Simon Mayo
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Simon Mayo (born 21 September 1958 in Southgate, London) is a UK radio presenter.
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[edit] Early career
Mayo was educated at Solihull School, a boys' Independent school in the English Midlands, and graduated from Warwick University with a degree in history and politics where he had been a presenter on the student radio station, Radio Warwick. He then worked for four years as a presenter with BBC Radio Nottingham, before joining the national pop network BBC Radio 1 in 1986, presenting a two hour Saturday evening show.
In October 1987 he progressed to the weekend early slots and then became presenter of the weekday evening show in January 1988. Five months later he was offered the Radio 1 breakfast show, regarded as the most prestigious presentation job in UK radio.
[edit] Waking the nation
Mayo spent five years waking up the nation. Throughout his tenure, Mayo was joined by news anchor Rod McKenzie and went through a series of sidekick weather girls, including Carol Dooley, Sybil Ruscoe, Jakki Brambles and Dianne Oxberry. The show's producer was Ric Blaxill who also made regular speaking contributions. A regular conceit was that the show was being overseen by a celebrity "guest producer", played by Blaxhill without making any attempt to disguise his normal voice.
The programme became known for various features, including On This Day In History, soundtracked by a looped version of George Michael's "I Want Your Sex", and the long-running cryptic game The Identik-Hit Quiz, where Mayo and his cohorts would 'act' a short scene which cryptically led listeners to the title of a hit song.
He also ran his Confessions feature where members of the public sought absolution for their (often frivolous or humorous) "sins", and it moved to a television series in later years. Mayo had already presented the dilemma show Scruples for BBC television, and had joined his Radio 1 colleagues on the host roster for Top of the Pops.
Both On This Day In History and Confessions spawned spin-off books.
Due to endless plays from Mayo, several unlikely hit singles reached the UK charts, including "Kinky Boots" by Patrick Macnee and Honor Blackman; "Donald Where's Yer Troosers" by Andy Stewart; and "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", sung and written by Eric Idle. For helping Monty Python have a hit with the latter 13 years after it first appeared on the soundtrack to The Life of Brian, Idle presented Mayo with a model bare foot, in the style of the animated version which used to end the opening titles to the TV show.
When Mayo's wife Hilary, a producer whom he met at BBC Radio Nottingham, gave birth to their son Ben in 1991, Mayo took an extended period of paternity leave. The couple subsequently had two more children; Natasha born in 1993 and Joe born in 1999.
Presenters who covered the breakfast show when Mayo took holidays included Bruno Brookes, Gary King, Phillip Schofield, Nicky Campbell and Mark Goodier.
Mayo, like all of Radio 1's high-profile presenters of the time, would take his turn to spend a week in a coastal area of the UK during the Radio 1 Roadshows which occurred for three months of the summer. For a short while, he also presented an additional weekend show for the station on a Sunday afternoon and provisionally titled O Solo Mayo - to cover for the absent Phillip Schofield, who was working in the West End.
[edit] Mid-mornings, then back to breakfast
Mayo officially gave up the breakfast show in 1993, though he had been on another extended period of paternity leave when the announcement was made. His stand-in Goodier was confirmed as his permanent replacement. Mayo moved on to the mid-morning slot from 9 am to 12 midday, and survived the cull of long-standing presenters which Radio 1 underwent the same year on the arrival of controller Matthew Bannister and his wish to rebrand the station as younger and more 'cutting edge'.
Mayo remained in the mid-morning slot for eight years, though briefly returned to the breakfast show when Chris Evans was dismissed, but both Mayo and Radio 1 ruled out the possibilities of a permanent return to the programme. On his first morning as breakfast stand-in, he read out an email from a man who had emigrated to New Zealand four years earlier and had arrived back in the UK that morning, and was "delighted to hear you're still doing the breakfast show".
[edit] 5 Live
In 2001, after 15 years with Radio 1, Mayo announced he was leaving to join sister station Five Live to present an afternoon programme. His final record on Radio 1 was "Ace Of Spades" by Motörhead.
Mayo duly began broadcasting on Five Live every weekday from 1 to 4 pm, and there he remains. He was on air when the September 11, 2001 attacks occurred, and received acclaim for the way he handled the station's reaction to the atrocity.
The programme generally combines topical debates, interviews and reviews. It comes live from Westminster each Wednesday for live coverage of Prime Minister's Questions, with discussion and debate afterwards with political correspondents and MPs. The programme also features Mayo's old Radio 1 sidekick Mark Kermode reviewing the new movie releases each Friday afternoon.
[edit] Radio 2
Since October 2001, Mayo has also hosted the Album Chart show each week for BBC Radio 2, which he still continues to present. Alongside this, on 2 January 2006, he presented The Ultimate Music Year for the station, where listeners got the chance to vote for their favourite year for music. He has also presented many Sold on Song projects, presented the Top 100 Albums and provided holiday cover for Johnnie Walker on Sundays.
[edit] Other Projects
On TV he presented the first and second series of BBC show Winning Lines as part of the corporation's National Lottery output.
[edit] Miscellaneous
Mayo is a fan of Tottenham Hotspur F.C. and is a devout Christian. In the 1990s, he notably played songs by Christian rock band Delirious? on his radio show.
| Preceded by: Mike Smith |
BBC Radio One Breakfast Show Presenter 1988-1993 |
Succeeded by: Mark Goodier |
