Dynamo returns to Radio 1
Dynamo returned after an earlier appearance in which he had left a locked red box with the programme several days before the newspapers were printed. When Scott later selected a newspaper and page at random, the box contained a drawing matching that page. Listeners still approached Scott to ask how it had been done, but Dynamo declined to explain.
Chris believed some feats, such as placing a mobile telephone inside a bottle, went beyond tricks and demonstrated actual magic. Dynamo said his pleasure came from people’s reactions and from inspiring younger viewers who might not otherwise have found a role model.
He traced his career from a first classroom performance to blagging his way backstage at a Snoop Dogg concert in 2005. After Dynamo performed, Snoop recorded a three-and-a-half-minute freestyle about the magic. The footage helped Dynamo build a homemade DVD and opened further backstage opportunities, including a performance for Coldplay after he met Chris Martin’s mother.
Dynamo also recalled meeting Prince Harry at an Olympic ball. Harry tried to copy his Matrix-style levitation and repeatedly fell over. Dynamo had been present when Lewis Hamilton and Nicole Scherzinger first met, but credited Lewis rather than magic with bringing them together.
Beccy attempts to fool Dynamo
Beccy prepared two scraps of paper on her fingers for the children’s rhyme about two little birds named Peter and Paul. She removed and returned them using different fingers, a trick Scott could see through immediately.
Dynamo politely watched but did not produce the stunned reaction Beccy wanted. He then demonstrated a much more unsettling finger trick, apparently bending and twisting a finger until it looked loose and rubbery. Beccy and Scott recoiled, while Dynamo reminded them that he was the professional.
For the final demonstration, listeners tweeted the name of any playing card. Scott chose the first response, the ace of spades, even after Dynamo gave him the opportunity to change it. One card in Dynamo’s deck was reversed, and it was the ace of spades. Scott was irritated that the choice had felt completely free and yet still matched the prediction.
Chris goes fishing in 24 Years at the Tap End
The second new Tap End chapter covered a recent week off which Chris filled with activities rather than staying in bed playing FIFA. He arranged a three-hour fishing lesson with a bearded outdoorsman called Alan and was told to meet him in a car park near Legoland at six in the morning.
Unsure which vehicle belonged to Alan, Chris flashed his headlights five times at a man who had just parked. The stranger emerged carrying fishing tackle, walked towards Chris’s car and then passed it with a confused expression. Alan finally knocked on the window, revealing that Chris had signalled to the wrong fisherman.
The actual lesson went well. Chris admired Alan’s outdoor knowledge, learned the basics and rewarded himself with an exceptional bacon sandwich. He spent the afternoon touring the Churchill War Rooms, where a group of German tourists were ahead of him in the Map Room.
An unpleasant smell spread during the guide’s talk. Chris decided one of the Germans had broken wind and found historical comedy in the thought that, 70 years after the war, German visitors were farting in the Map Room. His week of new experiences continued, although he admitted cancelling a planned skydive because he was frightened.
A Wombats party is too loud
Show introducer Nicola had stayed at an Ibiza hotel where The Wombats were performing. After a night out, she wanted to sleep before another day of partying but heard a loud gathering from a nearby room.
Nicola went onto her balcony and asked the band to keep the noise down. They ignored her, so she delivered a firmer complaint while her friends laughed. Matthew Murphy and the rest of the group were present, turning the encounter into what Scott described as The Hangover with The Wombats.
Beccy tries to lie
In a game inspired by Would I Lie to You?, Beccy received stories on paper and tried to present them as true. She claimed to have appeared in a chocolate advert at 12, eating as much nut-filled chocolate as possible in a minute. Her inability to name the product or slogan exposed the invention.
Beccy then attempted the recurring claim that she had slept with Kesha, placing the encounter in a hotel near Radio 1. Questions about the room, food and trouser press produced generic answers, and both Scott and Chris rejected it.
Her final claim was that she had been arrested for stealing a hammock from Homebase. Beccy said she had paid but forgotten to put it in a bag, then ran from security because she wanted to see the back office. None of the three stories was genuine.
Finnish Pop Idol sends a CD
A message claimed that a former winner of Finnish Pop Idol was playing darts in a pub close to Radio 1 and wanted Chris to collect a CD. Chris was suspicious and too busy to go, but the visitor later arrived at the building and delivered it himself.
The singer was Koop Arponen, whose band was called Flute of Shame. Scott worried that the title might be unsuitable for daytime radio and initially declined to play it, saving the full encounter for later in the week.
Real or No Real
The French term for candyfloss really did translate as “Daddy’s beard”. A company called Shreddies genuinely produced underwear designed to filter the smell of flatulence.
Adelaide did not hold an annual contest to find Australia’s loudest cat. Scott and Beccy briefly considered it an ideal event for a city which a colleague described as pleasant but uneventful, before awarding themselves only ten points each.
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