12 March 2020: Tom Grennan’s school friend told Radio 1 what he was really like

Tom Grennan joined after his Live Lounge performance.

Scott and Chris had increasingly enjoyed putting performers through immediate self-review.

Tom heard the performance through the ears of somebody who knew exactly how he wanted every line to sound.

Scott and Chris heard somebody they already considered one of pop’s nicest people.

That reputation became the next part of the feature.

The show wanted independent evidence.

Instead of simply accepting the polished celebrity interview, Radio 1 contacted somebody who had known Tom at school.

The old friend was asked what he had actually been like before the record deals and radio appearances.

Scott expected the possibility of embarrassing material.

The source summary makes the outcome clear.

Tom really did appear to be as nice as he seemed.

The attempt to expose a hidden difficult personality largely failed.

That was good news for Tom and slightly disappointing radio.

Teacher Phil was still attempting to climb the height of Everest for Sport Relief using stairs.

By this stage, listeners had followed the effort for most of the week.

The physical repetition had become the story.

Not one dramatic climb.

Thousands upon thousands of steps.

Scott had spent several days providing motivational songs and commentary.

Now he wanted to experience a small part of the challenge himself.

The chosen location was the BT Tower.

Scott attempted to climb the staircase and see how far he could get.

The idea gave him a direct taste of what Phil had been doing for hours at a time.

Scott immediately discovered how different repeated stairs felt from talking about repeated stairs on the radio.

Phil’s target remained vastly larger.

The attempt made Scott respect the scale more.

The programme still included the Who Game and the usual mix of archive references and listener interaction.

Yet 12 March sits right on the edge of the month’s major transition.

The following week would begin with a proposal.

By the end of it, the show would be talking about balconies, home working and musicians performing from windows.

March was about to change completely.