Eurovision season begins
Scott was preparing to appear on The One Show to explain the Eurovision allocation draw and the host-city handover ceremony.
Rylan and AJ Odudu would present from Liverpool as the mayor of Turin formally passed responsibility for the contest to the city’s mayor.
Scott admitted he had only recently learned that Eurovision’s semi-final allocation involved countries being drawn from pots in a process resembling a World Cup draw.
He was delighted that the ceremony meant Eurovision season had officially begun.
The Mr Blobby bidder backs out
The previous day’s £62,101 Mr Blobby auction had already unravelled.
The winning bidder withdrew, leaving the owner without a buyer and reluctant to relist the costume.
Scott argued that online-auction sites needed stronger rules to stop people placing deliberately absurd bids and walking away.
Everyday heroes
Scott invited listeners to celebrate people whose friendliness improved an ordinary journey or errand.
The idea came from a post praising a coffee-shop worker at Manchester Piccadilly station who could serve a long queue of stressed passengers within minutes.
Listeners nominated a woman who had worked through freezing Christmas mornings at Streatham Hill station, a cheerful Central line announcer and a café worker in Barry Island.
Natasha praised Jeff, a retired man who chose to manage the car park at a children’s gymnastics club. He directed traffic, talked to the children and gritted the site when it snowed.
Bev the Decorator nominated the lollipop man at Warwick Bridge School, who waved whenever she drove past.
Other local heroes included Angus, an elderly marshal at Stevenage parkrun, and Oliver, a red-haired barista usually seen wearing a cowboy hat in a Hampshire coffee-and-record shop.
The Birthday Game: Amy
Amy played from Indiana, making the feature international.
She worked carrying out MRI scans and played the uilleann pipes, the Irish form of bagpipes.
Amy had followed Scott from his previous station and awarded his move to Radio 2 ten out of ten.
She turned 35 and shared her birthday with Justin Timberlake, Marcus Mumford, John Lydon and Kerry Washington.
Her birthday plans involved driving three hours to Chicago, which she regarded as a straightforward day trip.
Her first spin was Olivia Rodrigo’s Drivers License, the most-streamed song of 2021. Amy liked it but decided to take the risk.
The second was T. Rex’s Telegram Sam, written about Marc Bolan’s manager Tony Secunda. Amy rejected that too.
Her compulsory final selection was Gabrielle’s Rise, which sampled Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.
Amy did not recognise it, but accepted Scott’s assurance that it was a strong final result. He promised to send the show’s birthday balloon to Indiana.
The Last of Us effect
Scott discussed the growing praise for The Last of Us and the renewed interest in Linda Ronstadt’s Long Long Time after it featured prominently in the programme.
He compared the sudden rise in streams with Kate Bush’s return to the charts through Stranger Things.
Scott now had both Happy Valley and The Last of Us on his list of programmes he needed to watch while avoiding spoilers.
Handover
Sara Cox thanked Scott for the show before beginning her Tuesday teatime programme.
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