Mark Radcliffe (born 29 June 1958) is an English broadcaster who has worked in various roles for the BBC since the 1980s.

Radcliffe was born in Bolton, Lancashire (now part of Greater Manchester), educated at the independent fee-paying Bolton School and took an interest in music from a young age; playing drums in several bands. In some respects he is a very traditional British DJ, with a wide knowledge of rock and pop. His northern English-style sense of humour and quick wit have led to comparisons to John Peel and Peter Kay. As of 2007, he lived in Whitley, Cheshire and was married with three daughters.

Radio and music

Radcliffe's radio career began in late 1982 at Piccadilly Radio, where he hosted a Friday night show called Cures For Insomnia. He came to prominence as a DJ on BBC Radio 5's Hit The North in 1990, and he joined BBC Radio 1 in 1991, presenting the one-hour Monday evening show Out on Blue Six. Starting in early 1993, he presented the arts programme The Guest List on Thursdays. His most famous work was as part of the act Mark and Lard (with Marc The Boy Lard Riley) on BBC Radio 1. The duo began in a 10pm-midnight slot on Mondays to Thursdays in October 1993. This show was unique for Radio 1 because it was based around non-playlist music and featured live music sessions, poetry readings and comedy. Having taken over the 'graveyard shift' from October 1993 onwards, Radcliffe and Riley hosted a show of unprecedented variety incorporating poetry readings from regular guest Ian MacMillan (a series of readings of Philip Larkin's prose by Julianne Regan was particularly impressive), off the wall, irreverent comedy, bizarre quizzes 'Fish or Fowl', 'Bird or Bloke' amongst others, and a play list that rivaled the great John Peel in terms of eclecticism. The show also held some of the best sessions from up and coming and alternative bands of the time; Throwing Muses, Moloko, Nick Cave, Pulp, Baby Bird, The Divine Comedy, Mice, to name a few. It's worth noting that in January 1997, Radcliffe was almost single handedly responsible for the entry of White Town's Atari classic "Your Woman" into the number one slot in the UK charts due to repeated playings. Whilst the 10 to 12 time slot proved to be a zenith in R1 broadcasting, the short lived stint hosting the breakfast show in 1997 did not serve the pairs interests well given the overbearing need to compromise their comedic outings and handle the sugary burden of the radio one daytime play list. The afternoon slot that followed was a greater success and introduced Radcliffe and Riley to a barrage of new listeners whose influence caused the proliferation of numerous catch phrases.Following Chris Evans' departure in early 1997, they were moved to a brief and unsuccessful position on the breakfast show. Their style of music and broadcasting was not a success in this slot, and they were quickly moved to the early afternoon slot from 2pm-4pm. They occupied that slot for the rest of their time at the station, winning a Sony Gold award in the process.

Radcliffe left Radio 1 in March 2004 and moved to an evening slot on BBC Radio 2 in June of the same year. The new show was reminiscent of the graveyard shift he had previously occupied on BBC Radio 1; with live music and studio guests. Riley moved to BBC 6Music. Starting on April 16, 2007, Radcliffe joined forces with Stuart Maconie to present a new show on BBC Radio 2 on Mondays to Thursdays from 8-10pm. Radcliffe experienced brief commercial success with Shirehorses, a parody band (its name based on the short-lived band The Seahorses) spawned from his Mark And Lard antics. Earlier in his career, he had played in other bands, including the punk rock band Skrewdriver (briefly, before their re-incarnation as a white power skinhead band). As of 2007, Radcliffe was a member of the more folk-oriented The Family Mahone.

Television

Radcliffe presented a live music TV programme, The White Room, for Channel 4 in 1995, and has regularly appeared in the BBC's coverage of the Glastonbury Festival and the Cambridge Folk Festival. Along with Marc Riley, he presented a music-based quiz programme, Pop Upstairs Downstairs, for the BBC/Flextech digital TV channel UK Play in 1999 and 2000. He also presented the BBC 1 football retrospective show Match Of The Nineties, which aired in summer 1999. In 2006, he won the ITV1 singing competition Stars in Their Eyes with an appearance portraying The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan singing "The Irish Rover".

Writing

Radcliffe wrote the autobiography Showbusiness: The Diary Of A Rock 'N' Roll Nobody; a critically-acclaimed history of his attempts at a career as a musician, including his exploits with Shirehorses. His novel Northern Sky — based around a folk music club in an imaginary northern English city — was published in 2005

External links

• Biography on BBC.co.uk