When starting on Xfm, O'Connell ironically promoted his show as the "18th most listened to breakfast show in London" though by the time he left was proudly touting it as the 11th most popular, with 349,000 Londoners tuning in every week (399,000 nationally) - the station's best ever figures up to that point. In 2004 O'Connell won the DJ of the year award, and in 2005 best breakfast show and best entertainer at the Sony Awards. He and his team (Chris Smith, sidekick and news reader; Roque Segade-Vieito, producer and; Head of Audio Comedy Brian Murphy) were subsequently poached by Virgin Radio to present their weekday national breakfast show.

The show yielded a top 10 single in June 2004, with the infectious football anthem 'Born in England', written by listeners the Wheatley brothers, and featuring such luminaries as the Delays and Bernard Butler. It also provided UK radio with its first ever live radio vasectomy, when Roque had the snip live on air. O'Connell also got ordained as a priest in Las Vegas and presided over the marriage of Roque to his glamourous Spanish bride.

On one memorable occasion in 2003, O'Connell interviewed a lady who had been attacked in Weymouth by a fierce seagull. The interview proceeded with O'Connell playing various bird-related sound effects in the background, at increasing volume, and to the increasing irritation of the interviewee. Smith suggested that it was possibly the most puerile interview that they had ever featured.

When O'Connell had a family feud with his own grandmother, he enlisted a surrogate gran in the form of Nana Jean, a genial old biddy from Herne Bay, who frequently appeared on the phone to offer her views on some of the news stories of the week, as well as dispensing her wise advice. She also won a mobility scooter from O'Connell, and appeared on his short-lived TV show by way of gratitude. Her appearances would be heralded by the backing track from The Jean Genie by David Bowie. Nana Jean was also a regular helper at the Herne Bay Blind Club, which formed the basis of some regular juvenile comedy banter from O'Connell. She departed the show in controversial circumstances after her outspoken husband John made some comments on air about a family feud of their own, but O'Connell has occasionally suggested that she may be revived on occasion on his new Virgin breakfast show.

A range of light-entertainment personalities guested on the show during its five-year run, including glamour model Jordan, putanesca sauce entrepreneur Loyd Grossman, now-deceased psycopath teacher Mr Bronson (played by Michael Sheard) from Grange Hill, and tap-dancing raconteur Lionel Blair, who not only taught O'Connell how to tap-dance on his desk, but also introduced Christopher Biggins as a surprise guest. What blossomed into a strong mutual respect and admiration between Blair and O'Connell had started inauspiciously some months previously, when Blair had been the subject of a wind-up call, and exclaimed live on air "Is this a piss-take?"

O'Connell also frequently introduced Australian guests by playing clips of Meryl Streep in the 1980s film A Cry in the Dark, screeching 'The dingo's got my baby'. The most well-known Australian guest became Damon Green, a frequently exasperated caller from the Oval in south London, who called O'Connell a 'spazmoid' on his final show.

O'Connell presented his final Xfm breakfast show on the 21st of October 2005, after which Shaun Keaveny deputised until the 31st of October when former singer with indie band Kenickie and Xfm drivetime presenter Lauren Laverne took up the position on a full time basis.

Virgin Radio

O'Connell's departure from Xfm in October 2005 triggered a clause in his contract that prevented him from beginning another breakfast show within 3 months. His period of 'gardening leave' ended in mid January 2006, when he then succeeded Pete & Geoff on the Virgin Radio breakfast show, alongside his Xfm team of Chris Smith, Brian Murphy and Roque Segade-Vieito, the show producer.

This was his first high-profile national radio show, beginning on the 23rd of January 2006. At the start of his first show O'Connell made light of the fact he had previously made fun of Virgin Radio while working for London rival Xfm (in an interview he had claimed he wouldn't want to switch because he couldn't bear to play Phil Collins) - before deciding to switch stations - but made no derogatory comments about his former station or replacement host, Lauren Laverne. In fact, Laverne is said to have made a brief but polite reference to O'Connell's return to radio during her show. In a May 2006 interview in "The Independent", O'Connell referred in complimentary terms to Xfm and his successor, adding that the reason he left was that Virgin were offering him more resources to develop show ideas, but praising Laverne as being genuinely talented and creative.

To launch the Virgin breakfast show, O'Connell imported the old Bounty Hunter feature from his Xfm show as 'Who's Calling Christian' - in which a bounty of £20,000 was offered to the listener who managed to attract the best celebrity to call into the show. It was won by former James Bond and charity ambassador Sir Roger Moore, who struck up such a rapport with Christian that he was invited to call him 'Rog'. Previous winners of the similar contest on Xfm had been 24 (TV series) star Kiefer Sutherland, saucy actress Kate Winslet, and television heroes Richard & Judy. Madeley clinched the prize for the duo by informing male listeners to the show how they could make their manhoods appear larger.

Another popular feature of the show, which was carried over from Xfm is the 'Begging Emails', in which listeners write or email in pleas to win Breakfast Show bounty, including Roberts Digital Radios. Despite producer Roque's attempts to control the number of radios being awarded, newsman Chris Smith can regularly be heard encouraging O'Connell to give away more than he is allowed.

In April 2006, Head of Audio Comedy Brian Murphy raised over £700 for charity by running the London Marathon in just over 4 and a half hours. This was seen by many as a penance for several lame comedy features that he had been responsible for. Currently, Murphy (who has a fridge in his bedroom) provides a daily update from Big Brother, which O'Connell professes to find tiresome, as his preference is for Springwatch with Bill Oddie, whom he has interviewed on occasions.

Another popular strand within the show, also brought over from Xfm is titled 'No Sex Please, I'm Christian' (formerly 'Sexline Rodeo'), in which listeners are invited to guess how long O'Connell can keep a sex chatline worker talking about nonsense before she inevitably initiates lewd conversation.

The links to the show were provided by the actor Brian Blessed, and frequently featured innendo regarding his chipolata.

O'Connell's sidekick and newsreader Chris Smith is a talented impressionist - sometimes known as the man of a thousand voices. His most notable impersonation is an uncanny Loyd Grossman, whom he once encountered on air whilst in character, discussing beef tomatoes, putanesca sauce and a raspberry coulis. O'Connell also does impressions of Sir Alan Sugar and Marlon Brando. He also impersonated the former star of 1980s drama The A-Team, Mr T, in a highly shabby, short-lived radio soap, 'At Home with Mr T', but the idea was dropped after just three episodes, and is generally regarded as one of the shabbier moments in an otherwise promising and upwardly mobile radio career.

Other features of the show include, on Wednesdays, 'Would You Rathers' - in which listeners are invited to text in dilemmas beginning with the phrase 'would you rather...' and then presenting a difficult choice that O'Connell and Smith are obliged to pick from. Examples have included 'Would you rather be locked inside a cupboard with a wounded badger or a clown?' and 'Would you rather have foot-long nasal hair or eyeballs made of hard-boiled eggs?'.

Daily, in the 'Stairway to Seven' section of the show (between 6am and 7am), O'Connell or one of his team open a 'Can of Worms' in which a contentious point is put to listeners, who are invited to offer their views. Examples have included whether it is right for men to be seen in sandals, or the ideal sandwich filling.

The show also features a cast of peripheral characters, which over the years at both Virgin and Xfm have included Nana Jean (the genial old biddy from Herne Bay enlisted as a surrogate grandmother whilst Christian wasn't on speaking terms with his own, as described in the section above on Xfm), eccentric Japanese film reviewer Kimiko, Australian psychopath Damon Green from The Oval in south London, a listener who goes by the name 'Campino' who regularly texts in bizarre and strange comments, the Irish father of Head of Audio Comedy Brian Murphy, fortune telling mystic Victoria Bullis, (who informed a startled nation in April 2006 that Geoff Capes was Freddie Mercury's choice of replacement in the rock band Queen) and former A-Team star Mr T. Thirtysomething pin-ups Gaby Logan and Sarah Beeny are also frequently invited to be interviewed by Christian, purely because he admires their work as presenters, and for no other reason.

As in 2004, Christian and the team released a single for the 2006 World Cup. Following voting by the Virgin Radio listeners, Hurry Up England, a reworking of Sham 69's 1978 hit Hurry Up Harry was released on 12 June 2006 and entering the charts at #10. All proceeds from the single went to the Teenage Cancer Trust. However during the making of the single and the aftermath it was reported that O'Connell had a serious fall out with singer Jimmy Pursey and he has publicly expressed strong words towards him. Other entries of note included 'Win it for the Queen' by Cornelius Chapman and 'All Go Mad' by Howling at the Moon, the latter appearing on Side B of the single.

Virgin Radio also makes podcasts available of his programme, and the Breakfast Blog, a daily round-up of the show written by Chris Smith has recently exploded in popularity, usually with over 100 postings by Breakfast Show listeners each day. The contributor named Jo has been informally adopted by fellow blog contributors as their 'Queen of the Blog'.

Unfortunately, in February 2007, Chris Smith departed on paternity leave and for reasons unknown to the public he has not returned. Brian and Roque now fill the roles Smith previously held, except that of newsreader.

On 30 April 2007, he won a Gold award at the 25th Sony Radio Academy Awards for his competition "Who's calling Christian" where members of the public get celebrities to phone the studio and talk to to O'Connell on air. The two times this has been held it has been won by actor Sir Roger Moore and former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Notable Radio guests

Steven Seagal

O'Connell has long been a fan of Hollywood action man Steven Seagal, who he had mentioned several times on radio, and remarked that he would love to meet. However when Seagal rang Christian the relationship and understanding between the two was quite difficult and left O'Connell feeling disappointed. Seagal did not understand O'Connell's ironic personality and sense of humour and much of the recorded interview had to be removed from the radio broadcast because of such uneasiness.

Liam Gallagher

On October 27, 2006 Liam Gallagher reportedly attempted to ring Virgin Radio on the Who's calling Christian where there is the chance to win £10,000 for charity. Liam was apparently in a drunken state and it took him 3 hours after an aggressive protest to convince Virgin bosses that it was indeed him and not an imposter. A great deal of swearing occurred off air between the managers and Gallagher who swore that he would come down to Virgin Radio and "Rip Christian O'Connell's fucking head off". After further phone calls from Polydor records and from Nicole Appleton begging for him to be let on, Gallagher was eventually allowed on and swore live on air on a morning breakfast show which may result in a fine. However he did not complete the conversation, leaving his friend Scully to speak for him, saying that he had to take his kids to see Harry Potter. However after an interview with his brother Noel Gallagher in February 2007, O' Connell expressed his liking to Noel and regarded that he was one of the funniest men he had every met in his life.

Tony Blair

Mr Tony Blair called Virgin Radio's Who's Calling Christian? hotline, after charity campaigner Graham Marsh contacted his Sedgefield constituency. If he won, Mr Marsh, from North Shields and who received a heart transplant in 1999, said he planned to donate his £10,000 to the two charities he supports - the Freemans Heart and Lung Transplant Association and the Tyne Youth and Community Centre, both in Newcastle upon Tyne.

A nervous Mr Blair began by telling the programme: "Probably nothing in my career has prepared me for this." When O'Connell asked if he should be referred to as The Right Honourable Tony Blair, the Prime Minister replied: "Refer to me any way you like as long as it's reasonably polite! Tony will do fine." He explained: "Someone from my constituency phoned me and said 'Why don't we do this?' and I said yes because they are really, really good causes." The exchange ended with O'Connell asking Mr Blair to choose his favourite song from the 1980s. He chose Street With No Name by U2 - actually called Where the Streets Have No Name.

Graham Marsh and Tony Blair resoundingly won the contest on the 7 November 2006

David Tennant

Doctor Who actor David Tennant who with a notable sense of humour is a regular on the show and a close friend of O'Connell and has been involved in some of the shows and O'Connell's professed "shabbiest" moments including the 2006 Chistmas play with Thandie Newton and the axed Mr T escapade. In late March 2007 he appeared on the Breakfast show again and took part in another escapade "1 Golden Square" (the address of Virgin Radio). Later that week when he appeared on a rival show on BBC Radio 1 on the Saturday, Virgin Radio producer Roque Segade-Vieito contacted the station for a practical joke texting a question to Tennant as "I hear you have been signed up for a new programme called 1 Golden Square". Ironically the question was taken seriously and addressed to Tennant live on Radio 1 leaving Virgin Radio including O'Connell rather pleased with the gag.

BBC Radio Five Live

On 07 August 2004, O'Connell became the second person to host the BBC Radio Five Live show Fighting Talk, following the departure of Johnny Vaughan. It was his first outing on national radio (his Xfm show was broadcast only in London) and he completed 16 months presenting the show before leaving to focus on his new breakfast show at Virgin Radio. The show won a Gold award at the 24th Sony Radio Academy Awards, with O'Connell accredited as the presenter.

Awards

• 2004 Sony Radio Academy Gold Award for DJ of the Year.
• 2004 Sony Radio Academy Silver Award for Breakfast Show of the Year.
• 2005 Sony Radio Academy Gold Award for Entertainment.
• 2005 Sony Radio Academy Gold Award for Breakfast Show of the Year.
• 2006 Sony Radio Academy Gold Award for Sports Programme (Fighting Talk).
• 2007 Sony Radio Academy Gold Award for a Competition (Who’s Calling Christian?).

Television career

Christian has appeared as a guest on a BBC2 sports show with Dickie Davies as one of the fellow guests. In 2003, Christian replaced Chris Moyles on Channel 5's "Live With..." show and went on to present trivia show "Pub Ammo" in 2004 on the same channel. In 2005 he also appeared on BBC2's Eggheads quiz show with Chris Smith, Roque Segade-Vieito and an Xfm listener as the other panelists on his (losing) team. He has also narrated Channel 4's Rock School.

In May 2006, it was announced that O'Connell will shortly front 'Sunday Service'; a Chris Evans style Sunday evening show on Sky One. In June 2006, O'Connell started his own world cup show, World Cuppa on ITV4.

He was tipped to replace Des Lynam as the host of channel 4's Countdown but he admitted he was too fond of his radio career to accept the role.

Personal & Family

Christian originally came from Winchester and has an Irish father. He attended Nottingham Trent University He supports Championship football side Southampton FC, but claims he doesn't follow them so much since they were relegated from the top flight.

Facts & Oddities

Before becoming a radio presenter, Christian O'Connell had a Saturday job at M & S, and was briefly a stand-up comedian, performing at various comedy clubs around the UK. Although he no longer does stand-up, there's still a strong comedy element to his music radio shows, although his recent feature, 'At Home with Mr T' was an exception to this rule.

O'Connell was once awarded the accolade of Allied Carpets Employee of the Month.

He is also the owner of a young dog called Digby, which was once at the centre of a drama in Richmond Park, when he slipped his leash to steal a pie and lump of cheese from a picnicking family.

From his Sky One show it has been shown that he has an unhealthy obsession with all things Steven Seagal

O'Connell is a major fan of Wikipedia stating his admiration for it live on air several times, using it for example to quickly do research on a guest for his competition "who's calling Christian" and for his training for the Weakest Link.

He appeared in November 2006 on the BBC TV gameshow "The Weakest Link". The show, recorded in early November, was shown at Christmas 2006. O'Connell admitted on his breakfast show that he went out in the 3rd round after being voted off by his fellow contestants. He blames this on his ridiculous answer to the question "Which has more legs than the other? A dog or a duck? O'Connell answered "Neither, it's a trick question, they have the same".

As of 30th June 2007, it is believed that Christian had played the Snow Patrol hit, Chasing Cars on 5,000 occasions. To commemorate this milestone listeners were allowed to remember Christian's failed TV career, something that the DJ and his posse (a feature lovingly pilfered from fellow DJ Steve Wright) had previously gone to great lengths to avoid mentioning.

One-time Breakfast Show guest Richard Littlejohn has described O'Connell as "a poor man's Johnny Vaughan, but twice as 'Orrible."

References

External links

• Sky One - Sunday Service
• VirginRadio.co.uk - The Breakfast Show
• Christian's profile at VirginRadio.co.uk
• VirginRadio.co.uk - The Breakfast Show Blog
• Christian O'Connell interviewed From London's Evening Standard (May 2003)
• Press Gazette interview (Jan 2006)
• Interview with 'The Independent' (May 2006)