BBC DJ Scott Mills is stepping down from his Radio 1 presenter role, having joined the station in 1998. I certainly enjoyed his programmes, particularly the vulgar, borderline offensive Innuendo Bingo. Here’s Daniel Radcliffe playing the notably pre-covid game.
Back in 2003, over the summer when I was at university, I was doing warehouse work somewhere in Oldham. Radio 1 was blaring on an old paint-splattered hi-fi in the lunch room. Scott Mills was asking his audience, do you have any crazy mates?
Now, prior to that summer, I’d spent my second year in student halls in Manchester with a few guys off my course. One of them was a very strange bloke.
I messaged in, accurately: ‘My flatmate Toby thinks he’s a hobbit. He has hairy feet and calls our flat The Shire.’
I included Toby’s mobile number (something I’d probably get hauled over the coals for these days with GDPR, as would Radio 1 for requesting it) and my own name.
I thought nothing more of this until 20 minutes or so later when Toby phoned me. It turned out that Mills’ co-host, who I seem to recall being called BB Aled, had called Toby to ask him about this. (I’m pretty sure it was Aled Jones, nicknamed BB for his reporting on reality TV show Big Brother. Thanks, Twitter peeps.) Jones and Mills were trying to get Toby to go on air, but he declined. He wasn’t the talking type.
Toby had a habit of getting drunk and repeating the word ‘shire,’ not to mention calling me Frodo at every possible opportunity. He said he wanted to live a simple life in Hobbiton, and not have to worry about anything. Well, that’s the first 20 minutes of Lord of the Rings, at least. Not sure he’d enjoy being eviscerated by an Orc or Cave Troll.
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