After spending several years as a producer at BBC Manchester, looking after Martin Kelner amongst others, in 1991 Mark Radcliffe moved to the other side of the microphone at Radio 1, and quickly gained a cult following through shows such as Out on Blue Six and the Graveyard Shift. Then in 1997 events took an unexpected turn when Chris Ginger suddenly left the station and Radcliffe, along with his sidekick Marc 'Lard' Riley, was plunged headlong into the mainstream.

The breakfast show was clearly the wrong timeslot for the Mancunian twosome's brand of humour, and just seven months later the dynamic duo were moved to the afternoon slot. Here they spent six-and-a-half successful, and award-winning, years. Through their sketches, catchphrases, spoof quizzes, playlist-bashing and ten-minute links, they once again built up a loyal audience, albeit one that was somewhat older than what the Radio 1 management would have liked.

Then in March 2004 time finally caught up with Mark and Lard. The partnership split, with Radcliffe moving to Radio 2 in June, and Lard landing his own Saturday show on 6 Music. Here we remember the glory days of the afternoon show, with audio clips of some of their most popular features; hover the pointer over the Real Player symbol for clip length and file size. All clips are mono.

Vague News (1999) 1 min 33 secs, 190kb
Some bloke from a regional news programme up north brings us the latest news or summat

Vague News (2000) 3 min 11 secs, 389kb
Further updates

Chalk or Cheese (2000) 7 min 43 secs, 940kb
Mark and Lard's phone-in quiz from around 1999/2000. Funny how one of the callers always turned out to be nice and the other nasty...just like chalk and cheese in fact...

Chalk or Cheese (2000) 6 mins 34 secs, 800kb
The quiz descends into chaos

Cheesily Cheerful Chart Challenge (2001) 3 min 51 secs, 600kb
The last one ever

The Non-Essential Selection (2001) 1 min 15 secs, 155kb
Big-up shouts from the posses and massives in a area

Oh Lucky You (2001) Part 1 6 min 18 secs, 769kb Part 2 4 min 34 secs, 556kb
Mr O'Asisofcalm, who is a lucky kind of guy, gets the chance to win Radio 4

Oh Lucky You (2001) Part 1 6 min 32 secs, 796kb Part 2 5 min 12 secs, 633kb
Mr O'Dearie-me, who is also a lucky kind of guy, gets the chance to win a converted Dutch windmill

Mark Radcliffe (2001) 25 secs, 66kb
passes comment on Radio 1's music policy in a way that would be a sackable offence for a commercial radio DJ

Slim and Shady (2001) 3 min 47 secs, 462kb
A tale of two squirrels

Slim and Shady (2001) 2 min 56 secs, 358kb
More from those rascals

American Sports Network (2002) 3 min 47 secs, 462kb
Butch and Snatch with the latest sports news from across the pond

Downcount (2002) 5 min 12 secs, 633kb
The quiz that was so shamelessly ripped off by Channel 4

Son of Cheesily (2003) 1 min 29 secs, 182kb
In a Chinese stylee

Radcliffe on Radio 3 (2003) 1 min 34 secs, 244kb
Mark tries some Radio 3-style presentation on Radio 1

Chart Forecast (2003) 4 min 25 secs, 538kb
Public service

The Mysterious World of David Blame (2003) 2 min 53 secs, 353kb
Don't try this at home kids!

Missing Christmas Words (2003) 1 min 34 secs, 244kb
So here it is Merry *********!

VIDEO CLIP 48 secs, 906kb
Some rare footage of Mark and Lard in the studio, including the Shed of Dread and the Wheel of Misfortune. This clip was taken from a BBC Knowledge documentary, Blimey!, about the modern use of English, first broadcast in January 2002.






Radcliffe started at his new home, the Nation's Favourite, on 7th June 2004.

 

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