Paul Golder writes for the Brentwood Gazette
One of our celebrity presenters hit a milestone at the weekend as we celebrated the 100th edition of Vicki Michelle’s Music Mix!
Vicki is a well-known figure on British TV, best known for her role as Yvette Carte-Blanche in the BBC comedy ‘Allo ‘Allo! and as a recurring character Patricia Foster in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale.
About 3 years ago I managed to persuade her to come in and play another of her favourite tracks on air, and she enjoyed it so much she’s been coming back again and again!
As a former president of the Heritage Foundation she’s had some great celebrity guests on air too, including Harry Redknapp, John Challis, Ray Cooney, Linda Lusardi and Robin Askwith.
And we celebrated her 100th show with a fantastic guest – rock legend Rick Wakeman, who chatted for over half an hour about what it was like working with David Bowie, his new album – The Red Planet – and what lockdown has been like for him.
Rick is a musical hero of mine too – I spent a lot of my sixth-form listening to one Yes album after another – and it was fantastic listening to his stories. We could have kept him talking for another three hours, so we’re hoping to plan an encore soon.
The interview – and all 100 of Vicki’s shows – can be heard again at phoenixfm.com.
** All of us at Phoenix FM were delighted with the news that our Saturday evening presenter Courtney-Lee Collins was awarded the British Empire Medal in the Queen’s recent honours list.
Courtney-Lee is 21 and has been broadcasting with us since she was 15. Her award came after years of charity fundraising which has seen her raise thousands of pounds for good causes.
