Sara Cox's Surprise and Shine game produced one of the funniest calls of the week when Andrea, a council worker from Kent caught mid-run, struggled to turn her car radio off and declared, "This is awful. This has been an awful experience," before cheerfully admitting "I don't know anybody that'd be listening" when asked to send a shout-out. Sara took it all in good humour, awarding her the prize anyway.
The real headline guest, though, was Sir Lenny Henry, popping in ahead of the 500 Words deadline on 6 November. He urged young writers not to "ask for permission to write," revealed he's after volunteer judges to wade through thousands of entries, and modelled a birthday present from his partner Lisa: a jacket with built-in pockets for books. He also recalled bumping into Sara years ago while eating noodles through a café window, and shared a cheeky bit of gossip about bumping into Gabby Roslin at a film screening, where she reportedly told off Jonathan Ross for trying to vape in the room – "Gabby won't let me vape," Sara recalled him saying.
Elsewhere, Abbey Churchley took on Let's Hear It For The Noise (one point, but a toothbrush for being a good egg), listeners battled through I Theme a Theme on classic sketch shows, and Joanna from Devon marked her 60th birthday on Signed, Sealed, Delivered. Radio 2's Book Week continued too, with Jeremy reading movingly from Richard Hillary's wartime memoir The Last Enemy.
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