Jones' early solo work was released under the "Baby Bird" name, the altered "Babybird" was first us ...
,
The Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature an ...
,
Placebo
A placebo ( ) is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like Saline (medicine), saline), sham surgery, and other procedures.
In general ...
and
Mice
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
. Radcliffe is also credited with the success of
White Town
Jyoti Prakash Mishra (born 30 July 1966), better known by his stage name White Town, is a British-Indian singer and musician. He is best known for his 1997 hit song "Your Woman".
Early life
Jyoti Prakash Mishra was born in Rourkela on 30 July ...
's "
Your Woman
"Your Woman" is a song by British one-man band White Town. It was released in January 1997 as the lead single from the album ''Women in Technology (album), Women in Technology''. It features a muted trumpet Hook (music), line taken from a 1932 ...
" 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. Their style of music and broadcasting was not a success in this slot, which catered for a more mainstream audience, and they were soon moved into the early afternoon slot where they resided for the next seven years. This show was a success and saw them win three
Sony Gold awards for Best Daily Music Show.
BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 6 Music
Radcliffe left Radio 1 in March 2004 and moved to
BBC Radio 2 in June of the same year, with Riley moving to
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 ...
. The new show was reminiscent of the graveyard slot he had previously occupied on BBC Radio 1; with live music and studio guests and ran between 10:30pm and midnight. The respect Radcliffe had garnered as a broadcaster was cemented when he scooped a major interview with
Kate Bush
Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single " Wuthering Heights", becoming the first female ...
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. Starting on 16 April 2007, Radcliffe joined forces with
Stuart Maconie
Stuart Maconie (born 13 August 1961) is an English radio DJ and television presenter, writer, journalist, and critic working in the field of pop music and popular culture. He is currently a presenter on BBC Radio 6 Music where, alongside Mark ...
to present a new show on
BBC Radio 2 on Mondays to Thursdays from 8–10pm to much critical acclaim, including winning the prestigious Sony award for best Radio show of 2009. From April 2010, the show was reduced to three nights a week, Mondays to Wednesdays.
For a time, he was a frequent stand-in in partnership with
Emma Forbes
Emma Katy Forbes (née Clarke; born 14 May 1965 in Hammersmith, London) is an English radio and television presenter.
Biography
Forbes's parents are Nanette Newman and Bryan Forbes (né John Theobald Clarke). She attended Hurst Lodge School.
...
or
Liza Tarbuck during the 2–5pm slot when
Steve Wright was away on holiday, thus taking him back to afternoon radio, and also stood in for
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 ...
on
BBC Radio 5 Live on a few occasions.
In 2009, Radcliffe reunited with Marc Riley to make a series of radio adverts for
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club are an English football club based in Manchester that competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's (West Gorton), they became Ardwick Association Football ...
that were broadcast in
North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
.
In spring 2011, his show with Maconie moved to BBC Radio 6 Music, in the weekday afternoon slot. Radcliffe also presented his own weekly solo show on BBC Radio 2, called ''Mark Radcliffe's Music Club'', and in 2013 he took over the presentation of BBC Radio 2's weekly folk programme from
Mike Harding
Mike Harding (born 23 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter, comedian, author, poet, broadcaster and multi-instrumentalist. Harding has also been a photographer, traveller, filmmaker and playwright.
Early life and education
Harding's ...
. His weekday afternoon show with Maconie was moved on 21 December 2018 to the weekends while he was undergoing treatment for cancer.
[ Maconie had broadcast solo while Radcliffe was away for treatment, but Radcliffe joined Maconie for the last hour of the weekday show. He rang in at home on the first weekend breakfast show on 12 January 2019, and then he rejoined Maconie on a permanent basis from 2 February 2019 and Radcliffe also rejoined to BBC Radio 2 on 13 February 2019.
]
Band member
Radcliffe experienced brief commercial success with Shirehorses
The Shirehorses were a spoof band comprising two BBC Radio DJs from Manchester, Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley, known collectively as Mark and Lard.
As part of their BBC Radio 1 shows, the pair produced pastiches of chart songs, such as "You'r ...
, 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 band Skrewdriver
Skrewdriver were an English punk rock band formed by Ian Stuart Donaldson in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, in 1976. Originally a punk band, Skrewdriver changed into a white supremacist rock band after reuniting in the 1980s. Their original l ...
(briefly, before their reincarnation as a white power skinhead
White power skinheads, also known as racist skinheads and neo-Nazi skinheads, are members of a neo-Nazi, white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations and ...
band, in which he played no part). Radcliffe has written about his part in this band in his book ''Showbusiness''. As of 2007, Radcliffe was a member of the more folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
-orientated The Family Mahone which evolved into the group Mark Radcliffe & Foes. He also fronted the Dr. Feelgood tribute band Mark Radcliffe & the Big Figures and the pirate-themed band Galleon Blast. Radcliffe is also co-writer and performer in an avant-garde electronic duo UNE with Paul Langley and performs percussion and backing vocals with the band Fine Lines, who will be supporting Kiefer Sutherland on his 2022 UK tour.
Television
Radcliffe presented a live music TV programme, ''The White Room'', for four series on Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
from 11 June 1994 to 23 August 1996, and has regularly appeared in both Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
and the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's coverage of the