“Boring, try again” reaches the workplace
The previous day’s messaging experiment had spread beyond Tinder. Will used “boring, try again” after his boss emailed to arrange a sales meeting. The boss phoned, apologised and asked which date worked best—an unexpectedly good result—until Will panicked, confessed that it was a radio prank and was told to do such things on his own time.
Teacher Mikey took a greater risk. He intended to reply to his head of department about grading and targets, but accidentally sent the phrase to the whole school, including the headteacher and senior governors. The headteacher invited him to discuss his suggested improvements in the office the following morning. Other teachers warned him that he had used “reply all”, leaving Mikey in the rare position of being a teacher summoned by the head.
Scott concluded that honesty had made both situations worse. The phrase sometimes produced a useful response, but admitting where it came from removed any illusion of authority.
A film rating for watching with parents
Scott’s mum had said she wanted to see “that wolf living on Wall Street”. He knew she meant The Wolf of Wall Street and wanted to prevent her buying the DVD, even considering sending her photograph to local shops with instructions not to serve her.
It recalled his decision to see Bridesmaids with his mum, which had seemed harmless until the opening minutes. Scott proposed an additional film classification covering the upper as well as lower age limit, or at least a symbol warning that a title should not be watched with parents. Chris suggested “SG” for sibling guidance.
Listeners added Ted, Black Swan and other misleadingly titled films to the list. Chris’s brother appeared to lack the usual embarrassment and could watch The Inbetweeners with their parents, while Chris preferred to creep past the room without being noticed.
Another Bamboleo Wednesday
Bamboleo Wednesday returned with help from Five Seconds of Summer. A newly released Radio 1 video showed the band attempting the show’s increasingly familiar dance, with Riley the dog also making an appearance. It allowed the celebration to continue beyond Broadcasting House and gave the band’s fans another reason to circulate Monday’s visit.
Big Mo has never DJed before
The week’s fascination with unlikely celebrity DJs reached its natural peak when Big Mo called the studio. Laila Morse, known as Big Mo in EastEnders and from I’m a Celebrity, was due to play a midnight-to-one set in Canterbury. Contrary to earlier reports that she was a regular on the university circuit, she said she had never DJed in her life.
She did not know her opening track and was not bringing music because the venue would provide it. Her tastes included Motown, 1960s records, garage and drum and bass, and her technical plan was essentially to press the button. The wider appearance would last several hours, allowing time for photographs and drinks before a fast car home.
Scott and Chris supplied crowd-work advice. Big Mo practised “Everybody in the house!” and considered accents and EastEnders catchphrases before being told that her existing personality would be enough. Scott wanted footage, a proper introduction and evidence that she had put her hands in the air. The combination of no preparation and total good humour made the gig sound unmissable.
Alice Levine meets Barbara Windsor
Alice Levine played Real or No Real, introduced by a Barbara Windsor sound effect. Daniel Radcliffe really had broken more than 80 wands during the Harry Potter films by using them as drumsticks. A proposed Star Wars role was false, while “tartle” really was a Scottish word for the panic caused by forgetting somebody’s name during an introduction. The claim that ten per cent of the body’s bones were in the nose was false.
Scott won 40 points to Alice’s 20, although Alice questioned the scoring system when she discovered that the only adjudicator was Scott himself.
COMMENTS