BIOGRAPHY - PICS - AUDIO - LINKS - SHIREHORSES
Mark
Radcliffe
Mark Radcliffe was born in Bolton (1958) and lives in Manchester.
He studied English & American Studies and Classic
Civilisation at Manchester University before starting his first
job as a 'junior assistant dogsbody producer' with Piccadilly
Radio (1979).
In 1983, Mark moved to London to join Radio 1, producing Saturday
Live and sessions for John Peel. In 1985, he returned to
Manchester to become Head of Music at Piccadilly, where he began
DJing again. Mark returned to the BBC in 1987 to work as a
'popular music' producer at BBC North where he worked on
programmes such as Martin Kelner's Saturday Night for Radio 2 and
In Concerts and documentaries for Radio 1.
When Radio 5 began in 1990, Mark became presenter of the evening
music programme, Hit The North. Out On Blue Six, was launched in
April 1991 and won a Sony Award in 1992. His success led Radio 1
to offer him two weeks as a stand-in for Mark Goodier from which
he never returned. Mark moved to four nights a week from October
1993 and he became the first DJ to introduce a regular poetry
slot to Radio 1.
On several occasions during 1996 Mark and his hapless side-kick,
Marc 'Lard' Riley, played havoc with the morning schedule while
depping for Chris Evans on the Breakfast Show and were duly
rewarded with the show on a permanent basis (February 1997). Mark
and Lard moved to the High-Tea and Tosspots slot in the afternoon
in October, with regular features such as the Cheesily Cheerful
Chart Challenge and Fat Harry White.
Amongst all this, Mark, with the help of chart-topping band The
Shirehorses opened Glastonbury in 1997. But after the lyrics to
the band's hits were ruthlessly plundered by other, less creative
turns, The Shirehorses disbanded in 1998 after a successful UK
tour in a double decker bus.
1998 proved to be a good year for the duo in terms of trophies.
In January, they won the Melody Maker Best Radio DJs of the Year,
follwed by the same award from the NME. In May 1998, they won a
Gold Sony Radio Award for Best Daytime Music Show. They are
'skinning the competition alive.'
Lard
Born and bred in Manchester, Marc Riley flew through the halls of
Mancunian academia and in the summer of 1978 left the hallowed
halls of Saint Gregory's Grammar School (ex-Borstal in the
Ardwick area) and straight into showbusiness. The specific mode
of transport into showbusiness was non-other than Professional
northern miseries, The Fall. It was in this successful ensemble
that Riley played bass, guitar, keyboards and eventually kazoo.
After nearly five years and a couple of fist-fights Riley flew
that particular nest and formed a band that would go on to change
the face of music as we know it....that band was The Creepers.
Having changed the face of music Riley disbanded The Creepers in
1989 and became a PR bod for the likes of 4AD and Factory
records, helping along the likes of Happy Mondays, The Pixies and
the Cocteau Twins.
It was in this role as shameless record plugger that Riley was
allowed into the BBC North building through the back door. Once
in Riley quite simply refused to leave. Having manacled himself
to the Parker-Knowles recliner of the great radio pioneer Frank
Mansfield (editor of the newly unleashed Radio 5) Riley was
eventually allowed on the medium air-waves via 'Hit The North'
where his wit , charm and knowledge of the music biz saw his
fortnightly gossip slot upped to a weekly appearance, then as top
flight researcher come on air contributor to, quite rightly,
eventually reaching the dizzy heights of producer and hapless
side-kick.
Being dead clever and stuff, newly appointed Radio 1 big cheese
Matthew 'Roger' Bannister heard 'Hit The North' and employed Mark
Radcliffe to fill the graveyard slot. Realising Riley's (now
re-christened The Hapless Boy Lard) importance in the scheme of
things Radcliffe made sure Riley was also employed as Side-kick
and Biscuit monitor.
The rest, as they say, is history. To this day Radcliffe is
regarded as one of the wittiest raconteurs on the wireless, and
Lard is regarded as a right royal pain in the arse by all those
unlucky enough to be subjected to this relentless arsenal of
half-baked catchphrases.
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Chris Moyles - Mark and Lard - Dave Pearce - Sarah Cox Reccomended websites for: Celebrity pictures or the Isle of Wight |