Today we heard the sad but true story of the would-be shoplifter, who having nicked a laptop from a store in Augusta, Georgia, then ran into a group of marines doing charity work outside the store – stabbing one on his way passed.

Although the marine was taken to hospital, mercifully he was not seriously hurt.

The same cannot be said for his assailant who was also taken to hospital suffering from two broken arms, a broken ankle, a broken leg, several missing teeth, possible broken ribs, multiple contusions, assorted lacerations, a broken nose and a broken jaw.

But here’s the good bit.

The injuries were not the result of his entanglement with the marines, but occurred when he slipped and fell off the kerb!

In the second hour of the programme I was joined, as per usual on a Tuesday, by Margaret Mills, who reported on the life of the Essex based explorer,Captain Oates, best known being being a part of Scott’s expedition to the Antarctic.

Listen again here to what Margaret told me today: –

See you again next week,
Scott

Yes today we reported on the different marketing strategies adopted by two restaurants.

Firstly from Melbourne, Australia came news of the newly opened vegan venue, THE HANDSOME HER CAFE which not only provides priority seating for women, but for one week a month also charges male diners an 18% “tax” to reflect the average pay difference of 17.7% currently generally adopted in Australia.

Amazingly although the surcharge is not actually fully enforced, so far no one has refused to cough up.

Indeed it seems that men have actually travelled from across town to visit them and to pay the man tax!  

Some have even been putting extra into the donation jar.

Meanwhile over in China the TRENDY SHRIMP restaurant have been offering other incentives for their female customer base by offering discounts based on the size of their breasts.

Apparently since the promotion started at the beginning of August, customer numbers have increased by about 20%.

Well I never!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

An extra bonus show for me today so for the most part we concentrated on the music BUT I couldn’t resist reporting on the “arms” find by Chinese security guards at a bus station.

It appears that the security officials arrested a man at a bus station on suspicion of murder after limbs were spotted by the station’s security scanners.

It subsequently emerged that the man’s brother had asked him to collect the arms from a hospital where he’d been treated, and had the limbs amputated after suffering a major electric shock.

Seemingly it is a traditional Chinese belief that the body should be cremated or buried whole after someone has died, in order to be at peace.

An arms dealer with a difference, I suppose!

On that not I’ll see you again next week,
Scott

This coming Sunday the 13th August sees a charity football match coming to the Brentwood Centre.

SULLY’S MATES will be taking on the St Francis Hospice XI and a fun day can be had for all.

Gates open at noon and the bar will be in full swing with food and drink til 6:30 and as an added bonus attendees will also be able to see the big match between Manchester United and West Ham to be shown on the big screen from 4pm

Cost of entry is a mere fiver with under 10’s get in for free.

Listen here to what my guests MIKE ALLEN from St Francis Hospice and JOE O’SULLIVAN from the Brentwood Football Club had to say today: –

You can get your tickets in advance by calling MIKE ALLEN at the St Francis Hospice on 01708 753319 Ext 2354, by e-mail to fundraising@sfh.org.uk and via the website https://www.sfh.org.uk/. 

You could, of course take a chance and get them at the gate, but note that places are limited so you’d probably be best advised to buy in advance to avoid disappointment.

From an exciting event, wee turned our attention to what could be one of the dullest.

Next month sees the London premier of what could potentially be one of the most boring films ever made – and what’s more it was shot in Essex.

The title of this 8 hour – yes 8 hour epic is “BAA BAA LAND” which stars a flock of sheep.

And that’s it – no dialogue, plot line, actors, just sheep filmed grazing in a field in slow motion.

Apparently this is the latest example of a niche genre known as slow cinema.

Perhaps I’ll wait til it’s shown on TV.

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

On today’s show we heard why a party of priests were thrown out of a pub.

How embarrassing is that?

But it wasn’t their fault.

No it seems that the doorman mistook them as being part of a potentially rowdy stag party but everything turned out right in the end when the manager established that they were “the real thing” and not in fancy dress.

It later emerged that the group had encountered a similar problem at another hostelry during the previous week.

There’s a bit of a pattern developing here would you not say?

Margaret Mills popped by later to tell us about the links between Brentwood, Samuel Pepys and the civil war. Listen again here to what Margaret told me today: –

See you once more tomorrow,
Scott

Today we heard of the sad plight of the man fined for falling asleep on his train home.

Like many of us have done, he woke up just as the train was pulling out of his intended stop so he planned to get off at the next stop and head back by the next train.

Unfortunately he was challenged by ticket collectors and fined the cost of the whole fare from London, rather than the extra £2:70 being the cost of the extra journey.

This in spite of having a valid season ticket for which he had paid £4250.

When his appeal failed he was ordered to cough up more money and threatened with a £1000 fine and imprisonment if he failed to do so.

The matter was only resolved after a local newspaper took up his case with the railway company involved who, presumably in the face of adverse publicity, backed down.

In the last hour of the show, Margaret Mills returned to look at an amazing character from Orsett – Col. Francis Whitmore.

Listen again to what Margaret told me by clicking on the link below: –

See you again next week,
Scott

On today’s show we welcomed back BRIAN HUGHES from Shenfield based solicitors, RAINER HUGHES.

Brian’s subject today concerned the thorny issue of divorce and you can hear what Brian had to say on this by clicking on the following link: –

In the second hour of the show we heard how keeping your house thoroughly clean might help you to avoid putting on those unwanted extra pounds.

Scientists in the USA have shown that daily most people absorb more than 16 times the amount of dust that can affect your weight. So out with the vacuum cleaner, duster and polish and then maybe you can eat a few more chips and drink another glass of wine!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

Throughout my experience in Phoenix FM I have been taught many different things. I have read events guides , learnt how to present then researched some news to present myself !

Ria Abbott-Bailey

I have had conversations about my hobbies and school on air with some of the presenters.
I have learnt lots of things about the radio that I’d never known before.

For any other students looking for work experience I would highly recommend Phoenix FM.
I can’t thanks the presenters I worked with and the whole Phoenix team enough!
Thank you for making my week as amusing and fascinating as possible.

We heard today of the incredible story of an Edinburgh man who kept the embalmed bodies of his dead parents in the fridge.

His mother died in February 1987 and his father in August 1994 so it must have been a bit of a squash in there along with the meat, fruit and vegetables etc.

Anyway any wine would probably have got a fuller body!

Talking of medical issues, Margaret Mills looked back today at the life of William Harvey who was the first known physician to detail how blood  was pumped to the brain and body by the heart.

Listen again here to what Margaret had to say on this subject:-

See you again next week,
Scott

BATTLEFIELD ESSEX is the title of a new book by Andrew Summers and John Debenham and John joined me today to tell me all about this new publication.

Actually the title is a bit of a misnomer as it not only includes  real battles but covers a multitude of other issues from riots to the seaside invasions by the mods and rockers back in the 1960’s.

Due to the limited time available we were able to barely scratch the surface in our chat today, but if you missed it, click on the link below to hear what John told me: –

And if you’d like to get hold of a copy (which I can thoroughly recommend) the book is available from all good bookshops or direct from the publisher at http://www.essex100.com  for just £8:99.

In the second hour of today’s show, we heard just how important it can be to carefully read the terms and conditions, before signing up to free wi-fi, or to anything else for that matter.

It seems that thousands of people in Manchester have inadvertently signed up to do 1000 hours of community service – cleaning toilets at festivals, scraping chewing gum off the streets and ‘manually relieving sewer blockages, after agreeing to these terms when they signed up to free wi-fi in places like Pizza Express.

Well that’ll learn them!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott 

On today’s programme we examined one of the latest pronouncements by US President Trump.

Yes, Mr Trump has apparently now decided that his planned wall between the US and Mexico needs to be transparent so that unsuspecting US citizens don’t get brained by 60 lb parcels of drugs being hurled over the wall by Mexican drug dealers.

Personally I would have thought this an unlikely scenario given that in all probability drug dealers would want to get paid for their supplies and would therefore be unlikely to just chuck the stuff over a wall and rely on getting paid by chance!

Also from the US comes news of a 27-year old mother, Alana Nicole Donahue from Springfield in Oregon, decided to take the kids out for a spin by towing them in a toy car attached to her 1999 Ford Taurus Station Wagon at speeds of up to 30mph before giving them a few quick spins around a roundabout. 

After being charged  our heroine  told an officer she didn’t know why everyone was making such a big deal, saying, “I was just trying to show them a good time”.

Well there you go – you can’t argue with that eh?

See you again next week,
Scott

Tuesday’s show was full of woe!

Well not really but we did hear about the man who managed to trap himself inside an ATM machine.

You know I always thought there was a little man in there doling out the dosh and now we know I was right all along!

In this case it was an engineer who somehow managed to lock himself in the vault below the machine.

He was stuck there for more than two hours but his cries for help were thought to be part of some kind of joke so he finally resorted to attaching notes pleading for help, to the money being dispensed.

Keeping to the theme of tragedy, later in the show Margaret Mills joined me to relate the tale of the SHIRE HALL tragedy which occurred in Chelmsford in February 1856.

Listen again here to what Margaret had to say on this subject:-

See you again tomorrow,
Scottt

I have had a great week whilst doing work experience at Phoenix FM. I have been fortunate enough to meet and work with various presenters on their different shows at different times throughout the week. As the week progressed, my confidence has grown, greatly exceeding my initial confidence when thinking about speaking on the radio.

Amy Deller

Throughout my experience, I have been welcomed into being part of a wide variety of radio features – from reading events guides to finding and presenting retro charts! I have also had conversations on air with the presenters – and even researched and presented my own short features!

You can listen to a brief clip of Amy on Michelle Ward’s Eat My Brunch show here

By the end of the week, I feel as if I’ve been involved so many different things and have been educated on such a huge range of things which I never knew about the radio before.

I can’t thank the Phoenix team – specifically the presenters I worked with – enough for making my week as enjoyable and interesting as imaginable! I would highly recommend the welcoming environment that Phoenix FM kindly welcomed me into for any other students seeking work experience.

Today we enjoyed the story about the newly constructed £140,000 2 bedroom house that’s so close to a bus shelter, that you can’t even use the front gate, but instead have to climb over the fence to get in and out of the property!

It seems that the bus shelter was there first – for some years in fact, so one does have to wonder what the developers were thinking of when they built the new house!

Margaret Mills returned later with news of the life and times of an Essex born designer, William Morris, who I’m sure would have been far more careful with his designs.

Listen again to what Margaret said today: –

See you again next week,
Scott

After quite a long break I was thrilled today to be joined by Frances Clamp who has just penned a new book – ESSEX AT WAR 1939-45.

During our discussion today, Frances went into some detail about how she came to research all the material for this book and also outlined some of the many areas covered in the book.

ESSEX AT WAR 1939-45 is available on Amazon and at Waterstones at £12.99 and if you need it the ISPN Number is 1473860415.

Listen to what Frances told me today by clicking on the link below: – 

In the second hour of the programme we heard why the mayor of a town in Mexico has gone through a marriage ceremony with a crocodile – and no it was not a “snap” decision!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

The Billericay Summerfest is the Rotary Club of Billericay Mayflower’s summer community and charity fund raising event attracting over 5000+ attendees at Sun Corner. It all happens this Sunday and today Yvonne Kyndt from the Rotary Club of Billericay Mayflower popped in to tell us all about it.

Yvonne Kyndt

You can listen to our chat here –

You can find out more from Rotary’s website here

I was delighted today to be joined by local folk group, STUCK IN THE MIDDLE, comprising Jon Greaves, Julian May on Guitar and vocals – and Angela Gardner who looks after percussion and is also on vocals.

The band has just written a song all about the old aerodrome at STOWE MARIES.

Over the past few years they had performed at a number of their functions so became very interested in the history of the place, especially as Jon had always had a big interest in aviation.

The airbase became operational in September 1916 in response to German air raids on the UK using Zeppelins and Gotha Bombers. It was one of a ring of defensive aerodromes in the East, including one at Goldhanger and another at Rochford (now Southend airport), that were built to protect the capital.

There is an open day coming up in a fortnight’s time on 22nd July at STOWE MARIES Airfield.

To buy the single (at just £3 per copy) and/or to get information or place advance orders about the forthcoming album – FUN FLIGHT AND MUSIC send an e-mail to jongreaves@live.co.uk.

Listen here to what the guys had to say on this subject by clicking on the link below: –

In the second hour of today’s show, we heard about the sheep in South Africa, which had been reported as having given birth to creature which appeared to be half human and half lamb.

The incident probably wouldn’t have raised any eyebrows had it occurred in some of the remoter parts of Wales or Australia, but in South Africa the local people were terrified that witchcraft might have been at work.

However investigation by local vets has revealed that the aberration was the result of the ewe becoming infected by Rift Valley Fever during the early stages of her pregnancy.

See you again next week,
Scott

Today we heard that the likelihood is that if you are once an Essex girl, you probably will be for life.

Why? Well we learnt today about how 98-year-old grandmother Betty Wright got her wish to be taken by the staff of her Essex care home to see a performance of male strippers, THE DREAMBOYS.

Apparently Betty suffers from a mild form of dementia but seemingly has excellent eyesight.

Well she did, whether she still has may be open to question!

Later in the programme, Margaret Mills told us all about someone else with good eyesight – the Essex born artist, JOHN CONSTABLE.

Listen again here to what Margaret told me this afternoon: –

See you again tomorrow,
Scott  

Beatlemania is set to sweep through Hornchurch this July! Lovers of the Fab Four will not want to miss this extra-special 2 hour concert, The Magic of The Beatles.

The show is at The Queens Theatre Hornchurch next Monday and Tuesday 10th and 11th of July and today I spoke to David Peterson who performs as Paul McCartney on the show.

David Peterson

You can listen to our chat here –

The Magic of the Beatles is at the Queens Theatre Hornchurch next Monday and Tuesday 10^th and 11^th July. Tickets are available from the Queens Theatre box office by calling 01708 443333 or online here.

The UK’s greatest Electric Light Orchestra Tribute act arrived in the Phoenix FM studio today!

Drawing inspiration from all of ELO’s phases, the ELO Encounter combines lights, projections, lasers and massive hits to provide a fast paced and exciting show.

The ELO Encounter are appearing at The Brentwood Theatre on 9^th July so I was pleased to welcome them today and hear all about the show.

You can listen to our chat and some snippets of their astonishingly accurate performances here

So it’s all happening at the Brentwood Theatre next Sunday 9^th July, tickets available by calling the box office on 01277 200305 between 1pm and 4pm Monday to Friday or you can book online via the theatre’s website – brentwood-theatre.co.uk

ELO Encounter’s website is here and if you’re quick you can enter a competition on the website to win two tickets to see them perform at The Brentwood Theatre on Sunday.

I have had a great week doing work experience at Phoenix FM.

Zara Leaver 

I have been lucky enough to work with a variety of different presenters on different shows. This was very interesting because every presenter did their shows so differently. Within my first hour, Michelle introduced me on air and we had a chat, I was quite nervous as this was my first time talking on the radio but thanks to all the presenters, as the week went on, I became so much more confident.

On one of the days, Michelle brought in p’apples which we tried live on air- that was interesting! Everyone has made me feel so welcome; including me in their shows, doing things from events guide to the retro charts!

I have developed so many new skills and learnt so much more about radio. I would recommend Phoenix FM to anyone who wants to learn more about radio because it is such a fun and friendly atmosphere to work in.

Thank you to Paul Golder and everyone at Phoenix for giving me this opportunity.

Last April I was joined on the show by Shelley Simmonds from Billericay. Shelley’s four year old son Fraser has been diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Fraser and Shelley during a brief break in the ascent of Mount Snowdon

On 3rd June Shelley and Fraser and some special friends climbed mount Snowdon to raise awareness and funds into research for the disease. Shelley carried Fraser to the summit in a specially adapted rucksack.

Shelley returned today to tell us how the climb went, you can listen here –

To date, Shelley and Fraser’s challenge has raised an amazing £12,000 for research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and it’s not to late to donate. If you would like to help in Shelley and Fraser’s fight against the disease, Shelley’s Just Giving page is here.

You can find Fraser and Friends on Facebook here.

We heard today about a man who was far from being a fan of US President Donald Trump.

Indeed he regularly voiced voiced his disapproval of Mr Trump and his activities until he was prevented from making further pronouncements due to ill-health.

As he lay dying in his Oregon home, surrounded by friends and carers, he had one last phone call with he ex-wife Teresa Elliott. The pair had remained close friends after their divorce two decades ago – and Ms Elliott knew precisely what to say.

She told him that Donald Trump had been impeached. On receiving this news he apparently drew his last and died with a smile on his face.

Asked if she had any regrets about lying to Mr Elliott in his last moments, she replied: “Oh God no. If I could leave him with a happy piece of news then why wouldn’t I?

And maybe in the end it won’t turn out to be a lie.”

In the second hour today I was delighted to be joined by MARGARET MILLS, who throwing all caution to the winds told us all about the Secret Nuclear Bunker at Kelvedon Hatch.

Listen again here to what Margaret said on this subject: –

Hopefully there won’t be any “fall out” from these revelations!

See you again very soon,
Scott

Brian Hughes. Consultant solicitor from Shenfield based Rainer Hughes returned today to discuss all things related to title deeds.

Do you know the difference between Freehold and Leasehold?

It’s very important to know this when buying a property.

And did you know that some one time land owners reserved mining and mineral rights for themselves and their successors on the land they sold?

If your house is on that land you could have problems if, for example, fracking was granted under your property.

Listen here to all that Brian told me today: –

Later in the show we heard all about the Rubbish Party. No I’m not taking a swipe at anyone – The Rubbish Party really exists and what’s more, the party’s founder was elected on to the East Ayrshire Council, in Irvine Valley, Scotland promising to clean up the area, which would involve reducing litter, dog mess, pollution and fly tipping.

And what’s more they’ve already established cleaning events to make sure they keep their promises.

Now there’s a first! Now I am being flippant.

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

Yeah, residents of an apartment block in the US state of Georgia woke up last week to find themselves trapped in the building as  the landlord had removed the stairs!

Whilst it seems that some residents had received a letter  saying that the stairs needed emergency repairs, and that tenants would be reimbursed for hotel costs for the time they’d be required to move out, others were only advised as the stairs were actually being removed!

But in any case it appears that the stairs were abruptly removed on Monday morning, without any prior warning.

Emergency services had to be summoned to free residents of the Maple Walk Apartments in Decatur who lived above the ground floor.

Try explaining that one to your boss!

It was good to welcome back Margaret Mills this afternoon.

Her subject today was John Ray, who was born in a smithy in Black Notley but somehow rose to become one of the foremost naturalists of his time.

Listen again to what Margaret told me today: –

See you again soon,
Scott

On this lovely Monday afternoon we heard about the parents of children at a kindergarten and junior school, who inadvertently stuffed their offspring’s lunch boxes with snacks intended for dogs!

It seems that packs of “Scooby Snack” brand treats – complete with pictures of Scooby Doo – were accidentally placed near the crisps and snacks aisle in a local Pak’nSave supermarket.

Whilst unsurprisingly many of the kids turned their noses up at the treats – one described them as “rubbish”, one of the parents scoffed two packets straight off, saying that “they tasted pretty damn good” .

Clearly there’s no accounting for taste!

Meanwhile from New York comes news of a woman who thought she’d hit the jackpot, when the machine she was playing printed out a winning ticket for around $43m.

So you can imagine her disappointment when the casino refused to pay out but offered her a steak dinner worth just $2.25!

The casino claims that the machine wasn’t working right and that it had printed the winning ticket due to a technical glitch.

Casino officials point out that all machines have a stamp on them that reads: ‘Malfunctions void all pays and plays’   which sounds like a heads I win, tales you lose “catch all” get out clause to me!

She is now suing the casino and as her lawyer says ‘You can’t just claim a machine is broken because you want it to be broken’.

If you’re feeling lucky join me again tomorrow at 1pm,
Scott

A colourful spectacular, with music, love, laughs, and dance, That’s Bring on The Bollywood at The Queens Theatre.

Picture by Nicola Young

This romantic comedy brings the vibrancy and beauty of classic Bollywood to the British stage. Featuring a fantastic soundtrack interwoven with wit, wild parties and some wicked dances, it’s a glitzy theatrical experience inspired by real stories of love and much appreciated by the audience.

Picture by Nicola Young

The cast is led by a dynamic mix of celebrated British Asian performers and young rising stars including Anthony Sahota, who appeared on Gary Barlow’s Let It Shine (BBC) earlier this year and Robby Khela who has supported Craig David, Blue, Lemar, Girls Aloud and Misteeq on tour.
The story follows the fiery Dr. Katrina Pawar who is summoned from London to her ancestral home for her younger brother’s wedding. Her parents sense an opportunity to search for a potential suitor for their quick-witted and resolute daughter. As the good-looking Bollywood film director Amit arrives, along with his newly eligible British personal assistant Ronny, Katrina must navigate the true course of love between East and West.

Picture by Nicola Young

The set, costumes, lighting and dancing were a feast for the eyes. The energetic cast put in some very good performances, and together with the music, we were transported away for a couple of hours of pure escapism. Just what Bollywood is supposed to do!
This feel-good production is a must-see spectacular the whole family can enjoy.

Picture by Nicola Young

Bring on the Bollywood runs at the Queen’s Theatre from 13 – 17 June. Tickets are £16.50 – £28 and can be purchased by calling the Box Office on 01708 443333, in person at the theatre or online at queens-theatre.co.uk.

Picture by Nicola Young

Incredibly a man claimed in court that he got police to help him break into a flat from which he stole cash and a passport.

Cardiff Crown Court were told that this was the second break-in the defendant had carried out within a 24-hour period although police had not assisted with the first one!

After the man had been sentenced South Wales Police  issued a statement denying that they had helped him to enter the flat.

Well they would, wouldn’t they?

Sadly it was the final instalment today of our feature on the Kings of Essex.

If you missed what Julian Whybra told me, click on the link below to listen again: –

See you again next week,
Scott

Ye gods, it’s Monday again!

How quickly the weekend comes and goes and back we go once more to the old grindstone.

To try and cheer us up with news of other people’s misfortunes (always so much funnier than one’s own, I always feel) we told you today about the Uber driver trying to get to a BBQ, but instead found himself driving across a golf course.

It would of course have been better had he been driving a Golf, but sadly it was a Toyota Plus.

At least he didn’t end up in a bunker but I don’t suppose the greens manager will have been too impressed!

We also heard about the man who pulled over to text his wife only to be buried immediately along with his van, underneath a 50 ft tree.

Must have been a trunk call!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

150+ People Gather on Shenfield Common Brentwood for Charity Yogathon Saturday 10 June 2017.

Wellbeing Yoga Studio Brentwood is celebrating it’s 4th Birthday by bringing more than 150 people together to do a mass Yogathon on Shenfield Common Saturday June 10 at 3pm. This is to raise much-needed funds for Brentwood MIND, which supports local people with mental health issues. All very timely seeing as it runs just after the nation’s Mental Health Awareness Week.

The Yogis (people who do yoga) are challenging themselves to do 108 (a sacred number) Sun Salutations, which is an ancient and well-known sequence of 12 postures and breaths that improves your mental, physical and emotional wellbeing. But any form of yoga is welcome and people can come and do as much, or as little, as they wish.

“Yoga and meditation are proven to have a big impact on how we feel so it made perfect sense to team up with Brentwood MIND to help local people who are suffering with stress, anxiety, depression, self esteem issues and many other conditions. If people want to join in all we ask is that they have done some yoga and can bring a mat! Our teachers will be on hand to help and friends and families are all welcome to come and support us – it’s an incredible sight,” says Jessica Livingstone, Founder of Wellbeing Yoga Brentwood.

The event will finish with home-made Indian food, massage ladies, stalls and more. All we ask for is a £20 donation to Brentwood MIND to participate.

Book your place via www.wellbeingyoga.co.uk/ workshops/

We heard today about the woman who managed to break her neck when she sneezed whilst lying in bed.

No laughing matter that!

And  that was 5 years ago and finally fixed after a long and painful treatment.

But now MONIQUE JEFFREY from Melbourne Australia has done it again, this time after laughing at one of her work colleague’s jokes. 

Now it appears that because this is the second time hat this has happened, she will be at high risk of it happening again so doctors are trying physio to try to strengthen the muscles around her neck and keep it stable, but if it does recur she will have to have high-risk surgery to try to fuse her neck. 

Ouch!

Meanwhile from Texas comes news of a student far from impressed about receiving a high school certificate.

So why is she unhappy?

You’d think she’d be pleased.

Well perhaps not when you find that the certificate has been awarded to her as the most likely student to become a terrorist!

Seems to have gone down like a bomb.

See you again next week.
Scott

On today’s show we heard about two successful applications to university – one for a professorship and one for a student place.

First off came news of the position of LEGO PROFESSOR OF PLAY, the £84K pa position just appointed by Cambridge University. The unusual posting has been funded by a £4m grant from the Lego Foundation, which also includes a specialist play research centre (PEDAL), built in 2015 and based in the Faculty of Education.

It seems that Cambridge University is no stranger to oddball appointments, since in 2014, the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology advertised for a doctor of chocolate – to study how and why the substance melts.

Heat has probably something to do with it!

Meanwhile over in the US an 18-year old  student was awarded a place at the prestigious Yale University on the strength of an essay she wrote about ordering Pizza.

Well that’s food for thought, I guess.

See you again on Wednesday,
Scott

Last April I was pleased to welcome Peter Hall from Little Havens Hospice to tell us all about the great work that goes on there.

Today Peter returned to the studio with a very special guest, Dee Anderson.

Dee Anderson

Dee’s daughter Katie, very sadly died in August 2015 at Little Havens Hospice aged just 13.

Katie

Dee is an amazing lady who courageously told us all about Katie and her story. You can listen here –

You can find out more about Katie’s story here

Little Havens Hospice will soon be holding an Open Doors event. You can find out more about this here

Dee with Katie

I also spoke with Peter Hall about the latest fundraising events at the hospice.

Peter and Dee

Little Havens Hospice relies heavily on donations and their fundraising activities as well as the good work of volunteers. To get involved visit their website here

We learnt today about the Cardiff woman who’s been threatened with having her postal deliveries cancelled due to injuries suffered by her postman at the paws of her cat.

It seems that after having his finger mauled three times he’s had to go to hospital for a Tetanus jab.

STOP PRESS++++++++++STOP PRESS++++++++++++STOP PRESS+++++++++++++STOP PRESS

I was delighted ton welcome a surprise visitor in Steve Brookstein who popped in to tell us abouthis forthcoming gig with his band THE TERRELLS which is happening at the East Ham Working Mens Club on Friday 16th June.

Tickets are available from http://www.stevebrookstein.com/shop/.

Listen again to my chat with Steve here: –

Back in the 1840’s was also a dangerous time for the inhabitants of Coggeshall and Margaret Mills returned today with the second instalment of her feature on the Coggeshall Gang.

If you missed it, just click on the link below: –

See you next time,
Scott

Welcome to another Bank Holiday!

On today’s show we revealed what steps one chap took to recover the costs of a date from hell.

Yes amazingly he told the girl in question that if she didn’t reimburse him for the price of the pizza and cinemas tickets he bought her, he would pursue the matter through the small claims court.

Well good luck on that, mate!

Rather luckier in the romance stakes, we heard about the woman who after a 36-year long romance, finally tied the knot with the object of her desires – the local railway station!

Maybe she has ideas above her station.

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

I guess we all know the old story about the Emperor with no clothes.

Well keeping to a similar theme, Aberdeen based student, Ruairi Gray, 22, bought a pineapple to tease a friend – quite what the tease was all about is unclear, but whatever it was, it seems to have had all the impact of a dud firework, so stuck with an unwanted pineapple he dumped it on top of an empty glass display case in the centre of an exhibition at Robert Gordon University to see how long it would take for someone to remove it.

Returning 4 days later Ruairi was amazed to see that the pineapple had been placed inside a glass display box and remained in place until the art exhibition closed.

Shocked by the turn of events Ruairi asked an art lecturer whether the piece was a real exhibit and was told in no uncertain terms that  ‘Of course it’s real, you can see what they were trying to do with the top of the pineapple and the glass.’

The exhibition called “Look Again”, challenged visitors to ‘look at the places and spaces around us through fresh eyes’.

Sally Reaper, Look Again Festival Director said: ‘The 2017 festival has been really successful – we had more than 30,000 attendees and we’re already looking forward to next year.’

Perhaps I could try exhibiting a half read book – open midway through a chapter – or how about an un-emptied commode? If that won a prize I can imagine it might cause a bit of a stink!

In the second hour I was joined once more by Julian Whybra for the next instalment of our feature on the Kings of Essex.

If you missed it just click on the link below: –

See you again next time,
Scott

If you’re planning to get on the housing ladder any time soon you could do yourself a real favour by checking the advice BRIAN HUGHES dispensed today.

Click on the link below to hear more: –

Later in the show we heard how, had it not been for the intervention of a local council, you might have been able to lay your hands on a house worth over one million pounds, for an outlay of just £5.

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

This Saturday 20th May there will be a Litter Pick in Billericay High Street organised by Billericay Town Council from 9.30am to 11am.  Meet at Town Council Offices at 9.15am

All equipment will be provided.

Please come and help clean up the High Street in Billericay.

The Ad Hoc Players are an award winning amateur dramatics society, based in Havering.

The Ad Hoc Players are reprising Oh, Carol!, first performed by them 17 years ago, to celebrate the company’s 20th Anniversary, and Paul Ganney from the group came in today to tell us all about it.

Paul Ganney

You can listen to our chat here –

Performances are on Thursday 18th May, Friday 19th May, Saturday 20th May at The Brentwood Theatre.
All shows start at 8pm.
Tickets: £13. Concs. £11. All include £1 donation in aid of Cancer Research UK.
Tickets on sale now at ticketsource.co.uk/adhocplayers, or direct with Brentwood Theatre.
You can find out more about The Ad Hoc Players here

With the start of another week, we looked back at a couple of tragedies which befell some of our fellow human beings last week.

Your wedding day is always going to be  – or should be – the day you’ll remember for the rest of your life but one couple will certainly have cause to remember their big day.

As the bride looked into the groom’s eyes and pronounced her vows, the female minister turned a ghastly shade of pale, her cheeks started too bulge and then just after the bride uttered the words promising her faithfulness in seasons of abundance, the minister threw up and collapsed on the floor.

Visibly shaken, but determined not to be thrown herself, the bride completed her vows – in sickness as in health!

Meanwhile from Plymouth came news of the 91-year old motorist who was led astray by her sat-nav which directed her down a flight of steps.

It has since emerged that this a favourite trap for sat-nav users as others have been similarly lead astray at the same junction.

Oh dear!

Well so song as I can keep to the straight and narrow I’ll see you again tomorrow,
Scott

First Step is an organisation which helps children and families of children whose aim is To provide the best possible environment to support each family and to enable
their very young children with special needs and/or disabilities to maximise
their individual potential

CEO Mark Halls came into the studio to talk to Mike about the organisation and the difficulties with charity organising today

You can hear the interview again here

Phoenix FM is a not for profit Community Radio station run mostly by our highly valued unpaid volunteers.

Just some of our wonderful volunteer presenters.

Like anyone else though we have bills to pay and need to raise funds for the upkeep and maintenance of studio equipment and general expenses.
We do a lot to support the local community, featuring local charities and community groups on our shows and on our events guide and have often supported and help organise fundraising events for other community groups.
However when a highly profitable business asks for our help, we do expect them to at least meet our expenses and possibly more.
So the other day we received an email from a local shopping centre in the middle of Brentwood.
Local Shopping Centre: We’d like Phoenix FM to help out with an open day we’re running in June.

Phoenix : is there a fee?

Local Shopping Centre: We can’t pay you as you’re not on our list of preferred suppliers. But if you work for us on the day, we MIGHT be able to add you to our list, in which case we MIGHT be able to pay you for something in the future.

* Local Shopping Centre is owned by a property company which made a profit of £121,400,000 in 2015

What would you do?

We’ve recently seen and read stories about people being dragged kicking and screaming – or maybe unconscious, from their aircraft seats.

But with news of  the fine dining fare offered by one national carrier I imagine you might actually welcome being dragged off the plane.

Although seeking to increase rates of tourism to their country from the current annual level of 100,000 to 2 million by 2020 it seems that the national flag carrier for North Korea – Air Koryo, might want to up its game when it comes to on board dining.

Apparently the one and only repast on offer is the KORYU BURGER.

This delicacy is always served stone cold on a paper doily and consists of a somewhat unappetising bun containing a few shreds of cabbage, a piece of rubbery-looking cheese and a piece of unidentifiable meat which seemingly defies all attempts to chew it – always assuming, of course that you are brave enough to try.

It turns out the Koryo burger practically has its own cult following, famed for being so inedible, no one has ever been recorded as having finished theirs.

Ready to book your flight?

In the second hour of today’s programme I was joined by JULIAN WHYBRA for the next instalment of our feature on the KINGS OF ESSEX.

If you missed it you can listen again here: –

See you again next week,
Scott

Hotfoot from joining the Phoenix FM Morris Dancing formation team performing in the car park, here I am again slogging away in the studio on another Bank Holiday!

We heard today about the great deal offered by GWR.

Between the 22nd May and 14th July, and providing that you didn’t travel via Bristol,  they were offering a single first class ticket for the 64-mile journey between Taunton and Trowbridge for the never to be repeated price of just £10,000.

The normal fare is £12:70 so it is easy to understand why this once in a lifetime deal has now been withdrawn.

We also heard about the gun toting cat reportedly terrorising the residents of Newport in Oregon.

A member of the public alerted police, backed up by  photographic evidence which you can see here:

The local police department later confirmed that the cat was given a verbal warning for posing with what could be mistaken as an assault rifle whilst wearing poor camouflage attire.

It seems that the cat may have escaped being shot by police by a whisker!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

The National Theatre Connections festival is a celebration of young people, theatre-making and the importance of access to the arts.

The Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch will be hosting four fantastic productions performed by youth theatre companies as part of the National Theatre’s annual Connections festival on 7 & 8 May. Today I spoke to James Watson who is the Learning and Participation producer at the Queen’s Theatre.

You can listen to our chat here –

The NT Connections Festival runs at the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch on Sunday 7 May and Monday 8 May and starts at 7.30pm. Tickets are £5 and can be purchased by calling the Box Office on 01708 443333, online at queens-theatre.co.uk or in person from the theatre.

Shelley Simmonds is from Billericay and her four year old son Fraser has been diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. On 3rd June Shelly is going to climb Snowdon carrying Fraser every step of the way on her back in a special rucksack to raise awareness and funds into research for the disease.

Shelley Simmonds

You can listen to our chat here –

Fraser Simmonds

If you would like to help in Shelley and Fraser’s fight against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Shelley’s Just Giving page is here.

You can find Fraser and Friends on Facebook here.

Fraser’s Drawing of the Climb!

It was great to welcome Peter Hall to the studio today to talk about the great work being done at Little Havens Hospice.

Peter Hall

Little Havens Hospice focuses on the individual needs of the children they care for, ‘Making every day count’ for those with life-limiting or life-threatening illnesses and their families.  You can listen to our chat here –

To get involved with Little Havens Hospice visit their website here or call 01702 220 350

Here are just some of the fun things you could get involved in – 

Today we heard all about the unfortunate woman who got her arm stuck down her toilet bowl.

Poor Gracie Henderson had just moved into her new house near Houston in Texas and needed to unblock her toilet.

But because she didn’t have a plunger, she unwisely decided to carry out the task manually using her hands.

Unfortunately she forgot to remove her watch which got stuck in the bend trapping her in situ.

Somehow she managed to raise the alarm and fire crews arrived to help free her. But their initial efforts to release her also failed so they were left with no choice other than to remove the toilet, carry it – with Gracie still attached – into her back garden where finally flushed with success the porcelain bowl was smashed much to the amusement of Gracie’s new neighbours.

Now that’s how to make an entrance to a new neighbourhood. 

In the second hour of today’s show I was pleased to welcome back Margaret Mills who took us back to the village of Great Bardfield on the Essex-Suffolk border. Not looking at artists this time, but the unusual flora unique to this area.

Listen again to what Margaret told me today by clicking on the link below: –

See you again next week,
Scott

I was joined once more by that legal guru, BRIAN HUGHES from Shenfield based solicitors, RAINER HUGHES and as suggested in the title above, his subject today was all about Lasting Powers of Attorney.

If you missed it, you can catch everything that Brian had to say on this subject by clicking on the link below: – 

In the second hour we heard about how a team of football club supporters in Mexico, enlisted the help of a witch to try to end a 20-year run of defeats suffered by their team. The ritual involving plants and holy water, black and white candles, a cow and a pig head and other esoteric symbols may have had some effect as the team promptly won their next match, held last Saturday.

But can it last?

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

Well you may have the day off but I’m still hard at it!

You can guess how hard it must be just sitting here playing just great music.

Anyway on today’s show we told you all about the TV commercial launched last week that went horribly wrong.

Trying to use smart technology in a clever way Burger King’s advertising agents latched onto the novel idea of using voice-activate Google Home assistant or Android phone search,  to search for “Whopper” on Google and read out the entry of ingredients listed in Wikipedia.

Unfortunately they failed to note that the contents can be edited by anyone which meant that someone changed the entry to suggest that the Whopper sandwich included such tasty morsels as “rat meat” and “toenail clippings”. 

Well the best laid plans of mice and men …………………!

Keeping to the fast food theme, in the second hour we told you about the 8-year old boy who along with his 4-year old sister, drove his dad’s van to the local McDonald’s to satisfy a craving for a Big Mac.

He had seemingly learnt to drive by watching a video on YouTube although this still doesn’t explain how his feet could reach the pedals.

See you next week,
Scott

Phoenix FM Chairman Paul Golder recently returned from a trip to Kenya along with volunteers from Colchester United Football Club. The trip was inspired by Boots 2 Africa, an organisation that collects, transports and distributes donated boots to Africa’s children and young adults through relief organisations.

Paul Golder

Paul joined me in the studio today to tell us all about the trip and the good work the team did. You can listen to our chat here –

To encourage more young people to engage with live theatre, the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch has launched a fantastic scheme that enables young people to see its next huge comedy, Educating Rita for just a fiver.

Danielle Flett as Rita

Theatregoers aged 25 and under will be able to fully immerse themselves in a theatrical experience unlike any other by sitting on stage for just £5 (reduced from up to £26). £5 doesn’t go very far these days, so for an evening’s entertainment it’s a bargain!

For the first time in Queen’s Theatre history, the stage will be extended into the auditorium to offer a truly unique and intimate setting. Every night audiences will be able to lose themselves in a piece of terrific theatre by sitting alongside the actors on stage. The comfort of this fantastic experience isn’t compromised as the onstage seating will be the same as those sitting in the stalls. This is a rare viewing experience not to be missed!

Willy Russell’s hilarious yet moving comedy, Educating Rita follows the story of a hairdresser wanting to better herself with higher education. Frank becomes her assigned tutor, but grudgingly accepts the challenge. Slowly, Frank realises that his enthusiastic student has much to teach him too – making him question himself, his work and his very being in the process.

Educating Rita runs at the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch from 22 April – 13 May. To take advantage of this brilliant offer, under 26s should call the Box Office on 01708 443333 and quote ‘Under 26 offer’. Please note the production is suitable for people aged 12+ as it contains some strong language.

Ruari Conaghan

Last month one of my guests was Steve Waters from Billericay Lions.
Billericay Lions are now pleased to announce that the Co-Op have chosen to support Billericay Lions in its fundraising campaign to replace its Father Christmas Sleigh.

As many of you will know, over the last 35 years Billericay Lions have brought joy to children – and adults too – by conveying Father Christmas around the streets of Billericay ahead of the festive period. This also enables them to collect your generous donations to their charitable fund which they distribute to local causes. However, the trailer that carries Father Christmas is now over 50 years old and is in severe danger of becoming unroadworthy despite annual efforts to patch it up.
Therefore – thanks to the support of the Co-Op – Billericay Lions are building a new trailer so they can continue this long-standing Billericay tradition.
So if you are a member of the Co-Op, why not log on to your membership account and select Billericay Lion’s cause.

It’s happened before and it will undoubtedly happen again, but if and when it happens to you, you feel like a complete idiot.

And it’s just happened to an 18-year old Dutch student, Milan Schipper.

Planning a backpacking tour in Australia before starting at college later this year, Milan started looking for flights to Sydney. Unsurprisingly he plumped for one which appeared to offer a bargain rate. Unfortunately rather than arriving in the warm sunshine, for which he was attired in thin beachwear, he was deposited in a blizzard in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

Luckily for him the airline took pity on him, flew him home and offered him a complimentary flight to his intended destination.

For the next episode of his series on the Kings of Essex, JULIAN WHYBRA looked today at one of the Queens, who’s legacy still remains at St Osyth.

Listen again here to what Julian told me today: –

See you again next week:-
Scott

To start the week we heard about the gang of ATM cash machine raiders, caught napping whilst enjoying a Big MAC Breakfast after their latest £100k heist in Scotland.

That’ll learn ’em!

Meanwhile in a much more remote part of Scotland we heard about the pizza firm who’ve taken pity on the 120 residents of INVERIE and set up a pizza delivery service by helicopter!
Chicago-Town Pizza just made their first delivery and have now promised to establish a regular service to the area, which is so remote, it isn’y even connected to the National Grid.

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

On today’s show we heard about the tourists in Barbados, who after confirming they had not been drinking, were asked by the bus driver to take over from him, because he had been drinking!

Later, Margaret Mills, who had not been imbibing took us on a visit to the Fry Arts Centre in Saffron Walden.

Listen again to what Margaret had to say about this establishment, by clicking on the link below:

See you again next time,
Scott

We’ve just experience another weekend of real fake news as the April Fool spoof news went into overdrive.

But not everything we heard about was fake.

Indeed it is absolutely true that April 1st saw the 8th International Pillow Fight Day. The feathers were well and truly flying as participants around the world took part in no less than 41 towns and cities, knocking each other senseless with pillows.

The event organiser – THE URBAN PLAYGROUND MOVEMENT said the aim was to bring communities closer together!

Meanwhile from Russia comes news of a raccoon in need of psychiatric help after being thoroughly traumatised by taking part in a commercial with a naked model.

There is a real chance of conflicting law suits between the zoo who lent the animal and the advertising agent who claims that the raccoon ate the model’s underwear!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

On this for me, bonus edition of the show, I was privileged to be joined by the president of the Rotary Club of Billericay, Mike Sinclair and Head of Publicity, Trevor Bond.

And they came armed with the exciting news that following the success of their first SoapBox Derby, they will be holding a second SoapBox Derby on Bank Holiday Monday 1st May.

Last year’s event raised £26k for charity so they are hoping for even better things this year. Beneficiaries this year include two local schools, Hamelin Trust and Little Havens Children’s Hospice, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), Aquabox and Rotary Foundation – End Polio.

In addition to the races there will also be a raft of side shows.

Tickets for spectators if purchased in advance are priced at £3 per person; Family tickets (Family of four, 2 adults & 2 children) £10. Two years and under – free. But note that on the day itself no family tickets will be available and the individual price goes up to £5 per person so it makes sense to get your tickets in advance.  

To get your advance entry tickets go to http://www.rcbSoapbox.co.uk or by pressing on the “Buy Tickets” button on the club website home page http://www.billericayrotary.org. Tickets are also available from a number of shops and pubs but note that anyone buying on line and by sharing the fact that you’ve purchased your ticket on line on Facebook, will have the opportunity to win a £250 donation to a charity of your choice.

Listen again to what Trevor and Mike told me by clicking on the following link: –

See you again soon
Scott

On today’s show we heard about the surprise that awaited a Manchester United fan at his Russian hotel.

No complimentary drinks on offer here, but they did provide useful advice on what to do if you were unfortunate enough to be kidnapped!

The helpful instructions advised potential hostages not to resist, obey their kidnapper’s instructions, try to remember what they looked like and take note of any landmarks passed on the way to where you were taken.

They also provided a phone number for the security services to use in the unlikely event that your captors left you with your phone and didn’t mind you using it!

Later in the show I was joined once more by Julian Whybra for the next instalment of our feature of the Kings of Essex. Listen again to what Julian told me by clicking on the link below: –

See you again next time,
Scott

I was joined today by local author, DAVID DUNFORD who has just written a book about the history of horse racing in Chelmsford. Called ‘Full Circle, The Rise, Fall and Rise of Horse Racing in Chelmsford’

The book tells the story of horse racing in Chelmsford from the mid eighteenth century to it’s re-birth in the twenty first century.

Listen again to what David had to say on this subject by clicking on the following link: –

Later in the show we heard why a “SLOW” sign painted on the road has only been half painted. Only the first two letters were painted and as one of them has worn away only the letter S remains and on top of that only half of the triangle warning sign has been painted at a junction.

This fiasco, bordering on farce is all down to a misunderstanding or disagreement between a firm of contractors and the local council.

Anyway I’ll see you again tomorrow,
Scott

Billericay Lions are best known for their annual Christmas Sleigh street collection and the Saturday morning bookstall in Billericay High Street.

Started in 1917, The International Association of Lions Clubs is now the world’s largest service organisation with over 1.4 million members in more than 43,300 clubs throughout the world.

Steve Waters popped in today to tell us all about the Billericay Club.

Steve Waters

You can listen to our chat here –

You can find out more about Billericay Lions on their website here

Or on their Facebook page here

I was joined today once more by Paul Yarwood from the local firm of independent funeral directors, Secure Haven.

Paul opened todays discussion by dealing with some questions sent in by you. He then moved on to look at one specific type of funeral – cremations.

You can listen again to all Paul had to say on this subject by clicking on the link below:-

An don’t forget that if YOU have any questions you’d like Paul, or his colleagues to answer in the coming weeks, please feel free to contact us by sending an e-mail to radio@phoenixfm.com or if you prefer you can, of course contact Secure Haven directly via their website – https://www.securehaven.co.uk/ or by phone on 01277 356857.

Later in the show  Margaret Mills took us back to a simpler time for a look at Nether Hall close to the Essex/Hertfordshire border.

Listen again to what Margaret told me about this fascinating place by clicking on the link below:

See you next week,

Scott

I had a great evening’s entertainment at the Queens Theatre last night at their latest production Worst Wedding Ever.Billed as an hilarious comedy, it was all of that and much more.
Rachel and Scott are getting married. They’re also buying a house together. But when the house price goes up, their plans for a dream wedding have to be downsized.
Rachel’s mother, however, has other ideas. What if the family could join forces and make it a wedding to be proud of? With a marquee in the back garden, the pub band and two fully-functioning portable loos, surely the day will pass without a hitch?
The first act sets the scene and introduced the characters with a battle of wits between Mother (wonderfully played by Julia Hills) and daughter Rachel (played by the delightful Elisabeth Hopper) over who was in control of the wedding arrangements.
The writer Chris Chibnall, best known for the TV series Broadchurch, skilfully develops the plot in which we see the control gradually slipping from Rachel to her Mother, and family conflicts and secrets cleverly revealed.
In fact the entire cast of characters including Rachel’s sister, her Father, the Groom and a handsome vicar, are very nicely developed throughout.
Worst Wedding Ever really gathers pace after the interval.
It is the day of the wedding and we are taken from the poignant to some hilarious goings on involving nightmare neighbours, eggs, flour, two sleepy dogs, a portaloo and much more.
A long lost brother turns up and more family secrets, tragedies and troubles are revealed.
Throughout the piece we are also entertained by an excellent Wedding band with some carefully chosen songs to compliment the plot, and a very clever set design that kept the audience guessing where the band were going to turn up next!
This is a skilful and thoughtful piece of writing, and as well as being funny, poignant, and riotous, above all it is hugely entertaining. The writer must have a deep understanding of family life with lines like “Nobody gets out of a family unscathed!”
Worst Wedding Ever runs at The Queens Theatre Hornchurch until 1st April and you can get tickets from the Queens Theatre Box Office on 01708 443333 or online at www.queens-theatre.co.uk

Now some few weeks ago I was contacted by Joey Oskys, a music producer from Hertfordshire who has teamed up with singer songwriter, Nicholas Veniamin and together they’ve just finished re-working a song written by Nicholas when he was just 17 years of age. 

The result is excellent and we’ve been giving the track a fair bit of airplay on PHOENIX FM so it was great to be joined live in the studio today by the dynamic duo themselves.

Listen to my chat with them and enjoy the acoustic track they performed live for us today: –

You can see what the guys are getting up to on their Facebook pages – but for Joey look under JOSEPH OSKYS!

Later in the show we heard about the lawyer who, unsuccessfully as it turned out, tried to defend a client on a charge of arson, only to have his trousers burst into flames as he started to address the jury.

How very embarrassing!

See you again next week,
Scott

I was once again delighted to be joined by BRIAN HUGHES from Shenfield based solicitors, Rainer Hughes.

This week Brian chose to tackle the subject of wills – the importance of making them, the practicalities involved and the options available.

Listen again here to what Brian had to say on this subject. It could be the most useful 10 minutes you’ll ever spend: –

We also learnt about a new art exhibition just opened at the Serpentine. The exhibition is on until 21st May and this is the place to go to see such creations as some old used teabags drying on a radiator.

Can’t wait I’m rushing off on the next train!

See you again soon,
Scott

Linda has been a favourite on the London music scene for some time appearing with her own band and as part of “Richie Milton and the Lowdown”. Linda can also be heard on movie soundtracks.

Linda Hall

Linda sang two songs live and we heard the title track from her album Wonderful.

You can listen to the entire session here –

Have you ever done a runner from a restaurant and left without paying?

Well police are on the hunt for over 100 party goers who scarpered from a hotel in Spain without paying the £2500 bill after consuming their starters and main courses plus 30 bottles of whisky as well as wine, water and soft drinks.

It was whilst the waiters were bringing out their desserts that he diners did their own desertion with the last stragglers squeezing hastily through the door leaving the restaurant completely empty save for the orchestra hired specially for the occasion.

In the second hour of the show it was good to welcome back a man who’d never “do a runner” – Julian Whybra – who following on from Margaret Mills’ visit to St Peter’s Chapel in Bradwell, returned there this week to explain the connection this place has with the Kings of Essex.

Listen again to what Julian said on this subject by clicking on the link below: –

See you next time,
Scott

Indeed we heard today about a man from South Wales who was so depressed when he reached his 50th birthday that he blew up his house.

As a result he will spend his next four birthdays in prison – unless, of course, he decides to try and blow up the jail.

Meanwhile on the other side of the world we had news of another 50-year old who came to an untimely end when his 6 ton stash of pornographic literature fell on him and crushed him to death.

Must have been hard core, I guess!

See you tomorrow,
Scott

From today people using their mobile phones while driving will now face more serious penalties.
Essex Police are holding a week of targeted action throughout the county to catch people in the act to coincide with the new legislation change. They will be putting extra resource and focus into targeting mobile phone offenders through to Tuesday March 7.

Using a mobile phone while driving is now an offence punishable with a £200 fine and six penalty points on a driving licence. That doubles the previous penalties.
New drivers could also face losing their licence if caught.
Essex Police caught 4,986 people using their mobile phones while driving last year and prosecuted 477 people.

As part of our public service we reported on a potential threat that anyone of us could fall victim to anytime soon.

The scam works like this: –

A local number will ring you

The person on the phone will then introduce themselves and the company they supposedly work for

They then ask: ‘Can you hear me?’

Your answer is recorded, and if you say ‘yes’, your response will be edited and then used to charge you for products or services without your knowledge.

If you try to disagree with them, they will then play back their recording of you saying ‘yes’ and threaten to take legal action if you don’t pay up.

The scammers can also use your voice recording to authorise a stolen credit card.

So if you are asked ‘Can you hear me?’ when you’ve picked up the phone, hang up or just don’t pick up at all if you don’t recognise the number.

And if you do think you may have been targeted, you’re advised to contact your bank immediately.

So you have been warned!

But later Margaret Mills took us back to a time well before such scams were possible, when she looked at the history of St Peter’s Chapel in Bradwell.

If you missed what Margaret said just click on the link below:-

See you next time,
Scott

On today’s show we heard about the mishaps that have befallen two women – literally!

It was last April that our first hero (sorry, that should of course be heroine) literally fell for a property she was visiting together with her husband as prospective buyers.

Unfortunately she plummeted 30 feet down a well nestling under a wooden board in the garden of the property.

She was submerged in water at the bottom of the well but was able to stay afloat with the help of a hosepipe fed down to her by neighbours until the fire service was able to pull her to safety over an hour later.

Not a pleasant experience!

And nor was the experience of the subject of our second mishap.

This involved a woman who after enjoying an evening at Ronnie Scotts Club in London fell down two flights of stairs breaking her wrist and elbow in the process. Her attempt to sue the club came off the rails after the judge ruled that in addition to being intoxicated and wearing inappropriate shoes, at 18 stone she would have taken up much of the width of the stairway but for some inexplicable reason, did not use the handrail.

A case of gross negligence, perhaps?

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

The very first alcohol-free beer festival is being held – so you can drink all day and keep a clear head!

You can sample a selection of alcohol-free beers without getting a hangover the next day.
Visitors can choose no alcohol or low alcohol beer from breweries wanting to show off their sober options.
The one-day festival takes place in Fishguard, Pembs, next Wednesday – and is being supported by charity Alcohol Concern.

Today we heard about a job for social media addicts.

Yes H.M. the Queen is looking for someone to sort out her Tweets, Facebook and Instagram posts and YouTube items. The position offers a salary of £30k but you will need to have been educated up to degree level, have experience of managing websites, be innovative and creative and be able to demonstrate good photography and video skills.

Well there goes my chance then!

We also heard about the woman who’s married her house to launch a Crowdfunder bid to raise £400k to buy the property from which she faces eviction. The total raised so far is £56 so she’s still got a way to go.

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

Brainbuzzz is an assessment and simple exercise programme which was developed by Sue Cook after she did research to help address her own son’s dyslexia.

Sue Cook

Sue has received many awards for the fantastic work she is doing.

You can listen to our chat here –

The Brainbuzzz website is here

Sue has published several books that are available on Amazon here

Bit of a swap around this week, so with Bob looking after things for me yesterday, I was delighted to do the honours today.

And on today’s show we heard all about the woman suffering from FOREIGN ACCENT SYNDROME.

If you’ve never heard of this, it’s not overly surprising as only 60 people in the whole world are known to suffer from the condition, but one of those is Terri White from Hull.

After suffering from a severe migraine she suddenly  broke into a Scouse accent so even her own daughter failed to recognise her.

Apparently she has no control over the condition and has even started adopting stereotypical mannerisms and phrases, belting out Fog on The Tyne and saying ‘Top of the morning t’ya!’

At least she has not suffered from the problems experienced in 1941 by a Norwegian woman who after being hit by shrapnel, developed a strong German accent, which led to her being ostracised by her community!

See you again next week,
Scott

I was very pleased to be joined once more by BRIAN HUGHES, consultant solicitor from Shenfield based, Rainer Hughes.

Brian’s subject today was NOISY NEIGHBOURS and you can listen again to what Brian had to say on this subject by clicking on the link below – but listen on headphones or keep the volume down!

Also on today’s show we heard about the woman from Rhode Island who was caught by an over zealous parking attendant and slapped with a $30 fine for occupying a parking slot 2 seconds early. Unsurprisingly the hapless victim refused to cough up but by the time the case came to court, the fine had tripled to $90.

Mercifully the judge took pity on the woman and threw the case out of court.

No chance for that judge now to be considered for a place on the supreme court, me thinks!

See you later this week,
Scott

Margaret Mills returned today and took us on a trip to the Guildhall at Thaxted.

We also heard about the “red” vicar of Thaxted, Conrad Noel and about the imprisonment in the town, and subsequent execution, of John Ball for his part in the Peasants’ Revolt.

Listen again to all that Margaret told me today by clicking on the link below: –

See you again next time,
Scott

We reported today on the school in Sussex which is considering moving their working day back one hour so that pupils who have difficulty getting up in the morning can have an extra hour in bed.

When I was at school we had to get up, have a cold shower, and if there was snow on the ground, clear all the paths around the school.

Also of the old school, Margaret Mills (but not old herself, I hasten to add) returned to take us on a trip to Thaxted, and notably the Guildhall there.

Listen to what Margaret said by clicking on the link below: –

 See you next week,

Scott

Thank goodness January is gone for another year and although we may not be out of the woods yet as far as the winter is concerned, we are on our way.

On today’s show we had two stories from Australia.

First off came news of the woman who’s excuse for speeding was that she’d been pushed along by a heavy tail wind!

Worth a try I suppose but it didn’t work. She still got points on her licence and a speeding fine.

Then came news of the woman who decided to report her drug dealer to police following, what she considered, the imposition of an “outrageous” price increase.

The police went so far as to publicly offer their services to others who felt they were similarly being ripped off.

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

Today we heard the news of why men have been forced to disguise themselves as sheep to protect a 40-year old traditional rodeo event in New Zealand from falling foul of new animal welfare rules.

The event includes sheep-chasing for children which campaigners say is both unnecessary and cruel for the animals, so this year organisers have decided to employ men dressed as sheep for the children to chase.

Hopefully this will stop any further bleating from protestors!

Julian Whybra returned today with details of how Christianity first became established in Essex.

If you missed it, click on thee link below to hear what Julian told me: –

See you again next time,
Scott

Well before we get too far into the year it may be a good idea to think about planning this year’s holiday.

You could choose to stay in the UK and perhaps take a trip to Skegness but as this resort has just been branded as a pariah of the tourist world on a par with Pyongyang, Mogadishu and Damascus, you might want to consider something a bit more exotic.

And if exotic is what you are thinking about, nothing is likely to be much more exotic than the bus tours offered by Brighouse based, Hinterland Travel, who offer tours to war torn areas of Afghanistan but you must be prepared for roadside bombs, Kalashnikov-toting bandits and Taliban attacks.

The company is run by a 79-year old Yorkshireman, Geoff Hann and amazingly since starting tours in 2002, it was only last year that any of his tours have run into serious trouble when his party of 12 holidaymakers  – 8 Brits, 3 Americans and 1 German – were forced to dive behind a roadside wall as their vehicle went up in flames, before a nearby army and police vehicle came to their rescue.

According to Mr Hann some of his clients on that trip have been very difficult and demanded their money back. But Mr Hann is annoyed by their attitude, claiming that they will be able to dine out for years on the story of how they got shot at by the Taliban!

Well it’s certainly different!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

It’s always a pleasure to welcome Richie and Bill to the studio and today was no exception.

Bill and Richie

As always we had a few laughs and heard some great songs from this talented pair. You can listen to the entire session here –

My thanks to Richie Milton and Bill Farrow for another wonderfully entertaining session. Always a pleasure.

Richie’s Website is here

Bill’s is here

and their alter-ego’s website (Bill ‘N Ricky) is here

Today we learnt about some unusual medical research that has been going on in the USA.

Strangely squirting coffee up someone’s bottom in an effort to cure cancer, seems not to have proved especially successful!

Perhaps more success was achieved in days of yore with some of the folklore remedies described today by Margaret Mills. If you missed them they are all here – just click on the link below to listen.

See you again next time,
Scott

Here we are at the start of another week and a new US President has just been inaugurated.

Well believe it or not, to coincide with this momentous event an evolutionary biologist has discovered a new insect  – a moth actually – which has been named after “THE DONALD” as Neopalpa donaldtrumpi. 

So after SUPERMAN and BATMAN we now have MOTHMAN in charge of the Free World!

It seems that there’s method in the madness, as unlike the Trumps themselves, the creature is an endangered species and it is hoped that the publicity will help to attract attention to preserve the newly discovered species. 

We also reported on the technically switched on 6-year old girl who, whilst her mother slept, managed to gain access to her mother’s phone to order $250 worth of her favourite Pokemon toys.

You just can’t keep pace with these technologically educated kids!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

Arthur Leathley is a member of Open Britain which is an organisation who’s sole aim is to inform and to ensure that Britain gets the best deal after we leave

You can hear the interview with Mike here

With “cuddly” BOB SIMPSON on leave, today marked the first of two bonus programmes for me this week.

Taking my life in my hands I was joined by PAUL YARWOOD one of the founders of the Margaretting based firm of independent funeral directors, SECURE HAVEN who was on a mission to dispel any concerns that people might have in connection with funeral planning.

The simple fact is that we are all going to die at some point, and Paul was anxious to make to the point that there should be no taboos in talking about it.

After all talking about it doesn’t make it happen – at least not straight away! 

Nevertheless it is a good idea to discuss the issues involved and plan ahead at a time when you are less likely to be encumbered with any emotional baggage.

So over the coming weeks Paul and his colleagues will be coming in to discuss a number of thought provoking issues.

In the meantime listen to what Paul had to say on this issue today by clicking on the link below:

If you have any questions you might want to ask Paul you can either send them to him by e-mail via us at radio@phoenixfm.com or alternatively you can visit the Secure Haven website https://www.securehaven.co.uk/ or simply call them on 01277 356857

See you again soon,
Scott

Believe it or not last Friday was New Year’s Day in one part of the UK and what’s more they celebrated Christmas Day later as well – on the 6th of January to be precise.

This is because the inhabitants of the island of Foula still use the Gregorian calendar which was first introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in October 1582.

Foula, which has a population of just 30, is situated 15 miles west of Shetland  – 100 miles north of the Scottish mainland.

Meanwhile back home, here in Essex, Julian Whybra provided news about the first kings installed in our county.

Listen again to what Julian told me by clicking on the link below: –

With Bob away I’ll see you again tomorrow,
Scott 

Yes – here we are again at the start of another week!

Amazon introduces Amazon Alexa, Echo and the All-New Echo Dot at a product launch in London

Today we heard all about some of the problems that can arise when using virtual assistants.

Personally I prefer a rather more hands on approach but I know that some people love to surround themselves with gizmos.

But what if your assistant hears something on the TV and then thinking its an instruction from you, acts upon it?

This is what happened in the US and large numbers of people were astonished when deliveries of dolls houses started turning up on their doorsteps.

Perhaps voice recognition might be helpful!

We also heard about the house in Lincolnshire which keeps hosting unwelcome visitors.

No less than 4 vehicles crashed into the property in under 20 minutes.

Perhaps they should open up a “drive-in” based on the fact that they seem to have a ready made clientele!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

At a time when councils are pleading poverty we reported today on the council that just spent more than £2000 just to have an expert listen back to a recording to establish whether a council member had used a disrespectful word to describe a fellow councillor. Amazing!

Julian Whybra returned once more with the third part of his new feature on the Kings of Essex. This time Julian looked at the origins of some of the place names in the county.

If you missed this, click on the link below to listen again:-

See you again next week,
Scott

For the first time in 2017 I was delighted to welcome back BRIAN HUGHES from Shenfield based solicitors, RAINER HUGHES.

Last time he was here, Brian was looking at shared drives and on a not unrelated issue, Brian turned his attention today to matters which can lead to boundary disputes.

If you missed it, just click on the link below to hear Brian’s advice on this thorny topic.

In the second hour we reported on the allegation made against an Australian landlord, who it has been claimed as fitted a coin in the slot device to the toilet in one of the apartments he lets out. 

Hope the tenant has the right change handy in an emergency!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

So it was a cold night last night and pretty icy this morning so lets be careful getting about.

Icy pavements can be treacherous if you don’t know how to handle them, but now, German trauma surgeons have advised the public to walk like penguins to avoid slipping on pavements with freezing temperatures forecast nationwide in Germany over the next few days.An advisory published on the website of the German Society of Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery said that walking like the aquatic birds involves leaning the torso forward so that the centre of gravity is on the front leg.

Be good if you could get a pair of flippers and a dinner suit too! Take care.

Wow 2017 already!

So today being my first show of the New Year I thought it would be good to take a listen back to take a listen back to some of the songs that made 2016 such a good year for music.

Here’s a list of the songs I managed to fit into 2 hours.

It was a difficult choice and I’m sorry if I missed your favourite but 2 hours is 2 hours. It’s not elastic and whilst I could have picked a lot of others, I’m not a magician.

So the songs played (in no particular order) were these: –

Dance, David Dance                                                  Paola Morenna
All You Good Friends                                                Kevin Simm
Hell or High Water                                                    Ron Pope
Leave the Night On                                                   Sam Hunt
I Found a Girl                                                             The Vamps
Boy Problems                                                            Carly Rae Jepsen
Up and Up                                                                  Coldplay
7 Years                                                                        Lukas Graham
Bury It                                                                         Chvrches ft Hayley Williams
Girls Talk Boys                                                           5 seconds of Summer
Howl                                                                            Biffy Clyro
Make Me                                                                    Britney Spears
Perfect Illusion                                                          Lady Gaga
Symmetry of Two Hearts                                        Bright Light, Bright Light Ft Elton John
Let’s Get Married                                                      Jamie Reeves
How Can You Leave Me on my Own                     Divine Comedy
Kiss the Sky                                                               Jason Derulo
Hard Girls                                                                  KT Tunstall
Easy                                                                            Busted
Shout out to my Ex                                                  Little Mix
One Call Away                                                          Charlie Puth
Still Falling For You                                                  Ellie Goulding
Forever Tonight                                                       Sound Mirrors
Thorns from the Heart                                           Ewan Cowley & Lisa Lamb
Rockabye                                                                  Clean Bandit
This is What You Came For                                   Calvin Harris & Rihanna
A Thousand Hallelujahs                                         The Shires
The New Romantics                                               Taylor Swift
Cake By thE Ocean                                                 DNCE
The Living Years                                                      London Hospice Choir + Paul Carrack

If you were at work or would simply like to listen again, you can do so here: –

 
And here’s my special wish to you and hope you will have a very Happy New Year.

See you next week,
Scott

A very special ONE-2-THREE Show today as we turned the clock back to enjoy a “platter party” just like we used to have in those far off days of the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Here’s a list of the tracks we enjoyed this afternoon:-

River Deep Mountain High                      Ike & Tina Turner
It Takes Two                                               Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston
He was really saying Something             The Velvellettes
In the Midnight Hour                                Wilson Pickett
Do You Love Me                                        The Contours
Can I Get a Witness                                   Marvin Gaye
Soul Sister, Brown Sugar                          Sam and Dave
Brown Sugar                                               Rolling Stones
People gotta be free                                  Dione Warwick
Wont get fooled again                               The Who
Signed, Sealed Delivered                           Stevie Wonder
Nowhere to run                                           Martha Reeves & the Vandellas
Roadrunner                                                  Jnr Walker
Respect                                                         Aretha Franklin
Ain’t Too Proud                                            The Temptations
China Grove                                                  Doobie Bros
Rockin’ All Over the World                          Status Quo
Slippin’ and Slidin’                                        John Lennon
What’d I Say?                                                 Jerry Lee Lewis
Revolution                                                     The Beatles
Incense                                                           The Anglos
Do the Funky Chicken                                  Rufus Thomas
Pinball Wizard                                               Elton John
Saturday Night’s Alreight for Fighting       Elton John
Elmo James                                                    Chairman of the Board
No Particular Place to go                             Chuck Berry
Love Train                                                      The O’Jays
I Want You Back                                            Jackson Five
Ain’t that Peculiar?                                       Marvin Gaye
Dancing in the Streets                                 Martha Reeves
Higher and Higher                                        Jackie Wilson
Shop Around                                                 Smokey Robinson
I Can’t Help Myself                                       The Four Tops
Pretty Little Angel Eyes                                Curtis Lee
Blue Moon                                                     The Marcels
I’ll be Doggone                                              Marvin Gaye
Hold on I’m Coming                                     Sam & Dave
Think                                                              Aretha Franklin

If you missed it you can listen again here: –

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Scott

Ladies and Gentlemen, for your pleasure, a feast of festive frivolity with me alongside some famous names for two hours of music mirth and merriment. Enjoy.

It was time for another visit from Piccola today. I was delighted to Meet Sam Crook for the first time today who brought along another sack of goodies!

Sam Crook

The toys we played with today were A Musical Frozen Jewellery Box, A Melissa and Doug Doorbell House and a B Mat-a-Matics.

You can listen to our chat and some of the sounds the toys make here –

Piccola have been established for over 50 years and pride themselves in giving excellent customer service both online and in their local shops.

Website http://www.piccola.co.uk/

Twitter @PiccolaBrentwd

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/piccola.co.uk/?fref=ts

Don’t you just love it when an awkward customer appears just as you are about to end your shift?

Well a midwife in Hull was certainly having none of it and told a pregnant woman that her shift was about to finish and that the woman should return home as she was not in labour.

Aided by her partner, the woman promptly gave birth outside the hospital!

Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust said they were sorry if the woman felt that she had been let down in any way. 

Nice touch that!

Later in the show I was joined by Julian Whybra for the second of his new feature on the Kings of Essex.

Following on from last time Julian looked at the early plans for the defence of the new realm.

Listen again here to what Julian told me: –

As we have two special shows lined up for the 27th December and 3rd January, the next Bygones feature will be on the 10th January.

Have a fabulous Christmas and I’ll see you again next week,
Scott

After we’ve watched celebrities scoffing down live lizards and crawling through snake pits, comes news of a new, no holds barred, reality show where contestants chasing the £1.3m prize are allowed to maim, rape or even murder, other competitors.

For 9 months participants have to battle to survive in temperatures of minus 40 degrees centigrade, amongst wild bears and wolves in the Siberian wilderness.

Sounds delightful!

And what’s more unless lucky enough to be selected to take part via an on-line poll, you have to cough up a £132,000 entrance fee.

You also need to be able to prove that you are totally sane before you can enter, but since given the rules, I would have thought anyone who put themselves forward must be mad, this might be a difficult condition to meet.

But what do I know?

Meanwhile over in the US we have news of a man who, when he became a pagan priest to a local coven, changed his name to Phelan MoonSong .

After much battling, he has now persuaded the authorities to allow him to carry a picture of him wearing horns, on his driving license.

A possible candidate for that reality TV show, perhaps! 

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

A return visit from Simon Wilson from Piccola today bringing me more toys and games to play with!

Simon Wilson

You can listen to our chat here –

As well as talking toys we spoke about Piccola’s amazing shop window display, if this doesn’t make you feel Christmassy nothing will!Here are the toys we enjoyed today.

The Snake – Indoor Fireworks

Simon and I got a bit nostalgic about old and forgotten Christmas songs. Listen right to the end to hear Simon admit a guilty pleasure! Here’s a clue…

Piccola have been established for over 50 years and pride themselves in giving excellent customer service both online and in their local shops.

Website http://www.piccola.co.uk/

Twitter @PiccolaBrentwd

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/piccola.co.uk/?fref=ts

On today’s programme we took a brief look at some funerals that didn’t go quite to plan – with everything from undertakers suffering injuries after being crushed by overweight corpses to others slipping and falling into the open graves.

One shouldn’t laugh but it’s hard not to!

Margaret Mills returned this week with some folklore remedies. You could try these out yourself but don’t blame us if you end up in an early grave yourself.

You can catch them again here: –

See you again next time,
Scott

The fact is that life is short so we all need to make the best of it and that means planning!

We all aim to retire from work at some time and so the earlier you start sorting out a pension plan the better.

I was joined today by HOWARD BULLOCK from CLEAR FINANCIAL ADVICE of BILLERICAY, a man who really knows what he’s talking about so really worth a listen.

He outlined the different kinds of pension available along with the pros and cons of the different schemes so if you missed what he told me, or would like a re-cap, do yourself a favour by clicking on the link below:-

In the second hour of today’s show, we heard all about how binmen in Colchester successfully destroyed a man’s £40k car, safely corralled as he thought, after the dust cart collided with, and demolished his carport.

Oh dear!

You shouldn’t laugh but I find it hard not to!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

It was great to have a visit from Simon today, especially as he brought me a selection of this year’s must have Christmas toys to play with!

Simon Wilson

You can listen to our fun and games here –

Elf on the Shelf

Symphony Number Two

Rally Ripster and Santa’s Magic Key

Piccola have been established for over 50 years and pride themselves in giving excellent customer service both online and in their local shops.

Website http://www.piccola.co.uk/

Twitter @PiccolaBrentwd

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/piccola.co.uk/?fref=ts

Christmas can be an especially difficult time for anyone alone and feeling isolated. That’s why I was delighted to see that Queen’s Park Community Church in Billericay are holding a free Christmas Lunch which is open to anyone who would otherwise be on their own on Christmas Day.

I recently popped down to Queen’s Park Community Church to chat with Janet Lee and Alan Davis about the event.

Janet and Alan

You can Listen to our chat here –

Full details of the event including contact numbers are here

Queens Park Community Church

Today we learnt what happened when two guys entered a store in Richmond, Virginia, and had the temerity to ask for sliced cheese.

It seems that this request struck such fear into the hearts of the staff that they hid and locked themselves in a back room before calling for police assistance.

Extraordinary!

Later in the show I was joined by Julian Whybra for the first of a new feature about the Kings of Essex. 

Listen here to what Julian said by clicking on the link below.

Margaret Mills returns next week and Julian will return in a fortnight.

See you next time,
Scott

Yes big news indeed (!) and according to RADIO SARAJEVO the opening of a new pavement was classed as “the event of the year” and broadcast live for the benefit of those unable to attend in person.

Meanwhile causing a storm in Torrelodones, a suburb of Madrid, was the theft of a huge inflatable model of a pile of dog poo. Quite what anyone would want with such a trophy, or to what use it might be put, is unclear.

Nevertheless the incident has caused much concern locally and a replacement item has been ordered at the cost of the equivalent of around £2000.

See you again tomorrow,
Scott 

Earlier this week I spoke to Yvonne Kyndt from The Rotary Club of Billericay Mayflower about the Billericay Christmas Market. You can find the interview here

Today I visited the market which seems to have turned out to be a great success once again! Thousands of people were in attendance, with two stages of entertainment, flash mobs, a funfair, Morris Dancers, Brass Bands, Punch and Judy, Ice Skating, Father Christmas and lots of stalls selling goodies! The Hog Roast was a big hit with me.

Congratulations to the organisers for another great success. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Billericay Christmas Market on Sunday 4th December is Billericay’s biggest free community event. Joining me today to tell us all about it was Yvonne Kyndt from The Rotary Club of Billericay Mayflower.

Yvonne Kyndt

It’s estimated that up to 20,000 people attended the market last year. Listen to our chat here –

You can find out more by visiting the website for Billericay Christmas Market here

Thanks to Yvonne for coming in today. Just before she left we had time for a selfie!

Yes today we heard about the Chinese backpacker in Germany who tried to report the theft of his wallet only to find himself being processed as an asylum seeker.

After no less than two weeks the error came to light after the authorities got a staff member from a local Chinese restaurant to interpret what the poor man was trying to tell them.

Well she may be a day late but Margaret Mills joined me to explain all about the Plague Stone at Felsted.

Listen again to what Margaret said by clicking on the link below: –

See you again next week,
Scott

On today’s show we reported on the man charged with driving his mobility scooter at 47mph in a 30 mph zone.

At the time of the alleged incident he was actually recovering from a triple heart bypass operation. Verdict “NOT GUILTY”

We also had news of the American woman who claimed that her bottle of salad dressing was possessed by an evil spirit after it seemingly attacked her whilst she was preparing dinner.

Turns out that the “evil spirit” was a bacteria which caused the sauce to bubble up and explode!

I’m off tomorrow so I’ll see you again on Wednesday,
Scott

You really couldn’t make it up if you tried but as we told you today, there really is a police station in Gloucestershire led by the manager of the local Waitrose, but with no serving police officers.

I wonder if you could use your Waitrose store card as a GET OUT OF JAIL free card.

Later on Margaret Mills returned to tell us all about the Old Hag of Felsted.

Listen again to what Margaret to me by clicking on the link below.

See you again next time,
Scott

It was good to welcome back Brian Hughes from Shenfield solicitors, RAINER HUGHES.

Learn more about RAINER HUGHES and Brian himself by going to http://www.rainerhughes.com/

Brian’s subject today concerned the potentially thorny issue of shared drives.

Listen again to Brian’s advice on this issue by clicking on the link below.

Later on we heard of a territorial dispute of a slightly larger nature which has resulted in the self-proclaimed president of the state of LIBERLAND being prevented from entering his own country.

Legally described as terra nullius – a land claimed by no states, LIBERLAND was once part of Serbia but when the borders were redrawn at the end of the Yugoslav civil war in the 1990s, it ended up with Croatia only Croatia didn’t want it.

Had they accepted it, they would have had to accept the new borders, which gave them less territory than before.

But likewise Serbia  didn’t want it either since they liked the new borders which got them more territory.

As neither Serbia nor Croatia wanted it, Bit Jedlicka did want it and promptly announced that the 2 and a half square mile territory should henceforth be known as LIBERLAND and he and his friends planted a flag on the territory and duly elected him PRESIDENT.

Unfortunately although Croatia doesn’t want the territory it doesn’t want anyone else there either and arrests and fines anyone who tries to cross into the area from it’s territory. Not only that but the self proclaimed president has now also be banned from entering Croatia as well.

All good fun!

See you again tomorrow
Scott

BillericayCine is a not-for-profit Community Cinema run entirely by volunteers. They keep films affordable for the local community, offering a wide range designed to appeal to all.
Joining me today to tell us all about it was Adam Adshead Chairman of Billericay Community Cinema.

Adam Adshead

We talked about how the Community Cinema began, volunteers, the films on show, their recent “Best New Film Society of the Year” award and how the children queue up for the bean bags! We also chatted briefly about Billericay’s Christmas Lighting Up event this Sunday (See poster below)

You can listen to our chat here –

Believe it or not but a new cat food range for the super rich has just been announced.

BRITISH BANQUET goes on sale this week but at £12:50 a serving, this is not the sort of nosh your average mog can look forward to.

So what’s so special about this product?

Well it contains Arenkha caviar, line-caught Scottish salmon, hand-caught Norfolk lobster, and locally-sourced Devon crab.

Each gourmet pack also includes organic asparagus, quinoa, and saffron for that “extra touch of luxury and refinement”.

And as you’d expect it contains no preservatives, additives or artificial colours, and is also GM-free.

Coming back down to the real world, well maybe, Margaret Mills related the strange tale of the Devil and the Bell at Danbury.

No it’s not a pub but there is a pub in Danbury called THE BELL, and there might be, just might be, a connection.

To hear more click on the link below:-

See you again next week,
Scott

Mike was delighted to welcome Richy Hughes and Luke Bateman who are lyricist and composer of the Broadway show Mr Poppers Penguins. It returns at the end of the month for a short tour which takes in, amongst others, The Palace Theatre in Southend, before taking up Christmas residence in The West End’s Criterion Theatre. The show features brilliant puppetry, a snow storm and toe-tapping songs. So far our penguins have appeared on Blue Peter, BBC Breakfast and The Elaine Paige Show on Radio 2 to name but a few. More info on the show can be found at www.mrpopperspenguinslive.com .

You can hear the interview again here

So the country woke up in shock this morning after hearing one of the most extraordinary election results. The news about Donald Trump.

I stalked some local Facebook users this morning, Here’s just some of your reaction…

Andrew Woodcock

What kind of a world do we live in where the Simpson’s is more accurate at predicting future world events than the so called and no doubt well paid experts lol.

Mike Jones

Good morning Britain. Welcome to 1933

Colin Wade

Let’s be honest wheeling out Jon Bon Jovi is not going to change the mind of someone called Bubba III from Idaho !

Jessica Kim Livingstone

I’m just in shock I was so hoping he wouldn’t do it – no words

Leena Shalloe

The guy giving his ‘I’m the new president’ speech just now was totally unrecognisable from the foul-mouthed, unkind, bitchy guy who’s dominated our TV screens in the recent past. Made my toes curl. What a bunch of hypocrites rule our world. Where’s that desert island.

Jules Bottazzi

Yay! We’re no longer the most stupid nation.

For my own part I dislike Trump and virtually everything he stands for. But I’m a great believer in Karma. –  I’ll quote a couple of wise people. First Sir Isaac Newton – Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

And I never thought I would find myself agreeing with former local politician Russell Quirk but I think he got it spot on this morning when he said…

Politicians everywhere take note. If you continue to take the electorate for granted, this happens

We learnt today about the residents of a town in Fife who, having objected to a company’s flat building plans have each been billed £74000.

And believe it or not, the company threatened legal action if not settled in full within 21 days.

Margaret Mills today returned to the Essex village of Great Bardfield to reveal some amazing history connected with the place.

Listen again here to what Margaret said: –

See you again next week,
Scott

On today’s programme we showed how anyone can grab a bargain with an up to  75% discount in your local supermarket. And today we revealed the times that the main supermarkets reduce the prices of their stock.

Also today we heard about the woman who came a bit of a cropper after suffering from flatulence during lazer surgery. She might want to think about popping a couple of ENO’s next time.

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

You may have heard of Southend News Network which is a spoof news website producing some very funny made up stories on local issues and events
Southend News Network was originally started in October 2015 with no real aims or objectives in mind other than to add a satirical/spoof-like touch to issues that people are passionate about. Above all else, SNN is all about having the occasional ‘dig’ at the powers that be.
Well now Southend News Network are taking a crack at the Christmas music charts with a very funny song bemoaning the traffic congestion around the Dartford Crossing.
It’s sung by talented local musician Annie Humphrey who normally performs with local band Frog on a Rocket.

Annie Humphrey

It’s being officially released by a record label on the 2nd of December. Money raised from the release will be going to two charities. The first is Shelter, the second will be the British Heart Foundation in memory Annie’s dad, who died 8 years ago on December the first.
The song on Youtube is a bit sweary but today on Phoenix we had the first play of the official clean version of the song which will be available as a download from 2nd December.

You can watch the Youtube version of the not so clean version here –

WARNING – CONTAINS SWEARING

No we’re not really stuck but STUCK IN THE MIDDLE is the name adopted by my guests today,  Jon Greaves, Julian May and Angela Gardner for their band – and they popped by today to tell us about their newly released CD – PICTURE THIS which is available at £7 by e-mailing Jon Greaves at jongreaves@live.co.uk.

Listen again here to what they told me about themselves and the new album: –

Later in the programme Margaret Mills stopped by to tell us all about the amazing painters of Great Bardfield. If you missed what Margaret had to say on this subject just click on the link below: –

See you again next week,
Scott

I was joined on today’s programme by SAM COLEY from the Leigh Orpheus Male Choir which was formed in 1968, and with over 100 members can boast to be one of the largest choirs of their kind in the UK.

But not content to rest on their laurels they are actively seeking new members so if you have ever considered that this might be something of interest to you, why not pop along to one of their rehearsals? They generally meet up at 7pm on most Friday evenings at the Salvation Army HQ on London Road in Hadleigh. Alternatively give them a call on 07754 673600 or take a look at their website  http://www.lomvc.org/.

Whatever take a listen to what Sam had to say on this subject by clicking on the link below: –

Later on the show we heard about the school who inadvertently exposed their students to a nice warm glow after it was discovered that a piece of uranium had been included in the display of rocks and minerals in their science department. Maybe the students can now save on electricity by glowing quietly in the dark!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

Some of my favourite people joined me in the studio today – Ukulele band D’Ukes.

Brian, Jo, Hazel, John and Dave (minus Martin) – D’Ukes

They performed three great songs and entertained us with tales of some of their recent gigs. You can listen to the entire session here –

D’Ukes will be bringing their highly entertaining and funny show to The Brentwood Theatre this Saturday. Don’t miss it!

Leader of the Band – Dave Warren

On today’s show we heard all about the man who tried unsuccessfully to break into his house after he locked himself out – he tried to get inside by going down the chimney only to get stuck, just as triumph was within his grasp.

After being wedged for 4 hours his cries for help were finally heard and he was winched to safety  by the fire brigade.

Margaret Mills was back on parade today with details of the downed Zeppelin in Great Bardfield 100 years ago.

You can listen again to what Margaret had to say on this subject by clicking on the link below: –

See you again next week,
Scott

I was joined on today’s programme by BRIAN HUGHES, who is not only a consultant solicitor from Shenfield based solicitors, RAINER HUGHES, but also a budding author to boot.

Neatly combining both functions, Brian related the story of a couple of notable citizens of Billericay, who were sadly killed in a plane crash back in the 1950’s.

Despite having made wills in favour of their son he failed to inherit their house and property due to a technicality.

This incident shows just how careful you need to be when making your will as Brian explained.

You can listen here to what Brian had to tell me today by clicking on the link below: –

Later in the programme we also learnt why “Hot Dogs” are disappearing from menus in Malaysia.

See you again tomorrow.
Scott

Essex and London band The Insiders are in town prior to their new album launch

Mike took full advantage and grabbed them for a quick live session

You can hear the session again here

You can watch Spacetown here

After a prolonged absence due to illness it was wonderful to have Margaret Mills back on the programme.

Today Margaret described the right royal rumpus involving the trials suffered by Queen Caroline, the estranged wife of George IV.

To learn more and hear what Margaret had to say on this subject, just click on the link below: –

On a very different subject, we heard about the Irish lads who advertised for a “replacement” groom for their stag party being held in Krakow, Poland. Seemingly the real groom fell down a flight of stairs resulting in a number of broken ribs and a punctured lung. By just changing your name on the airline ticket at a cost of £82 you could potentially have an all expenses paid shindig!

See you next time,
Scott

As I guess you know only too well house prices are just crazy these days so it can be good to stumble on a property up for sale in a prime area, going for a more realistic price. Well possibly!

In Brighton estate agents are advertising accommodation to be used as a one-bedroom house, a home office in your garden, a gym, games room or even a pop-up shop. 

The property actually consists of two one-time shipping containers across the top of which is a terrace with space for a vegetable patch and built-in seating.

There are planters around the outside of the container suitable for growing fruits, vegetables or flowers.

And it can all be yours for just £35000!

Also from the Brighton area came news of the new technological marvel of the wifi kettle. It took the owner a mere 15 hours to brew up using the device.

Don’t you just love technology?

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

So there’s going to be a shortage of Marmite thanks to Unilever’s efforts to raise prices and Tesco’s efforts to resist them. Marmite was originally a British product made in Burton Upon Trent.

In the 1930s, Marmite was used by the English scientist Lucy Wills to successfully treat a form of anaemia in mill workers in Bombay. She later identified folic acid as the active ingredient. Marmite was used to treat malnutrition during the 1934–5 malaria epidemic in Sri Lanka

Marmite is now owned by a British-Dutch multinational consumer goods company but is still produced in Burton Upon Trent. Unilever wants to increase prices in the UK to compensate for the sharp decrease in the value of the pound, but Tesco is resisting that move.

This is a British product and can be produced from the waste products of the British Brewing industry.

So it’s hard to see why Brexit, or the decrease in the value of the pound would affect the price of Marmite.

In the corporate world we live in today though things are not so simple.

Marmite then could become a symbol for people’s feelings about the EU and the big corporations. You either love it or hate it.

We are always hearing about people trying to enter the UK, but today we heard about one refugee from Eritrea who says his home country was safer than Swansea.

He should try Liverpool!

We also had news of perhaps some of the laziest males ever – arctic squirrels – who let the females do all the work whilst they laze in the sun.

Seems like they got it made to me!

See you again next week<
Scott

After the rather “dodgy” pronouncements ascribed to the US Republican hopeful, Donald Trump over the weekend, comes news that the jihadist terrorist organisation, ISIS has placed a fatwa on cats.

Where previously the animals had been used on recruitment posters, residents of Mosul have now been forbidden to breed cats indoors.

Well I never!

Being World Mental Health Day, Chris hood brought with him 3 young people who have enlisted on the Coach Core Scheme, Harrison Barrett, Mikaela Kennedy and Jake Watson.

Listen to what Chris and co had to say on this subject here: –

Meanwhile from the USD comes news of the airline insisting on weighing all passengers before they travel. It seems they need to balance aircraft for safety reasons.

I was also joined by some surprise guests this afternoon.

See you again tomorrow,

Scott

I dedicated today’s show to the memory and the music of Rod Temperton who died aged 66 last week after a short battle with cancer.

Rod Temperton

Rod was the keyboardist and main songwriter for the R&B funk/disco band Heatwave.

He went on to become one of the greatest songwriters in R&B history, a songwriter best known for Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Rock With You,

Temperton’s other hits included Off The Wall and Baby Be Mine for Jackson and Boogie Nights for his band Heatwave.

Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers was among those paying tribute, tweeting: “Your genius gave us a funkier world!”

Producer and DJ Mark Ronson wrote: “So devastated to hear that Rod Temperton has passed away. a wonderful man & one of my favourite songwriters ever. thank you for the magic x”

Rod Temperton’s greatest hits

• Thriller – Michael Jackson
• Rock With You – Michael Jackson
• Boogie Nights – Heatwave
• Give Me The Night – George Benson
• Baby, Come to Me – Patti Austin and James Ingram
• Sweet Freedom – Michael McDonald
• Always and Forever – Heatwave
• Yah Mo B There – James Ingram and Michael McDonald
• Brothers Johnson – Stomp

And many more…

Rod with Heatwave in 1978

Good to be back on the One 2 Three show today after deputising for Keith Rogers on the Drive show last week and having a two week break before that.

I premiered yet another fabulous jingle from the talented Paul Nooney of The Solo Beatles, we heard a couple of new tracks that you may not have heard before and also heard the sorry tale of a marriage that turned out not as expected when 3 months after the wedding the couple discovered that they were related… Grandfather and Granddaughter!

So here we are in Autumn, getting chilly now but after a dismal start we had a great end to the summer. Time to look ahead now at what’s coming up, the dark mornings and evenings, Halloween, fireworks and dare I say it… Christmas. Yes the madness starts soon, months of shopping and preparation for a few days of excess. I’m opting for a minimal Christmas this year, just me a Christmas pudding and a bottle of brandy. Can’t wait!

Another Tuesday and still no Margaret Mills, but you’ll be pleased to know she is on the mend and hopefully will soon be back.

Today we heard two food related stories.

First up came news of the woman who was more than a little surprised when a rat fell on her head whilst she was enjoying a meal in a London restaurant.

Meanwhile in Manchester a man was stopped by security officials at the airport due to liquid in his luggage. The liquid turned out to be an unusually juicy pork pie.

OK. That’s it from me. See you again next week,
Scott

With the start of another working week, we took a look today at the health worker who’s duties included helping patients to get back into the community by assisting them with their shopping.

On his first day he escorted one of his charges into the shopping centre where, using the patient’s debit card, he kindly helped them spend £250 on electronic goods which he had stored in the staff room for later retrieval when he left for home.

Clearly other staff were a bit wary of this so when his shift ended he was taken away by the police!

Have you ever wondered what seemingly coded messages broadcast in public places over the tannoy meant? Well we told you about some of those today.

So, for example, now you know that if you hear a call for Mr Sands whilst you are in a theatre, it might be a good idea to locate the fire exit.

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

Voice star and regular guest to 123 Jordan Gray came into the studio to talk about the release of her new single Platinum which releases in November

You can hear the interview again here

Colin Wade and friends have put together a fabulous sinle to promote and gain awareness of Brentwood Mind which has sufferd badly under budget cuts recently

You can hear the single and Mike’s chat with Colin again here

On today’s show we heard about the woman who found a complete rat’s head in her fried chicken. Yummy!

And we also had news of the woman in Devon who somehow managed to call police in Barnstable, Massachusetts to report a car accident between the rural villages of Muddiford and Ilfracombe. She was informed that there might be a bit of a delay before officers could attend the incident.

See you next time,
Scott 

On the first ONE-2-THREE show of the week, we revelled in the story of the man denied a reserved seat on a train because 4 overweight passengers were taking up the space normally used to accommodate 5 people, but refused to move!

We also had news of the woman who’s review for a washing machine went down more of a storm than she could ever have expected due to the picture she posted of the machine, which showed her reflection dressed only in a skimpy pair of knickers. Enjoy!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

On what was, for me, another bonus edition of the show, we heard about Google’s efforts to protect the anonymity of a cow and about the 17-stone woman who’s been told that her weight was the cause of damage to a sofa less than a year old.

Nothing more to say!

See you next week,
Scott

Sadly Margaret Mills is still indisposed but we hope she will be back with us again soon.

In the meantime, on today’s show we heard a selection of reasons why people managed to get fired on their first day at work.

Posting a sex manual to a 5-year old in place of the Paddington book she was expecting proved to be a good start!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

Today we heard about the reluctant Norwegian politician, who despite his best efforts has been elected to serve on his local council for two years.

His poster showing him with his cat, even asked people not to vote for him.

Perhaps there are some lessons there for budding politicians here!

We also heard about the convenience store in London trying to stay open for longer than anyone else. They claim to be open 25-hours a day but they’ve still got someway to beat the discount outlet claiming to be open 9-days a week!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

Yeah, it’s yet another bonus show for me today and so we looked at the confectionary machine at a Spanish seaside resort that also dispenses a whole range of sex toys, all of which are clearly displayed alongside hot and cold drinks, packs of chewing gum and other treats for the kids.

Be careful which tray you pull out!

Meanwhile in Barking it seems there is a shop with, what must be “THE SALE OF THE CENTURY.”

Seemingly if you buy one shoe, they will throw in the other one for FREE. Now that’s what I call a bargain!

See you next week,
Scott

On today’s for me bonus edition of the show we took delight in one man’s misfortune and of a woman trying for a world record.

First off we had news of the man who got trapped in a loo. But when we say “IN” we really mean “IN”. As this Norwegian feller literally dived into a loo to try to retrieve the phone his friend had accidentally dropped into said orifice.

Unfortunately he became firmly wedged as he stood thigh deep in the contents and had to spend an hour completely enclosed in the small area. Whilst trapped he was bitten a number of times by some creatures apparently inhabiting this idyllic spot.

Mr Larsen was only released from his ordeal after firefighters destroyed the facility.

Oh and in case you’re wondering his quest to retrieve the phone proved unsuccessful.

Next up came news of Fort Worth resident, Monica Riley,  a 50 stone woman bidding to become the world’s fattest and heaviest woman and aiming to hit the scales at 70 stone within the next 5 years.

Helping her to achieve her dream, boyfriend Sid prepares a special night time shake for her to drink through a funnel.

The shake consists of ten Pop Tarts, heavy-duty cream, ice cream, milk and weight-gain power, totalling 3,500 calories.

The nightly funnel feeding is streamed live to 20,000 fans on line.

Perhaps Donald Trump could enlist her to block off the Texan border with Mexico.

I’m off for a snack now. See you again tomorrow,
Scott

Unfortunately Margaret Mills is rather poorly just now but hopefully she will be back with us before too long but JULIAN WHYBRA bravely stepped into the breach today to tell us all about The Muster Roll of 1539 and the horrors resulting from the Marian Persecutions between the years of 1555 and 1558 and how these two events impacted on the inhabitants of Billericay.

You can listen again to what Julian told me by clicking on the link below:-

You can also read all about these two events in more detail in a book Julian has written called Billericay People Volume I THE  MUSTER ROLL 1539 AND THE MARIAN PERSECUTIONS 1555-58. 

It’s available from the Cater Museum in Billericay who will benefit from all the profits derived from sales and can be yours for just £9:75.

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

For my first day back after my holiday, I thought it appropriate to look at two stories loosely connected with travelling and holiday issues.

First up if you were thinking of travelling to Pakistan, you might want to slip by Peshawar, where at the Khyber Rifles Officers Mess at Landi Kotal you can see a Banyan tree that was placed under arrest more than a century ago, on the orders of a serving British military officer, who in his drunken state believed it to be trying to run away.

The tree remains chained to the ground to this very day!

Closer to home, should you take a trip to Paris, just be warned that you could be in line for a massive fine should you be reckless enough to take a photograph of the Eiffel Tower at night. You are particularly at risk if you then publish said photo on line. The reason seems to be because the tower’s nightly light display is classified as a separate “artistic installation” and protected by copyright.

You have been warned!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

On today’s One 2 Three my guests were Paul Dorling and Dave Jones talking about their upcoming poetry recital at The Brentwood Theatre entitled “A Crossing”.

Dave Jones and Paul Dorling

Described as “a journey within and without” I was looking forward to finding out more.

You can listen to our chat here –

We cover all sorts of subjects here on 123 and today was no different. Martyn Williams the director of the latest production from Thurrock Courts Players came into the studio to chat to Mike about The Ghost Train which is on at the Thameside Theatre in September

You can here the interview again here

Stuart Smith is raising money for St Lukes Hospice. How? By walking on the wings of an aircraft . Why? He explains all to Mike

You can here the interview again here

Fantastic to be joined by Simon Sheehan, Simon Cantwell and Paul Nooney (along with his Hofner Bass) from The Solo Beatles today.

Simon Sheehan, Simon Cantwell and Paul Nooney

The Solo Beatles are a 5 piece band who play the music of John, Paul, George and Ringo after they went their separate ways. Songs like Got My Mind Set On You, My Love, Photograph, Just Like Starting Over, Band On The Run, My Sweet Lord and Imagine. Although the guys were 2 members short today they played us a lovely “stripped down” version of John Lennon’s Imagine. We also heard a couple of live recordings of the band and I challenged Paul’s encyclopaedic knowledge of The Beatles with a short quiz. You can listen to the entire session here –

The Solo Beatles will be performing at The Essex Arms in Brentwood next Saturday 3rd September at 8pm. See you there!

The Solo Beatles Website

Facebook

Twitter

The Brentwood Cancer Support and Survivorship Group gets under way on the 5th of September at The Toby Carvery in Ingrave Road near Shenfield Common.
Dr Eric Watts joined me today to tell us all about it.

Dr Eric Watts

You can listen to our chat here –

Yes, today came news of the house turned into a reasonable facsimile of a cell in the old MAZE prison by a robot vacuum cleaner, with the help of a puppy, who someone had forgotten to let out before everyone went to bed.

The puppy pooped on the carpet and the robot acted as a homegrown muck spreader.

Oh dear!

On today’s Bygones feature Margaret Mills told us the all about the legend attaching to Deadman’s Lane in Galleywood.

If you missed it you can catch it all again by clicking on the link below: –

See you next time,
Scott

First off today we heard about two men in Germany arguing over a parking incident which resulted in one of the combatants attacking the other man’s car with a sausage. We also had news of a brawl involving a sausage roll in Bristol and a shareholder’s meeting disrupted – again over sausages.

Must be something in the meat!

We also had news of the killer granny in Russia, who it seems has cut up, cooked and eaten her tenant, husband, mother-in-law and someone she was caring for.

You’d have thought she’d miss the income.

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

Great to talk to award winning actor Wendy Morgan about the new production of Made in Dagenham The Musical starting next week at The Queens Theatre Hornchuch

Wendy Morgan

You can listen to our chat (with added ice cream van effects!) here –

You can find out more at the Queens theatre’s website which is www.queens-theatre.co.uk, or you can get tickets from the box office on 01708 443333.

Well I suppose it was only a matter of time, but yes a Russian woman claims to have been raped by a Pokemon Go character.

She claims that she had been playing the game before going to sleep only to wake up to find a huge Pokemon on top of her, raping her which promptly  disappeared when she got out of bed, although the app showed that the character was indeed still on her bed.

Her husband has suggested she sees a psychiatrist so at least some sanity still exists in that household.

Later in the programme we heard the history of Brentwood’s Marygreen Manor from Margaret Mills.

If you missed it just click on the link below: –

See you next week,
Scott

Today we heard about two felons who maybe should try something else.

First off came news of man who’s life of crime has never paid off as he always gets caught. But he must have thought his luck had changed when at 4am he stumbled upon an unlocked car with the keys still in the ignition and and iPad and wallet just sitting there for the taking.

All he had to do was reach in and he would be quids in.

Unfortunately our hero got in the car and in his drug clouded mind, inadvertently pressed the door-lock button on the key fob and then couldn’t understand how the doors had seemingly locked by themselves, imprisoning him in the vehicle.

In a blind panic he smashed a car window to make good his escape and then whilst trying to use a credit card from the wallet he’d just pinched, was picked up on CCTV.

Then we heard about the would-be bank robber armed with a knife, who told the cashier to deposit £500 into his own account.

When that didn’t work he ran down to another bank nearby and demanded the money in cash, but they didn’t have that much in the till.

Unsurprisingly he was quickly apprehended and has now been sentenced to 2 years at Her Majesty’s pleasure.

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

We all know that tax is a necessary evil, and hope that everyone gets to pay their fair share, but one man from Bristol was astonished to receive a recent bill from HMRC for £14 Trillion!

The notice from HMRC said: “Although we are changing your tax code you may still not pay enough tax by 5 April 2017. We think the amount you owe HMRC is £14,301,369,864,489.03p
That is fourteen trillion, three hundred and one billion, three hundred and sixty nine million, eight hundred and sixty four thousand, four hundred and eighty nine pounds and three pence.
Fortunately, the taxman acknowledged the error. Mr Hembrough said: “I gave HMRC a ring and said to the woman that I thought my code was wrong. “When she opened my file she said ‘Oh that is a big amount – it looks like someone has fallen asleep on the keyboard!'”

Today we learnt about the dentist who lost a tool during an operation.

It emerged later that the patient had swallowed it.

Not surprisingly the patient sued the dental practice but as this was in the US it is perhaps surprising that the dentist didn’t try to sue the patient for theft!

On our Bygones feature this week, Margaret Mills took us to Copford where at the time of Queen Mary a bishop, known locally as Bloody Bishop Bonner, is said to have stashed away all his worldly goods in a tunnel leading from the church.

In spite of many searches, nothing has so far been uncovered so presumably, if it ever existed it is still waiting to be found.

Listen again to what Margaret told me by clicking on the link below: –

See you again next week,
Scott

We heard today of the antics of two council authorities.

First off we had news of Havering Council allegedly threatening to take a pensioner to court for criminal damage due to his wilful attack on a council owned lawn outside his house armed with a lawn mower.

Presumably this was thought to be a cut too far!

Meanwhile in Northamptonshire intense excitement is being stirred up amongst residents following news of an adult education course explaining how to wear a scarf!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

Dancing on the radio then! Well I’ll try anything…

Donna Wicks

Donna Wicks is a lovely lady who is using her passion for dancing and making people smile, to raise money for small charities.

Donna started her dancing marathon back in January and is doing a dance a day for an entire year. The videos of the dances are all posted on Youtube.

We chatted about how it all started before the big dance in the studio. A big thank you to Michelle Ward for driving the desk and Michelle’s guest for the day Leigh Luscious who stayed on for a dance too! Thanks also to Courtney-Lee Collins for the Photos and video. You can listen to the entire chat and dance here –

Or watch the video here –

You can donate here

Donna’s Facebook

Bob with Leigh Luscious and Donna Wicks

No Comment!

On today’s show we heard all about the Shetland Pony that broke into a pub in Gravesend – the aptly named ASCOT ARMS – in fact, and helped itself to the booze.

It was finally lured out with copious quantities of nibbles.

On a completely different tack we heard from Margaret Mills about an alleged witch rejoicing in the somewhat unkind name of GOOFY MUMFORD from Howe Street near Finchingfield. “Goofy” was the village schoolmistress, but also reputedly dabbled in witchcraft and so was blamed when the harvest failed, killed and then buried at a crossroads.

To hear more click on the link below: –

See you next week,
Scott

Courtney-Lee

I’ve really enjoyed my time at Phoenix FM. I was really lucky to work with a range of presenters during my work experience and I found it so useful and really interesting as I saw how each presenter put their own spin on their individual shows.

Courtney-Lee and Bob

All of the presenters were so helpful and friendly and many let me try out presenting features on their shows from the events guide to showbiz news to traffic, I was even lucky enough to have my very own 20 minute Courtney-Lee takeover during one show where I took over the airwaves to play my favourite songs all by myself. I’d really like to thank every presenter I worked with but an extra special thank you goes to Bob Simpson who had so much faith in me that he let me ‘fly solo’ lol.

Courtney-Lee and Keith Rogers

I’d recommend Phoenix to anyone looking for work experience as its a friendly atmosphere and so interesting to learn about such a great form of art. I really hope to work with Phoenix FM again in the future

Courtney-Lee x

Courtney-Lee with Steve Robertson

Phoenix FM Chairman Paul Golder with Courtney-Lee

The children’s store Piccola in Brentwood High Street are turning 50! You can join them in their celebrations along with guests Peppa Pig, George and Peter Rabbit! Their V.I.P guests will be appearing throughout the day at both Brentwood and Epping branches on Saturday 30th July.

I was very pleased to welcome Simon Wilson from Piccola today to tell us all about their celebrations.

Simon and Bob

You can listen to our chat here –

Happy Birthday Piccola! You can find out more on the Piccola website here

or their Facebook page here

I’ll be honest with you once computer games moved on from Space Invaders I lost all interest so I’m totally baffled by the latest phenomenon POKEMON GO.

The addicts of such games however seem to allow themselves to be completely taken over by them as evidenced by a journalist at the White House, who rather than concentrate on the briefing of how ISIS would be defeated, tried to carry on playing POKEMON GO.

Whether or not US policy as outlined will eventually defeat Daesh, the reporter’s efforts to catch the Pokemon were defeated by a poor signal. 

Just glad he had his priorities right!

On today’s Bygones feature Margaret Mills looked back at the man they named twice – Sir John Griffin Griffin Whitwell. He had to get named “GRIFFIN” twice in order to inherit Audley End.

If you missed what Margaret said you can listen again here: –

See you again soon,
Scott

Do the bugs keep biting you on these warm nights?

Well now we have the answer to your problems thanks to a group of Swedish scientists.

Yes apparently all you have to do is take a live hen to bed with you and the mosquitoes will leave you alone.

Whatever else that’s a very different suggestion from the kind of bedfellows usually suggested by  Swedes!

Keeping to theme of wildlife, we also reported on the psychopathic swan terrorising people going about their hobby with model boats at a lake in Suffolk.

One man likened an attack on his craft to a battle with the German warship BISMARCK during the second world war!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

We are proud of the fact that we are constantly trying to further the career of young raw local talent and today was no exception. 15 year old Anna Marie Childs hails from Grays and has been singing since she was 11. She visited the studio today with Mike and played 3 songs of her own material

You can hear the interview again here

There is also a youtube link

What a lovely way to spend part of an afternoon, in the company of Richie and Bill!

Bill and Richie

We caught up with what they had been up to in the months since they last came into Phoenix including Richie’s presence at  a certain tea party at Buckingham Palace. Along with that Richie and Bill performed four songs for us with a bonus track from one of Bill’s albums. For one of the tracks I accompanied them on the washboard – not to be missed that one! You can listen to the entire session, and quite a few laughs, here –

The Bob Simpson Washboard Trio

Bill and Richie with Her Majesty The Queen (Possibly)

My thanks to Richie Milton and Bill Farrow for another wonderfully entertaining session. Always a pleasure.

Richie’s Website is here

Bill’s is here

and their alter-ego’s website (Bill ‘N Ricky) is here

You can catch Richie Milton and Bill Farrow performing at The Spread Eagle Brentwood on 6th August.

Today came news of the man from Bodmin banned from swearing anywhere in the UK for 3 years but that’s OK then, if he goes to the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man he can swear as much as he likes.

How are they going to enforce this ruling, I wonder.

He’s just been released from prison for disruptive behaviour so as he hasn’t been sent back perhaps he was found to be too disruptive behind bars and that other inmates were caused unnecessary harassment, alarm and distress!

On today’s Bygones feature, Margaret Mills related the strange story of the Devil’s handprint at Steeple.

If you missed it listen again here:-

See you again next week,
Scott

Well – yes I’m back but with a horrendous cough, so keep well back from your radios.

Just hope I can rid myself of the cough before the end of the world – now scheduled for Friday week, would you believe? At least I got my holiday in first!

Yes, apparently undeterred by many earlier false predictions of doom, END TIMES PROPHESIES insist that the world will end on 29th July, when they claim that the Earth’s magnetic poles will reverse and an extremely angry Jesus Christ will return and kill all non Christians who watch a lot of videos on YouTube.

No BBQ’s that weekend then!

We also had news of the pensioner accused of defacing a work of art valued at £87,000. It seems that she became confused whilst visiting an art exhibition which included interactive exhibits, so when she came saw a crossword puzzle which included the the instruction ” insert words”, she did using a ballpoint pen!

Wonderful stuff! See you again tomorrow,
Scott

Recently, I had the opportunity to work at Phoenix Fm for a week of work experience. It was a very entertaining and enjoyable experience which enabled me to explore what the “world of radio” is like.

Gabi

The opportunity to work in the studio for 7 hours a day allowed me to work with various presenters on their different radio shows. I also was in the studio for various interviews during the week which gave me an insight into how they work and the logistics of them. I would describe myself as quite shy, but being here in such an encouraging environment allowed me to “come out of my shell” and I was even able to read the Phoenix Events Announcements and become more comfortable with talking on air as the week progressed.

I came into the studio at different hours each day and spent time on the Breakfast Show with Mike Porter which gave me an understanding of how the radio shows were organised with the weather and traffic.

I also joined Michelle Ward on her show “Eat My Brunch” and had a lot of fun everyday, if it was just having a chat or having a joking about on air, Michelle created a lovely atmosphere where we could talk about music and eat lots of chocolate!

Gabi and Michelle

During the week, I let it slip that my Driving Theory Test was coming up and Bob Simpson arranged a small “Mock Driving Test” for me to answer on air which was very funny and amusing. Bob also let me read the Entertainment News which despite being nervous about it allowed me to feel much more confident talking on the air.

In Keith Rogers’ ‘Drive’ show, in association with Intu Lakeside, was extremely enjoyable because I was allowed to pick the year for the Retro chart and pick the songs to play from this chart. I was also able to read the top 5 songs for the chosen Retro chart year. I loved doing this because it enabled me to explore a wider range of music, (some older music that I had no idea about), and I could then go home and look up the artists that I didn’t know and I’d heard being talked about during the day.

Gabi and Keith

I would really recommend looking for work experience at Phoenix Fm or any other radio station because it gives you a new-found confidence that I would other wise not have gained. It was such a good week and I have now decided that I would love a career in based in media especially radio!

Prostate Cancer is the commonest major cancer in UK men and second commonest cause of cancer deaths with 47,000 new registrations and 11,000 deaths each year.

CHAPS is a registered charity which aims to raise awareness and support the development of new health services directly targeted at men’s needs to enable them to take care of their own health and well being. Joining me today from Chaps was Clinical Director Chris Booth.

Chris Booth

You can listen to our chat here –

The CHAPS website is here

What’s going on with our weather? Maybe like me you are still waiting for summer to arrive. If so there may be good news on the horizon. A report in the Metro states that from today the British summer could finally be upon us, with a little help from the Spanish.
A ‘Spanish plume’ of very hot air, heading to the UK in the middle of July, could see six weeks of 30°C temperatures.
That’s all very well until you look at the actual weather forecast! Thunder, torrential downpours and below average temperatures. Oh well, at least the rain will be fairly warm.
Although Scott was away today he did make a brief audio appearance on the show in the regular Bygones feature, talking to Margaret Mills about Merrymeade House in Brentwood. You can listen to that again here –

Merrymeade House

It was an incredible delight and an honour to speak to Duke Fakir, the last surviving member of the original Four Tops. In the interview Duke talks about the early days growing up in Detroit and forming a group with his best friend Levi Stubbs, the transition to Motown and how The Four Tops continue today with a new line up.

Today’s Four Tops with Duke

You can listen to the interview here –

I had this album!

The Four Tops will be touring the UK in October along with The Temptations and Tavarez. Full details of the tour can be found here

Following the success of the Billericay Summerfest in 2015 that saw over 6,000 people visit Sun Corner and £4,000 raised for charity, the Rotary Club of Billericay Mayflower will again be presenting the event for 2016.
Today my guests were Nick Sillitoe and Yvonne Kyndt from the Rotary Club of Billericay Mayflower who came in to tell us all about this great local community event happening on Sunday.

Yvonne and Nick

You can listen to our chat here –

For more details on Billericay Summerfest click here

We heard today about blushing cinema staff who played a trailer for an adult movie to kids who were expecting to see the sequel to Pixar’s 2003 smash hit, Finding Nemo.

They were no doubt astonished and curious to find themselves regaled with a trailer for the adult animated comedy – SAUSAGE PARTY – incorporating some very X-rated language.

Can you imagine the questions their parents had to face on the way home?

For our Bygones feature this week Margaret Mills took us to Hutton Poplars Hall.

Carmel Jane Photography

Listen again to what Margaret told me about the fascinating history behind this building by clicking on the link below: –

See you next time,
Scott

On today’s programme we heard about 2 men employed by a local council in Spain who’ve managed to skive off work for 15 years but still collected their full pay packets.

Amazingly several members of the local police department have also been found not to be pulling their weight – in the last year one had worked just 96 days, another for 66 days and one person had go away with working for a mere 47 days.

I think I’m in the wrong job!

Meanwhile it seems that a TV remote control designed to be used by dogs is about to hit the market.

So you could soon be finding someone else will be fighting over the remote – and this one might bite!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

What better way to spend my summer break than behind the mic at Phoenix FM!

Nearing the end of my two weeks here at Phoenix, I can well and truly say I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute, and for those of you who have yet to experience radio from behind the mic, here’s a glimpse of what you’ve been missing.

After just an hour in the studio the lovely Michelle Ward handed me a pair of headphones and positioned me in front of a mic, which for someone with no background in radio was daunting to say the least. For the next 3 hours I was live on Michelle Ward’s Eat My Brunch show. Talk about throwing me in at the deep end Michelle!

Michelle and Paige

The beauty of being in the studio 7 hours a day was that I could work with numerous presenters, all of which had different styles and shows. Every day from 3pm I worked with Keith Rogers who assigned me the task of selecting the retro charts. If you’d have asked me who Talk Talk were prior to Keith’s shows I’d have thought you were referring to the TV and Broadband provider, so Keith’s shows have certainly educated me about music before the likes of Drake and Ariana Grande.

Paige and Keith

Throughout my first week I also had the pleasure of working with the one and only Scott Ross, from his humorous stories to his quoted T-shirts there was never a dull moment with Scott in the studio. Just two days into my first week Scott tasked me with preparing a list of interview questions for his guest Stuart Carr. The Essex born singer-songwriter didn’t perform any live tracks but during my second week I was fortunate enough to see: Falling under, Infrared Penguin and Holloway Road perform live on Michelle’s Eat My Brunch.

Stuart Carr with Scott

Without a doubt the highlight of my time here at Phoenix has been meeting and working with such welcoming people. From day one the presenters made me feel at home which eased my nerves and enabled me to focus on and more importantly enjoy the job in hand.

Bob and Paige

I would highly recommend Phoenix FM to anyone interested in a future in radio, or any aspect of the media for that matter. The skills and knowledge I have gained during the last two weeks will almost certainly prove beneficial to me, not only in the short term as I finish my Journalism degree, but in the long term when job seeking. I cannot thank Chairman Paul Golder along with all the Phoenix FM presenters enough for this fantastic opportunity, it has been an absolute pleasure.

The country is in turmoil. We’re leaving the EU, The Prime Minister has resigned, The Labour Party is imploding, social media is full of very angry people, the financial markets are in shock, Barry Gibb performs with Coldplay, The England team forgets how to play football, and floods of biblical proportion. And all while I was away in Cornwall.

But it’s OK. I’m back now, calm down everyone. Let’s do some slow deep breathing exercises…

IN………… OUT……… IN………. OUT……………….

No wait, that’s how we got into this mess in the first place!

Yes the title says it all!

A computerised robot is on the loose.

The Promobot IR77  has been fitted with artificial intelligence meaning that it learns from its experiences and its surroundings, but in spite of being twice re-programmed one of the machines keeps making a bid for freedom and was found wandering in the street after escaping from the hi-tech lab where it had been created. It was only stopped when the battery ran down.

Strangely none of the other similar machines has shown any sign of trying to break free. 

On this week’s BYGONES feature Margaret Mills kept to the subject she was covering last week – Essex Folklore Cures. This week she looked at headache cures. Listen to what Margaret told me by clicking on the link below: –

See you again next week,
Scott

Can you imagine being forced to sell your car because you can no longer afford the insurance premium which has only risen due to a clerical error on the part of the DVLA?

Well this is reportedly what’s happened a 56-year old former police officer with 40 years experience behind the wheel.

After moving house, Sidney Iliffe, sent off his paper and photo-card licences to register his new address only to receive a provisional licence in return. When he complained he was told that there were no records of his ever having passed the driving test which he did aged 18 back in 1975.

Meanwhile over in Sweden comes news of the footballer handed a red card for breaking wind during a match. The referee accused him of “deliberate provocation” and “unsportsmanlike behaviour”. 

A red card seems a bit over the top to me.

Now I could understand a “brown” one!

See you again tomorrow,
Scott

Former director Gerry Hanning called Mike today to update and inform with the latest news at what exactly is happening at Victoria road

You can hear the interview again here

On today’s show I was privileged to welcome local singer, songwriter, STUART CARR.

For most of his life Stuart has lived in Southend. Soon after being given a guitar at the age of 15 Stuart started writing music and by 18 was apprenticed to hit songwriters Arnold, Martin and Morrow and by 19 he’d had his first hit in Quebec and France.

In 1975, still at the tender age of 21 he was working with David Walker, Phil Wainman and John Goodison, plugging and writing songs for the likes of Mud, Sweet and the Bay City Rollers.

But the crossover to performing himself came after he started working closely with X-Factor contestant, Rhydian.

Listen here to what Stuart had to tell me today: –

In the second hour of the show we heard about the adult movie company who’ve launched a new service for blind clients.

Well they say it makes you go blind so I guess this is a kind of after sales service!

See you again next Monday,
Scott

On, what for me is a bonus edition of the show, today we took a peek at the new product, described as a “shower in your pocket”.

This is a giant sized wet wipe which it has been claimed is large enough to allow you to clean your whole body.

Just imagine trying to do that on the back seat of your car – or on the beach even!

We also heard about the man who returned to the restaurant he’d dined at the previous evening to ask for his tip back – well it was a £700 tip for a £42 meal!

See you again soon,
Scott