The Centrepoint pub quiz
The previous night’s Centrepoint charity quiz went straight into 24 Years at the Tap End. Sara Cox assembled a team for the annual event, where businesses bought tables and celebrities were auctioned to spend part of the evening with the winning bidders. Chris first attended a year earlier alongside Scott, Sara, Jonathan Ross and a mixture of Radio 1 and celebrity teammates.
That first event had been hosted by The X Factor voice Peter Dickson and Fern Britton, who became increasingly forceful as the room grew louder. Jonathan Ross began an unexpected bidding war for Hollyoaks actor Jorgie Porter after Chris made a token opening bid. For several uncomfortable seconds, Chris feared he had accidentally committed himself to a bill of about £200 before another table stepped in.
The evening’s most memorable encounter came in the toilets. Chris was discussing a difficult cricket question with a man at a nearby urinal and arguing that the answer was Ian Botham. The other participant emerged while fastening his trousers and turned out to be Hugh Grant. Chris carried on with the cricket conversation and tried to behave as though debating Botham with the star of Notting Hill and Love Actually was entirely normal.
How much for McDonald?
The following year’s event was hosted by Gok Wan and attended by teams from Downton Abbey, BBC News and Loose Women. Scott, Chris, Sara, Matt Edmondson and Gemma Cairney were among the Radio 1 contingent, competing under the name Quiz Akabusi. Their answers were not especially successful, but the auction created another chance for trouble.
After a couple of drinks, Scott and Chris decided it would be hilarious to bid for Jane McDonald. Chris repeatedly raised his hand and at one point believed they had won, only for a businessman at the next table to increase the price. Their recorded commentary moved rapidly from delight to desperation as Gok continued the bidding and Jane slipped beyond their budget.
In the cold light of the next afternoon, both men accepted that losing was probably fortunate. They had not been entirely sure whether the winning bidder kept the celebrity only for the evening, and Sara could be heard in the recording pointing out the more immediate problem that their table had no room for Jane anyway.
The entertainment became stranger after the quiz. The lights went down, a bath appeared in the middle of the room and a performer emerged from it before spinning on a hoop suspended above the water. Chris concluded that the night had taught him three things: Hugh Grant liked cricket, Quiz Akabusi was an excellent team name, and nobody should bid for a Loose Women presenter unless they could genuinely afford one.
Loving the tolls
The show continued one of the business ideas Deborah Meaden had rejected. Chris wanted the M6 Toll to photograph drivers emerging from the booths like riders on a theme-park attraction, allowing them to buy commemorative pictures, keyrings and fridge magnets afterwards.
A listener called while approaching the toll and strongly supported the proposal, suggesting that the road could lower its ordinary charge and recover the money through merchandise. Possible names included “Mega Tolls”, but the show preferred “Loving the Tolls” and imagined the free stretch of road beyond the booths becoming a real-life version of Wacky Races.
Meet Radio 1’s interns
Access All Areas introduced Alice, Pete, Moses and Kay, four new Radio 1 interns chosen from 800 applicants. They had been given a shared Twitter account and Tumblr page to show listeners what happened behind the scenes, from unusual visitors in the office to the plastic sheeting required for Innuendo Bingo.
Nick Grimshaw had also set them a larger task: in three weeks they would produce a complete two-hour programme. The music, features and overall shape of the show were theirs to create, with listeners invited to contribute ideas. Their first investigation answered whether Grimmy’s Wheel of Four Tunes physically existed. They found the homemade-looking wooden wheel and posted a photograph of themselves standing around it.
Rhianna Dhillon plays Real or No Real
Rhianna Dhillon joined a second Radio 1 presenter special. Sara Cox’s cousin really had kept a pet magpie in their grandfather’s greenhouse, but Newsbeat’s Chris Smith had not been discovered as a newsreader after working as a train conductor and announcing the trolley’s hot drinks and snacks.
Gemma Cairney had not attended an East London party with a goldfish bowl containing two live fish and a model of the Eiffel Tower on her head. Edith Bowman had not dated the puppeteer behind CBBC’s Otis the Aardvark before settling down with Tom Smith from Editors. Rhianna’s more reliable judgement gave her a 40–20 victory over Scott.
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