‘We were going to all these gigs and it was like all these bands – Suede, Blur, Oasis, the Verve – were our mates down the pub. There was no fakery or pretence’
I worked for New Musical Express for five years, then Select magazine. I had a weekly show on the pirate radio station Q102, which morphed into Xfm, and made a couple of guest appearances on Mark Goodier’s fledgling BBC Radio 1 evening show. Mark was away for four weeks in the summer of 1993 so they got in guest presenters, including Jo and me. A couple of months later, we were invited back to co-host for seven weeks. Matthew Bannister had just taken control of Radio 1 with rumours of an immediate shake-up. He called us into his office. We both sat staring at our boots, thinking: “This is the point where he says: ’Thanks very much.’” He said: “We’d like you to carry on.” He gave us the job full time, and off we went.
