The BBC had become part of the school timetable
Another lockdown meant millions of children were learning from home again.
The BBC had expanded its educational output, including Bitesize programming on CBBC and BBC Two and *Celebrity Supply Teacher*.
Scott and Chris were genuinely impressed by the amount of material being produced.
Chris also saw an opportunity.
If the wider BBC could help educate the nation, surely Radio 1 could contribute.
Get Smart With Stark was born
Chris proposed Get Smart With Stark.
The title suggested structured education.
The content was rather less reliable.
Chris wanted to share pieces of knowledge he had accumulated over the years and deliver them with the authority of a substitute teacher.
Scott immediately questioned whether anybody should place their education in Chris’s hands.
That did not stop the feature.
The joke was precisely that Radio 1’s contribution to home schooling might contain rather more confidence than expertise.
Celebrity Supply Teacher made Chris feel overlooked
Chris ran through some of the people appearing on the BBC’s actual teaching strand.
The schedule included Mark Labbett from *The Chase*, Geri Horner and Marcus Rashford.
Chris wondered why nobody had approached him.
He decided he could teach something.
Exactly what remained unclear.
Scott suggested this might explain why the invitation had not arrived.
The first Who Game of 2021 arrived
Monday also brought back The Who Game for the first time that year.
Old programmes, products, internet habits and names from the recent past were thrown into the conversation until one produced the required nostalgic “Whooo!”
After the Christmas break and the beginning of another lockdown, the familiar feature made the show feel as though its normal weekly rhythm had restarted.
Live Lounges That Time Forgot returned
Don’t Look It Up again used the Radio 1 archive.
Scott and Chris had to identify old Live Lounge performances they barely remembered despite being around the station when many had happened.
The archive round continued to prove that even national-radio performances can disappear from memory remarkably quickly.
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