The Sound of Music scandal
Scott opened Monday with the news that he’d spent the weekend in Salzburg filming something related to Eurovision — and had only discovered while having his photo taken there that the city featured prominently in one of the most famous films of all time. “I was doing some filming. I can’t really say much more than that. But Eurovision is in Austria this year. So that’s why I was there.”
He’d been stood in what turned out to be a famous set piece from The Sound of Music — “apparently, this thing features in the film and it looks like a conservatory and apparently they all dance around it” — without any idea of its significance. “I didn’t know any of this. It looked like, you know, those adverts that you see sometimes on daytime TV where two elders are planning their funerals.”
The ensuing confession — that he had never properly sat down and watched The Sound of Music — sent the inbox into meltdown. Thousands of messages arrived. Tina and Ellie were equally implicated: none of the three had seen it from start to finish. “I wish we hadn’t said this on air,” Scott said. “Imagine Elaine Page hearing this. Oh, fuming.”
Listeners sent voice notes of the songs. Scott recognised Edelweiss (“never knew it was from this film, never”), High on a Hill Was a Lonely Goat and The Hills Are Alive (“Of course, yes, yes”). On being told he likely knew most of the songs already, he said: “Could you voice note me maybe singing one of the songs from it and I’ll probably know it then, won’t I? Surely.”
The show ended the segment with a resolution. “We are going to arrange a team watch-along to The Sound of Music,” Scott announced. “We’ve just decided because we need to.”
On the plus side, Scott reported that the food in Salzburg had been exceptional. Specifically, Tafelspitz. “Now, when it says boiled beef on the menu, you think to yourself, well, that’s something my nan would have rustled up in the war. But, I mean, dry it first, but you learn to love it by the third slice of boiled beef.” The apple strudel, by contrast, had not materialised. “A lot of Tafelspitz.”
Tina’s weekend: Paloma reads the news
Tina had a different kind of weekend — the class teddy bear came home with her daughter Athena. Rather than a standard outing, she brought it into work. “Paloma read the news bulletins on Radio 2. In the news studio.” Scott was impressed. Tina reflected that one school parent had posted taking their child horse riding, then said: “You can take your horse to one of the parents… I’ll up you the 10 o’clock news.” The school teddy also got to meet Bob Harris.
Super Bowl 60: Seahawks win, Bad Bunny divides opinion
The Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29–13, which meant Vernon Kay, confirmed last active on WhatsApp at 3:45am, arrived for his 9:30 handover in cheerful if hoarse condition. “I’ve never felt this good on three hours sleep, Scott.”
The halftime show was the main topic before Vernon arrived. Bad Bunny headlined, with Lady Gaga making a surprise appearance. Scott was broadly positive on the performance but had one reservation — the jazzed-up version of Die With A Smile. “We’ve all been to a concert before, haven’t we, where they do a jazzed-up version of one of their most famous songs. I just want to hear the one that’s on the record.” President Trump’s criticism of the show — which was performed almost entirely in Spanish — also got a mention. Scott did not dwell on it.
Winter Olympics: curling, ski jumpers and a student deadline
Scott had been watching the Winter Olympics at every available opportunity. “Did you see the figure skating? The guy that went full Benson Boone — backflip.” He’d gone down rabbit holes: the behind-the-scenes of how rink lines are drawn, the ski jumpers warming up by practising the lift from Dirty Dancing. “They crash down, like they’re skiing down a hill, and then they throw themselves into their trainer’s arms, Patrick Swayze style.”
Curling, as always, had the whole country hooked. Team GB’s Bruce Mowat and Jen Dodds were through to the mixed doubles semifinals that evening, having won eight of nine round-robin matches. Performance director Dave Leith called in from the training base in Stirling (“curling and Stirling — just rolls off the tongue”) and confirmed the team was feeling good. He invited Scott down to try curling. Scott accepted on air: “Next time I’m there, you’re on.”
The hero of the segment was Canadian figure skater Madeleine Scheissers, a university student who had accidentally missed an assignment deadline because she was at the Winter Olympics. She’d emailed her professor asking for an extension and attached the Canadian Olympic press release as proof. “She’s coming with receipts,” Scott said. Update: she got the extension.
Pause for Thought: snogging on the train
Trey Hall’s Pause for Thought began with a mortified reaction to the Sound of Music situation — “I want to apologise to Dame Julie Andrews on behalf of the whole BBC” — before settling into the week’s reflection. Trey described being on a packed rush-hour train, face two inches from a young couple who had squeezed on, when they began kissing “intensely, as if they were going on honeymoon rather than to work.” He said he started laughing but it did not stop them. On escaping at his station: “I did say, with my acquired British sarcasm, ‘Thank you so much for sharing your morning with me.’ The woman replied totally sincere: ‘Oh, you’re welcome.'”
Scott described this as the first Pause for Thought to feature the phrase “I could smell their eyebrows.”
The mailbag
Scott had opened the virtual mailbag over the weekend and it was full.
Letter one, from Laura in Market Harborough, politely observed that the BBC Radio 2 presenter profile pictures were overdue an update. She noted that her office streams the current presenter’s photo on a large TV all day — and that Vernon in particular “deserves to break free from his black turtleneck.” Scott agreed: “It is like his neck’s straining to get out of it.” He reflected that Vernon’s picture had been up so long, and he had such good new hair, that it needed redoing. “He looks so much like the man from Milk Tray.” Tina’s photo, it emerged, is ten years old. She declared herself in no hurry to change it.
Letter two, from Hannah, raised the question of celebrity hot pockets — areas where famous people quietly congregate. Hannah’s village contained, at various points, Jason Manford, Calvin Fletcher, a Thomas Brother and Les Dennis. Scott revealed his own area is populated by Pat Sharp and Martin and Shirley Kemp. On a separate note, he mentioned that Ronan Keating’s dry cleaning had been sitting uncollected at the local cleaners for six months. He was considering picking it up as a neighbourly gesture. Tina’s contribution: she had once seen Phil Mitchell in the pub.
Letter three, from Donna, introduced the show to Sheila Diamond. Scott was already a devoted follower. “She is keeping live entertainment alive,” he said. “I counted six sparkly dresses in one show alone.” Sheila, known as Little Miss Dynamite, is four foot nine and plays the clubs in Blackpool, St. Helens and Hull. Her Instagram came highly recommended. By the end of the letter segment, her follower count was visibly climbing in real time.
The quiz: bubbles, giveaway signs and a fresh streak
Trish from East Yorkshire — who had, some years ago, anonymously left 120 fabric hens around her village for people to find (“until I’d left 120 and someone guessed it was me doing it… rumbled by a seven-year-old”) — opened the week’s quiz. She did well until two stumbles. On naming something cold, she said “ice” and passed. On the sign that says Stop, she went with “stop” rather than Give Way. And on where you find bubbles, she said “in a bubble machine.” The quiz buzzed her.
Scott disagreed with the ruling. “I’m saying bubbles too much. You do so find bubbles in a bubble machine.” The argument continued for some time before the quiz relented and gave her the point. On Give Way: both Scott and Trish had passed their driving tests before the theory test existed. “My one said to me, this is no word of a lie, ‘I’m gonna pass you because I don’t want to see you again.'” They agreed to sit the theory test together. Trish finished on 21 points. “I thought I was going to get five, so 21 grand.”
Birthday game: Kate from Horncastle becomes Lita
Kate from Horncastle, 59, had been busy — 80s by Candlelight at Lincoln Cathedral on Saturday (“dancing in the aisles in the cathedral, selling alcohol in the cathedral — what’s not to love”), then a minibus to Skegness on Sunday for slot machines, air hockey, bowling and afternoon tea. She was also, very soon, going to become a grandmother — though not, she was clear, a grandma or a nanny. “We are calling me Lita. Which is the Spanish shortened version of abuela… but I am not a grandma, nanny, none of that. Thank you very much.”
Three spins of the birthday wheel. She agonised, consulted her cousin’s pre-show advice (“if the first record is great, go with it”), went with spin one and got Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Relax — number one on this day in 1984. “This is my era. Love you, bye.” The other options were T-Rex’s Telegram Sam (1972) and Miley Cyrus’s Flowers (2023). Scott observed, as the outro played, that the team had found the karaoke version again. He talked over it anyway.
The handover
Vernon arrived at 9:30 sharp, hoarse, happy and running on three hours sleep. The Seahawks had won. He had Darius Rucker in the Piano Room. Scott told him he’d never felt better and that the voice was fine. Vernon did not entirely agree. They parted on good terms.
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