Lacking General Knowledge

The quiz night at Kenton Spoons went ahead as planned with Chris and Pete hosting.
I was on a team made up entirely of Irish people, being Denis and his mates from home, and Aoife with our team name being "The J.D. 6" after Denis's downing of a Jack Daniels bottle at Saturday's party.

The rounds included one where the questions and answers were related to the word guy and one where all the answers began with the letter J although I was disapointed that Chris and Pete didn't ask the questions in the style of Bob Holness, i.e "What J is...".
There was also a round based entirely on New Zealand and the final round was a
wipeout round where one wrong answer would lose us the round.

We ended up coming third which wasn't too bad although Aoife was annoyed that there were too many sports questions, especially about cricket.
We left at around 10:30pm when they called last orders because they were switching off the electricity for engineering works.

I'm not sure how I'll spend tomorrow, maybe a visit to Sainsbury's and if the weather's still good more lying down in the garden.

Quiet In Kenton, And In Many A Radio Studio

I made a rather long visit to Wenzell's this morning to buy one of their bloomers and a few chelsea buns, although I don't really feel that hungry this morning.
Everyone else is upstairs in their rooms and Chris has gone to work at Classic FM although later on we may go to Kenton Spoons for the Monday night pub quiz which I've heard quite a lot about and should be enjoyable.

Today's quite a dark day as far as radio is concerned as the majority of stations in the One Network owned by GCap have started taking a networked mid-morning show presented by Phillipa Collins who's voice has been heard on Smoke Radio's IDs for the last two years. This means that most daytime presenters on the many stations in the group have been sacked and more networking will be taking place with new weekend shows including a party anthems show on Saturday night.

I'm not too fussed about it as the majority of commercial radio for me went down the plughole a long time ago when GWR took over the Essex Radio group back in 2000 but there are a few decent stations and shows such as the weekend output on the KM Group and this programme on the TLRC stations that Pete has kept going on about called "Bubblegum and Cheese" which goes out on Sundays after Hit 40 UK.
There's also KCFM in East Yorkshire which is just over a month away from celebrating it's 1st birthday and has the one and only Paul Chantler as one of it's shareholders as well as a good set of sung jingles from Jones TM.

I'm hoping to get a few more of my own once I start getting some more money although I haven't heard back from anyone yet about possible jobs in the summer.
I may start sticking to a stricter budget in my final year but like many things, it's something I said last year and failed in doing.

Ending An Almost Enjoyable Year Of Radio

Well I've finally made the end of my look back on the last year of Smoke Radio and Goodlass and Marshall's final show.
Amongst the highlights were an interview with Danny Wallace, the return of
Miles Blayden Ryall who in the previous year was the "LA correspondent" and a surprise appearance on the phone from Dave Benson Phillips who wished the boys well before their entrance into the real world.

This was followed by my final soul show of the year which was a bit more low key than the one the year before but I did have a female co-host with me once again in the form of Jane SY Lee who did a good job throughout the whole week on Smoke Signal
with James.
We were also joined by Ross Powell for his final appearance on the station and I thought it would be an idea to play a clip of him from the first year when he did a show with our German student Ina and he ejected a record from the RCS playlist and slagged it off
on air, which resulted in a bit of hilarity from the man himself and Jane.

Everything was rather chaotic on that day with shows overunning but it wasn't a problem as there weren't any pre-recs going out that night.
As for the year ahead I want to continue the soul show although the way things are going in terms of changes for next year I'm not sure if I want to stay heavilly involved, especially as most of last years comittee don't really want to continue.
Then again they've done well in terms of getting work placements and jobs within radio which is something that if I am being honest am absolutely shite at.

I'm really happy that I'm going to be here for one more year and I'm hoping my soul show will end in style and be an improvement on last year.
Especially as I'll have a lot of time in the second semester with no lectures and just the dissertation to be getting on with.

The Kenton Sports Day

Most of us have recovered from last night's goings on including Denis who was the worst of them all needing the sick bucket as early as 8:30pm.
Myself Phil, Chris and Barry went to Kenton Park where the staff of the nearby Spoons were involved in a game of cricket including boss Creggy who ended up doing a
Peter Simon fall resulting in a few boos from us.

We then went over to Spoons itself where Phil was about to start working for the rest of the day and I also saw a few old faces from my year including Dave from radio and Lisa who did journalism. As tempting as it was I didn't go for a sunday lunch as I've got a few things that need cooking tonight in the form of a lovely lamb shank stew with pasta.

As of now I'm listening back to the first of Friday's shows from SO4S2 where Chris and Pete made their final appearance on the station together reminiscing about the antics of the previous night's awards with a few accidental slip of the tounges.
No better way to finish really.

The Festival Comedown

Last night's turnout at Glasto In The Garden was moderate but we had an interesting amount of people there. These included Steven, Caroline, Jane, Pete, Ross Powell, Jim Chapman and even Ross T showed up which was eventful.
Also there were Lottie, Will, Dean and Phil Landers and it was around this time I started to mix my drinks and get abosolutley lathered as a result. Most of us stuck around to watch Jay-Z do his set at the real Glastonbury on television but after that I got utterly wasted and ended up sleeping in one of the tents that was set up in the back garden.

I woke up not feeling too good but it wasn't enough to discourage me from watching last nights Doctor Who where many characters such as Martha Jones, Captain Jack Harkness and Penelope Wilton as Hariet Jones made a return appearance to help the Doctor from a Dalek invasion.
Davros made a comeback as well although he looked nowhere near as repulsive as he did in the original series and it went out on a stunning cliffhanger which I'm looking forward to seeing how it resolves in next weeks episode.

As for today I plan to listen back to the final day of this year's Smoke Radio output which included Goodlass and Marshall's finale and my final soul show of the year which brought things to a rather downbeat but enjoyable ending considering how things had been that year.
I may also do a bit of cooking as well if everything gets tidied up as the whole house is in quite a state.

A Short Return To London

I'm back in London or to be more specific, Kenton where Glasto In The Garden is about to take place.
We've got plenty of couches in the garden as well as a wooden pub table and I heard that they tried to steal the Undercroft's barbecue but had to take it back.

People should start arriving pretty soon and it looks set to be a very succesful night and I've brought a pack of rasperberry and pineapple flavoured Breezers which should last me the night.
There's also a nice punch blending together cranberry juice and Archers which is also rather nice so I reckon I'm covered as far as drink is concerned.

Glasto Awaits

Almost nearing the end of my look back on SO4S2, I'm now onto the shows that were going out whilst we were all getting rather bladdered at the awards.
The first of them being J-Swift and Kamil who played a selection of R&B and funky house along with some rather amusing banter in between the records.
One particular part being when J-Swift tried to explain about "stepping" by referring to the line in the R Kelly song which went "Step to the left, step to the right" and so on, which ended up sounding like "Bring It All Back" by S Club 7 to much amusement.
They finished off with a selection of classic soul tunes from the likes of Cheryl Lynn, Luther Vandross and of course "Summertime" by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince which did get played quite a lot that week.

Finishing off Thursday was Sammy C with the Dance Show who the previous week was one of the DJs at our night at the Sports Cafe in Central London. I imagine that both himself and his DJ partner Fiz will be making a few more appearances at various nights next year although I know that Smoke Radio will be taking a slightly different route in terms of events next year was a bigger emphasis on live performances and band nights.

I've just about got everything packed to take with me to London tomorrow and it's going to be good to see everyone again at Glasto In The Garden. I'm not sure if anyone will be camping in the back garden but I know that I will be staying there for the next week as I've got a few things I need to be going to that week.

Arctic Munchies

My sister Kate is leaving today to help out at another summer camp in America for the next two months and is heading off to the airport as I write.
I've packed my clothes for tomorrow as well as a few other things and am burning my CDs for when I'm DJing. I really need to get a new external CD burner as the one I'm using is dreadfully slow.

I've now reached Thursday of SO4S2 where it was pretty quiet mainly because of preparation for the awards that were taking place later that night.
The show that went on tour that day was "Smith And Bracey Go Large" who broadcast outside the refectory. I reckon that they were the best out of all the shows that went on tour that week as they had plenty of features and had spent the day before recording items and a song parody of Kate Nash's "Pumpkin Soup" about an addiction to crisps.
I ended up taking part in the ever popular "Arctic Munchies" where I had to eat a frozen kiwi, and an egg blindfolded not knowing what I was putting into my mouth.

That particular feature ended up winning an award later that night, where everyone got rather bladdered including lecturers Matthew and Dave Sharp, the latter of whom resulted in everyone chanting "Fix Up Dave Sharp!". I'm hoping we'll see more of him in my final year even if he hasn't grown back his long hair.

More Aural Departures

Halfway through reliving SO4S2 it's good to actually listen to the shows properly as it was easy to get distracted in RP1 when the shows were actually going out.
Wednesday's Request Show saw two people who weren't actually presenters on the station but suprisingly sounded good if not better than any of the proper presenters on Smoke Radio, them being Phil Harman and George Panayoutou from the men's hockey team sounding almost similar to JK and Joel.

Goodlass and Marshall's guests that day were Seb and Jon who used to present with the boys in the first semester of our first year when there were 6 members on the team and things definitely sounded muddled.
The duo were probably better known for their own show "Smokin' Records" where they were unlucky enough to have been presenting when the power went off in the studio twice, one of them being the responsibility of Ross Tilley whose backside leant against the infamous red button.

The Bamboozle boys made their bow for the year with a special live performance by The Paper Heroes who are about to tour the UK in the next year. There was also a bit of friendly rivalry between the Unsigned, Unplugged and Unemployed show as both of them were hoping to win the prize of best specialist show at the awards the next day.
The Unsigned boys ended up winning inevitably.

And rounding off the night was the final edition of another long runnning show on the station, The Pits which contained a selection of songs which had "Goodbye" in the title from the Beatles to Warren Mitchell from "Till Death Us Do Part".
Definitely one of the most bizarre but entertaining shows on the station and I'm certain that its presenter Martin Perret has the largest record collection out of anyone on the station.

The Sports Slaves

Not a lot's been happening today but it's still been very warm to the point of having both my large bedroom windows open.
I bought a copy of this weeks Radio Times which had an article about this week's Doctor Who two parter to finish the series although there aren't any pictures of Davros who's making an appearance this week adding to the surprise.

I'm going through the third day of our final week of Smoke Radio for 2007/8 where the show on tour that day was "The Apple Bites Back" who were broadcasting outside the
SU shop. There wasn't really anything special there but the boys did manage to get Jake to put a cardboard box on his head and act like an astronaut which amused Lottie who was with them and found it difficult to stop laughing throughout the show.

Another show made it's final appearance that day was Steve Jones with Sport on Smoke where he interviewed outgoing members of the various sports teams such as Max from the rugby team and Catherine from the women's hockey team.
Max was one of the unlucky ones to be "slandered" by the Bamboozle boys on that infamous show during our 24 hour broadcast which took place two days after the
Sexy Slave Sale at the Undercroft where many members of the sports teams bared all in front of a rather excited audience.

I'm hoping there will be nights of a similar nature in my final year.

Reliving Summer Shenanigans

Still on day 2 of SO4S, Amy Fitzgibbon made her debut reading news and doing a really good job at it. I'd say she's the best female newsreader we've had on the station this year and now that she's the Head of News for the station we should hopefully be hearing more from her in the Autumn.
On a low note Stewart Paske was presenting the Request Show with plenty of mistakes such as getting song titles wrong, to being the subject of many practical jokes which myself Chris, Pete and Denis were mainly responsible for.
You can hear a selection of them here although it's difficult not to feel sorry for him overall.

Goodlass and Marshall on the other hand were into their final week on Smoke Radio with two guests consisting of bar manager Jim Chapman and Rob Watson who used to the Comms officer for the SU in my first year at University. He was probably best known for a feature called "What's In Watson's Drawers" where he gave away some of Rayhan's belongings to listeners.
Rayhan managed to get his own back however by waxing Goodlass and Marshall's legs live on air.

That's something I've been lucky enough to avoid since I've been here and I'm hoping that will remain the case in my final year.

Long Haired Summer

I'm doing the cooking later today so I went into Morrisons to get a few things and also brought some Tango which I'm really pleased they're selling at half price for the summer.
I'm certain I'll run out sooner or later as it's still pretty warm outside.

I'm onto the second day of SO4S2 where Chris and Pete were back doing breakfast although they admitted on air that they didn't really have a lot planned that week.
They did however have a new addition to the team in the form of Denis as producer who's main role was asking the questions on the competition "Face Off" where both Chris and Pete were given subjects to answer questions on in the style of Mastermind.
The duo also started a campaign called "Fix Up Dave Sharp" which was designed to get as many members to a join Facebook group in order to persuade radio lecturer Dave Sharp to get his long hair back as seen in some of his Facebook photos.

The show that went on tour that day was Oli P who presented on the courtyard making us of the sofa that we used for last year's outside broadcasts and a few water bombs which quite a lot of us tried to avoid when we actually took part in the planned water fight. I was very tempted to throw a few of them from the large tower near the coffee bar but I resisted the temptation.

I'll need to get round to buying some CD-Rs this week and a wallet for them to take to Glasto in the Garden. It looks set to be a good night and hopefully the weather will be staying the same.

Making Their Bow

Our final week of broadcasting in terms of Specialist shows was a bit disapointing, mainly because a lot of them didn't bother to turn up.

Monday was probably the exception with the final editions of The Live Variety Show and Tudor Rock. The former consisted of a selection of comedy songs such as Tom Lehrer's "Poisoning Pigeons In The Park", a bizarre offering from Tom Waits from his most recent album "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards" a song about emos by Bill Bailey as provided by Tudor and a tune that I contributed to the show "When I'm Cleaning Windows" by George Formby.
Ross and Paul's final record they played was a special live performance of "Like A Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan although unlike most of the other shows on the station I can remember what the first was which happened to be "Memphis Soul Stew" by King Curtis which they played on their first show back in Freshers Week 2006.

Tudor's final show was what you'd expect in terms of quirkiness, not much on the ranting side of things but a very good look into really bad Finnish music such as this offering from Raptori "Oi Beibei", typical early 90s Finnish rap/dance which I quite happen to like.
Tudor's final link can be heard here although it wasn't his final appearance on the station overall as he provided the funny news stories each day on Smoke Signal.

Following this was Mattie on You Heard It Here First where I reckon his catchphrase has become "Sorry Mum" due to the amount of swearing on the show, and bringing the night to a close was Johnny on the Chill Out Sessions with some stunning tunes from artists such as Quantic and one from 4hero featuring Jill Scott which I played on one of my summer soul shows and I have Joe Haddow to thank for introducing me to that one.

Even though there weren't many Specialist shows on that week, it probably made things sound more eclectic due to the fact that most of the shows that didn't go out were indie shows.
I definitely think we had a more cultured set of shows in the first and second year although on a plus side we have seen an increase in live performances this year which looks set to continue.

Out 4 Summer In Summer

I've started reliving Smoke Radio's final week for 2007/8 SO4S2 and with weather to match outside which is very warm.
It all began with Pete running down the A-Z of Summer Tunes which included some good choices such as the Isley Brothers and Katrina and The Waves followed by a new team from Smoke Signal consisting of James Poulter who became known as
"The Desperate Houswives Favourite", and Jane Lee the "token Oz".
The duo were lucky enough to have an interview with Nattie who the previous weekend had performed at Radio 1's Big Weekend in Maidstone which I really wish I had gone to.

The Razzle Dazzle team were the first of the weeks shows to go on tour with a live broadcast outside the Undercroft where I can remember it being extremely hot but luckily I had a few drinks whilst there, the first of many that week.
Also Goodlass and Marshall kicked off their final week with the first in a set of special guests, the one and only Joe Haddow or "The Chest Of Truth" as he was known.
I'm not completely sure how that came about although during Smoke Aid which took place in the first year there were a few photos taken with Joey exposing said chest.

I may think about getting my own camera for the final year as there are going to be quite a lot of opportunities where some of us may be bladdered and it will be nice to get a few photos of certain individuals looking ridiculous.

Warming Up For Summer

I'm now into the short period in between in early May where a few of us came back to do shows just before SO4S2 took place.
One of them being "Unsigned Unplugged and Unemployed" who did their last show for the year due to the awards taking place on the Thursday of the final week of broadcasting which was the day when the team were normally on air.

Their final show featured a performance by the one and only J-Swift accompanied by fellow presenter Oli on vocals and this time with some added percussion from someone who had brought some bongos in with them. They performed three songs which included a new arrangement of their most well known track "I Am Blessed" in a different key.
I'm certain I'm not the only one who would say they're one of the most distinctive sounding talents within the University and a very unlikely pairing which manages to work like you wouldn't expect.

Around this time I did a couple of special shows before the final one of the year, one of them being a show devoted entirely to the latest releases by Incognito and Swing Out Sister.
Even though it was just over a month ago I did that show, it feels like longer
but then again quite a lot happened that month as it normally does each year at University.
The only difference with next year is that I'll have a real reason to celebrate as the dissertation will be handed in.

From tomorrow I'll be making a start on listening back to SO4S2 which like all our
Summer broadcasts I thought was the highlight of the year for Smoke Radio.
It will be good to relive such moments as Tudor making his bow, Stewart Paske making one mistake too many on the Request Show and Goodlass and Marshall going out in style.

"Alright, I'll Take You To...."

I decided to dig out one of my old DVDs of Doctor Who, to be more specific the Revelation Of The Daleks episode originally broadcast in 1985. This was the last episode to be transmitted before the series went on an 18 month hiatus and starred Colin Baker in the lead role with Nicola Bryant as companion Peri Brown where they went to a planet where the Daleks were guarding a set of bodies trapped in suspended animation.

Also appearing in the episode was Alexei Sayle as a DJ who played rock and roll music to the dead bodies and that's one of the main things I can remember about the episode when it was repeated back in 1993 as part of the series 30th anniversary.
It's probably also known for the end finishing whilst the Doctor is in mid-sentence promising that he would take Peri to Blackpool which was meant to be the setting of the next story, had the series not been postponed.
The DVD contains a commentary by Nicola Bryant, director Graeme Harper, writer Eric Saward and Terry Molloy who played Davros and is now better known as Mike Tucker in the Archers.

If I remember correctly it was one of the first DVDs I brought when I started University during Freshers Week although I was barely up to much at all that week and Smoke Radio didn't really play a part in any way, although this was because of being unable to recieve the ever intermittent Real Player stream in halls.

And up until last year I really thought that would be my least favourite Freshers Week at University.

Festival Festivities

Most of the shows I've been listening to from the final week of the Spring semester had one major area of excitement which was the unvieling of the line up for the Reading and the Leeds festival.
One show in particular was "You Heard It Here First" where Mattie and Matt devoted the entire show to artists on the bill, one of which being Pendulum who Mattie asked listeners who were going to the festivals, to bring kazoos to their set to play along with their popular tune "Slam".
There was also a rather amusing moment when Matt's phone went off while on air which had the ringtone of "Jump" by Van Halen which Mattie asked if it was about
Eric Clapton's son.
Not the most tasteful comment but that's what the show's known for.

It was my final show that week where I was back in Studio 6 at long last although as mentioned earlier, I had quite a lot to drink before so I probably sounded a bit more hyped up than normal. I also had quite a selection of new stuff to play as well so I'm certain that was the strongest show of the semester.
Immediately after I went off to Denis's end of term do at his house where I got even worse as a result of drinking a whole pack of Red Russians and embarrased myself in front of a selection of the first and second year radio students and a few of their mates who had come over to visit.

I'm hoping to end up in a similar state at next week's Glasto in the Garden although I'll probably be DJing for some of the time which I hope will go well.

Springing Into Action

I was expecting this weekend to be a lot wetter but it's been rather nice outside if also a bit windy.
If I get a bit of spare time I may head to the nearest beach and provided that the weather outside stays the same.

As for today I'm now reaching the end of the Spring semester in my look back of the year and by then Chris Chilvers, formerly of the chart rundown was now doing a show on Saturday afternoons with two other presenters with the same initials,
Dean Coulson and Denis Cadogan, Denis's main role being the provider of the latest sports results.
There was also a "Round Table" style feature where the team would listen to a selection of new releases and decide which ones would go onto the playlist with the most popular track that week being "Cry For You" by September.

I've also had a listen to the Preloaded posse where Dan decided to devote the first half hour of the show to talking about flatuence and interrupted a record so he could perform the act live on air much to Sophie's disaproval.
The daytime shows were definitely starting to get stronger by the end of the Spring semester although by SO4S2 they would be taken to the next level by doing their shows on location around the University.

I was starting to get back into enjoying Uni life around then and it was definitely illustrated by the rather large amount of times I went for a few drinks either at the Undercroft or at Kenton Spoons. I reckon I'll be making a few visits there next week when I go to stay in Kenton for a few days.

Nearing The End On A High

Tonight's Doctor Who was one of the best so far in the series looking at what could have happened to companion Donna's life if she hadn't had met the Doctor.
Billie Piper made a return appearance as Rose making many appearances as Donna's world collapsed around her although she seemed rather more sinister than she's been in the past but it's probably adding more elements to her character since she moved to a parallel universe.
Next week's episode looks really good with major characters from the past returning such as Captain Jack and Sarah Jane Smith in an episode with a major plot as the series nears it's end.

Still listening back to the shows from near the end of March, one of them being the Apple Bites Back with Jake, Spike and Rich.
This particular show saw the addition of some rather amusing jingles such as this one with Jake and Spike to the tune of Gary Numan's "Cars" and another one by Jake
on his own making use of R.E.M.'s "Stand.
They also had a humourous promo for their show with the voice of fellow first year student Joe Lester adding a bit of charm to the otherwise irreverent antics.

I've also had a listen to the second of my two soul shows that I did in March which was probably one of the only decent ones I did that semester partly because of a stunning track I had discovered by Neo called Smile remixed by a Japanese producer.
The show was preceeded by what was to be newsreader Dan's final bulletin that year and he felt the need to do a farewell speech as if he was leaving the station which can be heard here.
I had also decided that I'd had enough of Studio 4 and from the following week I went back into the more spacious surroundings of Studio 6 although I reckon from this year onwards I've always had a bit to drink before doing a show from there.

Not the ideal stimulant but I've started to have second thoughts about wanting to present in radio career wise.

Positive Results

Whilst everyone else has been celebrating their dissertation results, I've had a look at my results for the two theory modules I did this year and I've managed to pass them.
Surprisingly I got a better mark for the Broadcasting and Society module than the Advertising module and it's the highest mark I've got for a theory module since the
first year at 64%.
Then again I wasn't too sure about the Advertising module as it took place on a Wednesday which is normally the day when the Smoke Radio schedule is packed with shows and the sports teams are all in action so I was missing out on all the fun that was going on.
However all my Wednesdays will be free next year so it won't be too much of a problem.

On a similar note I'm having a listen back to what I was missing as a result of being in the lectures, in the form of Oli P's Request Show that became one of the more chaotic shows on Smoke Radio throughout the year including many stunts involving water bombs.
By this time the station had managed to get some punchy sounding IDs replacing the rather tired sounding ones with the ever dreadful "One Westminster" slogan, helping to reinforce things and make the station sound more slicker.

Tonight's probably going to be more of the same, as well as Doctor Who where Rose returns which should be entertaining.

March In Musical Form

I'm well into March now although I didn't actually do that many proper soul shows due to the Marathon broadcast and the following week being a Good Friday.
Aside that I've still been listening to an interesting selection of shows from that month including the Body Electric with Eric where he played his bizarre selection of electro tunes including one that I liked by Lo Fi Fnk called "Change Channel".

I've also had a listen to the show that managed to win the award for the Best Specialist category at this years Smoke Radio awards, "Unsigned, Unplugged and Unemployed" where presenters Danny and Oli showcased the best in the University talent with one or more live acts in the studio each week.
One of them was a female duo who had written a song called "Little Orange Man" which was about an engineer at a London Underground station.
I'm pretty certain that show will continue next year especially as one half of the team Danny is now responsible for organising all of Smoke Radio's events, and it's worth mentioning that he's also known for his rather distinctive looking hair.

It's still quite a long time to go before I return to London properly although I'm not sure exactly when, as Matthew has told me that the Adanced Radio module lasts 12 weeks although the Uni calendar for next year starts in the final week of September into October.
If the module starts before halls opens then I'm screwed unless Chris, Phil, Denis and Stoobie don't mind me sleeping on their couch again.

Further In February

I heard a rather good tune earlier today from Kid Rock called "All Summer Long" based on the late Warren Zevon's "Werewolves Of London". The tune blends that together with the similar sounding "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, both of those tunes taking me back to Summer '03 when Lynyrd Skynyrd was played at the "Mum's Old Vinyl" night at the Beercart in Canterbury where I used to go with a few people from college.

Reaching the end of February I managed to find this amusing bit of audio from
The Apple Bites Back who messed up the link into the news at the end of their show by accidentally playing the Batman theme instead of the news jingle.
I'm not sure how newsreader Dan took it but I'm pretty certain that wasn't their only time that the introduction to a bulletin went wrong.

I've also gone through several of my inferior sounding shows of the year with mic levels all over the place and links stumbling at the worst of times.
I'm going to make sure that next year I do not use the MAW remix of Incognito's "Everyday" as a bed as I don't want to ruin it for myself and possibly anyone who listens and I plan to save the original version for my final show when that comes in May
next year.
If I manage to make it that far of course.

Hush All Over London

Still in February I've been listening to one of the programmes done by the second years for their Music Radio module which was "At Lunch With Eric" done for a fictitious station called "Hush Radio".

The programmme itself was very laid back and contained relaxing tunes aimed at a 25-40 year old audience, such as The Stereophonics, Jamie Cullum and Dido.
Sam was on newsreading duties doing a good job and I reckon she sounded a lot more relaxed in that role than she normally does.
Then again I reckon she'll be our first choice as presenter when it comes to the Advanced Project.
There was also a live performance from first year commercial music students Oli Rose and J-Swift and an absolutley stunning tune called "I Am Blessed" blending in acoustic guitar and vocals with meaningful rap lyrics.

Compared to the "Retro Room" show that my group did the year before it was completely different in style but an interesting listen all the same and Eric didn't do too bad a job as presenter although quite a lot of the records faded out halfway through.

If I remember correctly the other group in the second year did a show called
"A Kick Up The 80s" with Pete as presenter and Denis as one of the music producers who I can remember having fun with Chris with some of the tunes they added to the playlist such as Nik Kershaw and Kraftwerk.
The newsreaders for the programme were Steven and Jane forming what I think is probably the only time a double headed newsreading team have done a group project.

I'm hoping not to have too a demanding role when the advanced project comes up in the Autumn and they're obviously going to choose those who they think will be best suited to each role as it's too big a module to mess up.

The Radio RAG-A-Muffins

I've now reached Feburary in my look back over the last year of Smoke Radio and that rather last minute put together event that was RAG Day. Basically Smoke Radio was given a day of live broadcasting on the Wednesday of Raising and Giving week at Uni where the majority of the daytime shows were each given an hour throughout the day to raise awareness of the charities involved. The antics of what happened that day can be seen in this rather silly video podcast.

There was quite a big atmosphere on campus that day with outside broadcasts taking place but there wasn't really any creativity that day in terms of content with more than one show doing live waxing which produced a few four letter word outbursts.
I also felt rather left out during the day not just because I wasn't presenting on that day but also because I had a lecture to go to that afternoon and had a note taker in there who I couldn't just leave at the last minute.

Anyway amongst the other shows I've listened to have been Eric from "Razzle Dazzle" covering for Chris Chilvers on the chart, giving random information on almost every act in the rundown but still playing IDs that said "The Smoke Radio Chart Show, With Chris Chilvers".
Apart from that he still did quite a good job.

Caroline's "Back To The Future" show was also sounding pretty good, blending in new tracks with a few classics such as a brilliant Led Zeppelin track called
"Trampled Underfoot" which I reckon sounds similar to "Long Train Running" by the Doobie Brothers.
Others thought that Franz Ferdinand ripped part of it off for their breakthrough hit
"Take Me Out" which is what brought my attention to the record around four years ago.
Then again Alex and the guys from the band haven't really done anything new since I started University so it would be good to hear some stuff from them in the not to distant future.

I'm hoping to complete my look back on the year by the end of the month when I go back to London for "Glasto in the Garden" which I've started to sort out a few tracklistings for my DJ set consisting of tunes from bands who are playing at the real Glastonbury alongside some "traditional" garden party tunes such as "Double Barrel", "Liquidator", and Toots and The Maytals "54-46 Was My Number".

I'm hoping it won't be too much of a washout but then again that's normally what's expected of the real Glastonbury.

Plugged In And Recieving

My Freesat Box arrived this morning and I've now got it set up in my room where I'm able to recieve all the channels we've got downstairs.
There's not really too much exciting on offer but at least we're now completely set up for the digital switchover due to be completed in 2012.

I was also meant to be attending the Fracture Clinic this morning for them to look at my finger but I completely forgot about it and don't have another apointment until August. However this time round I've put it in as a reminder on my mobile phone but I can move the finger a lot better than I could a couple of months ago.

I'm still not sure what I'll be up to for the rest of this week although I may do a bit of shopping tomorrow and go into Canterbury if it's still warm.

Camping In Kenton

I thought I wasn't going to be visiting any festivals this year but now it appears that something's taking place in Kenton called "Glasto In The Garden".

Organised by Phil Harris, this event is due to take place in the garden of Chris, Phil, Stoobie etc's house on the same weekend as Glastonbury and myself and Stevie McIntosh have been asked to DJ there with possibly more to come. There may also be a few live bands giving acoustic performances if things go to plan but I'm pretty certain that people will be bringing their tents to camp in their garden where it's all taking place.
Hopefully none of the places I've sent application forms to will have responded that week and later on in the same week I'll be going to see Royal Showdown at the Clapham Grand.

Let's hope I'm lucky (although it would be nice to earn some money as well).

I'm now steadily going through the Spring semester of Smoke Radio where as mentioned on an earlier post I didn't really record that many shows this year but managed to grab a few off the Student Drive left by various shows.

One of them being Sirin Hassan's "Sunday Sound" which went out on Sunday afternoons and was a selection of relaxed/feel good tunes ranging from Guns 'N' Roses "Sweet Child Of Mine" to Jack Johnson's "Better Together".
One of the other tunes played on the show I've been listening to was Sugar Ray's "Every Morning" which brings back a few memories of Summer '99 around the same time bands like the New Radicals and Sixpence None The Richer were around.

Another of the shows I've had a listen to was "The Vinyl Villains" AKA Rachelle and Michaela, two first year radio students who played an interesting selection of obscure classics such as "Get Dancin'" by Disco Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes which made an appearance in the Thanksgiving episode of The Simpsons.
For some reason they used the theme to "The Munsters" as the theme to their show and they're also notable for their rather bizarre dress sense.

On a lower note I was still struggling in my new Friday timeslot using the infamous Studio 4 and my show was now preceeded by a news bulletin with the "authorative" sounding
Dan Kennedy.
I really didn't seem to be feeling it at all and by this time was starting to think twice about wanting to move my show to that time as nobody's around in University on Friday evenings.

I really hope that last January/Feburary was my lowest point of my time at University.

Interactive Irritations

Following a post I made a couple of days ago about the Dizzy video games from Codemasters, I've found a very amusing video on Youtube which was brought to my attention by Honkit who's just finished his masters in maths at University in Canterbury.

This time it's a send up of Super Mario Bros where there's an unfortunate obstacle just about everywhere in the level when least expected providing amusement.
There's a particuarly good one about three minutes in, which inolves the pole normally at the end of the level but with an unexpected twist which if I was playing this, wouldn't be too impressed with.

I may think about buying a video games console for my last year at University, ideally a Wii as it would help me to lose a bit of weight although whether there would be enough room in my room is another thing.

A Tri-Humph

I've spent most of the morning listening to Radio 4's selection of programmes in tribute to Humphrey Lyttleton starting off with his appearance on Desert Island Discs
two years ago.
Amongst his choices were records by Louis Armstrong and jazz pianist Fats Waller and he told presenter Kirsty Young about his time as a cartoonist and how he got into being a jazz trumpeter whilst at Eton.

This was followed by a programme called "Chairman Humph" presented by Stephen Fry looking back at his time on "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" with contributions from the regular team members as well as guest panellists such as Andy Hamilton, Sandi Toksvig and
Jack Dee.
The programme finished with a performance of "We'll Meet Again" by Humph on his trumpet which was normally done at the end of every show during the live tour that took place last year. A very fitting end to an amusing and heart-warming programme.
They'll be starting repeats of old episodes from tomorrow with one from 1994 feauturing Willie Rushton as one of the panelists.

As for the rest of today I plan to make a chicken stew later tonight as Dad's in Whitstable with a few friends whilst Mum's at Broadstairs with fellow members of the book group.
Also Peter Young makes a return to the airwaves tonight on Solar Radio which should be a good listen. I knew he wouldn't be away for too long.

Not The Strongest Finale

Doctor Who was on form tonight with an episode written by Russell T Davies who's recieved an OBE in the Queen's birthday honours. This weeks episode involved the Doctor and a set of people trapped on a plane on the Planet Midnight, where one of the characters got caught in a daze which resulted in her repeating everything that everyone said and then speaking at exactly the same time as everyone else.
Bizarre but entertaining as always.
Next week Billie Piper makes a return as Rose after a few short appearances throughout the series in a plot which has been kept underwraps for a while but looks set to be interesting.

Beforehand there was a Weakest Link special involving Blue Peter presenters past and present such as John Noakes, Janet Ellis, Peter Purves, Simon Groom as well as a few of the more recent presenters such as Zoe Salmon and Andy Akinwolere.
John Noakes was once again reduced to tears when Anne Robinson asked him about
Shep dying and Simon Groom once again got some stick about when he had to do a feature on two door knockers which prompted the line
"what a beautiful pair of knockers".
As the programme's celebrating 50 years this year this was a more than appropriate enough reunion and very entertaining at the least.

I'm very near the end of my look back of Refresher Week 2008 where amongst the other shows on offer on the Friday were Matt and Rupert with another "Challenge" based feature "Challenge Deidre" which made use of the "Challenge Anneka" theme
to introduce it.
This feature however involved Matt trying to give his advice to problems written in the Dear Deirdre section of a popular newspaper.
The show wasn't really the same as it was minus producer James who I'd say adds the wit amongst the pairs dry banter but luckily I've got a few of their podcasts which they did later on in the semester and won them the award for "Best Podcast" at this years awards.

Goodlass and Marshall were also in action where Ross Tilley was on phone to the pair from the O2 Arena waiting to see the Spice Girls where he was given the tag "Big Spice" with rather embarrasing results.
I was then all set to do my first soul show of the year but it didn't really go as to plan due to my CD mistracking at the beginning of the show and the radio rooms being completely dead with the exception of the first years editing the podcasts for that week meaning that they couldn't actually hear the show which was discouraging.

Even Caroline who got to do a two hour long Back To The Future show later on was better than me where she played a selection of her favourite tunes from 2007.
Something I could have done if I'd put enough effort into it and I feel that I need to include a few more newer tracks on the show this year.
Listening back to her show I learnt that Kate Nash's boyfriend is Ryan Jarman from the Cribs who is better known to me for his rather colourful appearances on Never Mind The Buzzcocks including one where he claimed to have invented Live 8.

If I remember correctly I went home that weekend coming back on the Sunday and didn't really get any better for quite a while after that. It probably explains the lack of blog posts during January and Feburary of this year.

Winding Up (In Both Senses)

I'm finally onto the final day of Refreshers Week 2008 where Chris and Pete on their breakfast show had definitely played their "Good Mornin' jingle to the point that it was irritating.
If I'd had any sense on that day I would have changed it as a joke, possibly replacing it with "You Suffer" by Napalm Death which holds the record as the shortest song.
Tudor had played it on his show the year before during our Red Nose Day marathon
scaring Chris, also in the studio who wasn't expecting it!
Aside that it was a rather enjoyable show with Goodlass and Marshall being pranked by the pair into believing that they were being sued for their Leona Lewis parody
"Keep Being Snubbed".
Ricky seemed to have an idea as to what they were up to but Ross was rather surprised which turned out to be the funnier reaction.

Also on offer were Impey and The Brain who throughout the week were doing their ever popular feature with another annoying ID, "Cheese On Toast".
However I gave that a makeover on the last day, by making Sam sound like she was on helium accompanied by the noise used to accompany a gunging on Noel Edmonds House Party.
I'm still looking for a clean copy of that by the way.

If there's anything I would like to see less of next year however it would be any feature that has the word "Challenge" preceeding it.
During Refreshers Week there was "Challenge Nan" on Goodlass And Marshall,
"Challenge Chilvers" on Chris and Pete and "Challenge Sirin" on Smoke Signal with
Steven and Caroline although the latter didn't happen as planned due to
Sirin arriving late.
This is basically what happens when the members of the station aren't in the same boat as each other resulting in shows having very similar features to each other which is why since the likes of Dan P and Tom and Maz disapeared from the station there's been a lack of creativity within the daytime shows from my point of view.

I'm hoping that the shows this coming Freshers Week will be more adventurous than they were last year with the worst of which included an individually lead show talking about sex, money and other things "Freshers related" which didn't work at all and was a letdown compared to the previous year's "Freshers Blind Date".
If the weather's good I would definitely be up for another water fight on the courtyard which if promoted on campus would go down well.

Digital Honours

The founders of video game producer Codemasters are amongst those recieving in the Queen's Birthday honours list according to this article.
One of the games mentioned in the article is "Treasure Island Dizzy" which was part of a series of games I used to enjoy playing involving an egg trying to save his girlfriend Daisy and involved several characters such as Dylan, a hippy egg, Dora who was Dizzy's sister and Denzil who was a slightly cooler looking egg with sunglasses.

It's disapointing however as the game was created by the Oliver Twins but they don't really get any credit in the article and they ended up not being to produce any more games as Codemasters held the rights to the Dizzy characters and decided to abandon them around 15 years ago.

There is a fansite that contains a series of unofficial games made by fans of the egg, and I've got a few of the older ones on a my emulators which I may get round to playing later on in the summer when there's barely anything else worth doing.

More Recreated Rundowns

I've managed to find another mock-up edition of The Chart Show on Youtube this time from a guy called Jay Christie who has used the graphics of 1997 to intersperse the videos of 2008.

It's not too bad a job with all the usual features such as the Chart News and a rather enjoyable Dance Chart with a selection of tunes from the last few years. I always liked the sting to that section of the show from this era mainly because of the music and bright colours and a voice that can be faintly heard in the background shouting
"Turn that music down!".

There are one or two tiny mistakes such as the sting for a record going up being played before one actually going down during the Top 10 and Nickelback's "Rockstar" being without a video, but apart from that it's a very good effort and I don't see why the show overall shouldn't be welcomed back on our television screens.

I may head off for a lie down soon although I'm being distracted by KMFM's Rock Show with Richard Walters and a rather interesting interview with Fightstar where they've been talking about there worst tour experiences due to dodgy service stations.
I'd definitely say we're lucky to have such a show in Kent where many other local stations wouldn't dare to take the brave step and the same goes for Chris Finn's Chill Out Show which goes out on Saturday nights.

The icing on the cake (although Tony Blackburn's Sunday show probably has that covered) would be a disco or soul show to go out on Sunday evenings but then again that would be wishful thinking.
Having said that, surely Peter Stewart at BBC Radio Kent could be tempted away and ressurect the Carwash on KMFM which would be perfect.
I know that there's quite a few fans of 80s soul north of the county who would probably appreciate either that, or one similar to the rock show which can blend in not too obvious classics with up to date soul tunes.

Will I Ever Attend A Festival?

It's been an alrightish sort of day although I've just found out that Peppermint Bars won't be operating at Lounge on The Farm which means I won't be helping out there that weekend.
I'm rather gutted as I never really go to festivals during the summer, mainly because they aren't really any ones in the UK that cater for the music I like.
The closest I know of are Java Jazz and North Sea Jazz which take place in Europe and have had people like Incognito, Frank McComb and even George Benson performing, having just looked at this years North Sea Jazz rundown.

In spite of that I'm now up to Thursday of Refreshers Week 2008 where Steven and Caroline on Smoke Signal had Vanessa, the then VP Communications of the UWSU. Amongst the questions asked were why drinks prices had increased in the SU bars and why no Freshers Ball had taken place this year to which she answered that they were trying to be careful with the budget this year and if promotions like Pound a Pint were brought back then in would result in excessive drinking.
From a personal point of view it was disapointing for me this year to find that VKs were almost twice as expensive that year than in 2006/7 but on the plus side I'm not as overdrawn as I have been in the past.

Although Vanessa did one or two interviews for the station in the year, I feel we didn't see her that often or get as much support from her as we did from Rayhan the year before and Rob Watson in the first year, the latter of whom got brought back as one of the guests during Goodlass and Marshall's final set of shows in May. I'd love to hear how Rayhan's getting on too as he's always been polite to me since we met on an Election Special for the station during my first year.

Also on offer were Chris and Pete ringing up the female half of Impey and The Brain as part of their "Prank A Presenter" feature and it can be said that Sam sounds nothing like she does on the radio as she does in this clip. That could probably lead on to a lot of things about the difference between on and off-air personalities but I won't go that into too much detail.
I was also never sure about the idea of James Poulter being the "Housewives Favourite"
which started off as a running joke, but he later began to take it a bit too seriously.

I'm almost near the end of the week now and my rather poor attempt at a comeback show, but that's because the atmosphere was completely dead and nobody seemed to be interested.
It was also the night after I had been mugged in Harrow so that didn't make things any better.

It's probably safe to say that I won't be looking forward to the first few weeks of January next year.

"Friendly Radio"

Still on Wednesday I've made my way up to that night's selection of specialist shows which consisted of Shuffle and the Bamboozle boys.
The latter prompted Goodlass and Marshall who were on earlier to start reminiscing about the interactive general knowledge game of the same name that could be played on Teletext.

Unfortunately this appears to be the only Shuffle show I recorded in the last year as I didn't really record anyone elses shows apart from my own during the year, and they didn't turn up to do a show during S04S2 at the end of the year which was disapointing.
They did have a few interesting shows however in the second semester with themes such as a "Hospital Radio" show which included the theme to Doctor Who, and a
"Spelling and Grammar" show which started off with "Uncle Fucka" from the South Park Movie which only the Shuffle show could get away with.

Anyway the theme of the first show of the year was "The Friendly Show" which was ironically presented by just Adam on his own. The music on offer included "Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend" by Marylin Monroe, "Spooky" by Dusty Springfield (because it was written by a man named Buddy) and a trippy tune by Black Gold with the rather pleasant title "Fuck Your Best Friend".

The final track was a bit more obvious, James Taylor and "You've Got A Friend" although the CD started skipping near the end prompting the Bamboozle boys who were in the studio to fade it out and fade in their first tune which was more aggressive in comparison resulting in a bit of hilarity.

This was my first time I'd seen the boys in action and their show did have a few hilarious moments such as mobile phones going off whilst on air, and a few dodgy comments about the idea that the McCann family wanted to make a movie about the kidnapping of their daughter.
Little did I know that it was only the beginning of their on air antics which they would become known for later on in the semester.

Not Quite Connected

I made a long visit up to the retail park near ASDA in an attempt to find a Freesat box but only managing to find the most expensive one in Comet. I've now ordered one online which should be arriving on Monday but hopefully I'll be able to manage as hardly anyone's using it downstairs during the day and Olly tends to be in his room playing GTA 4 which I must get round to having a go at soon.

I'm now onto Wednesday in my look back on Refreshers Week where Phil Landers had a go at taking the listeners requests with a few embarassing results due to Phil being off mic for half of the show. There was an interesting choice from a listener which was "Forever Young" by the Youth Group, probably known from its use in The OC. For me however it will always remind me of the final edition of Smoke International, one of the more cultured shows on the station and it was the song that Fabian and the team went out on in my first year as a student and their first year as a show.

That was for me one of their most enjoyable and chaotic shows which saw a special feature called "The World Quiz" where Aussie Ashlee put Fabian and Natasha on the spot asking them geographical questions resulting in a few accidental slip of the tounges from both presenters resulting in hysterics.
They made the quiz a regular part of the show for part of the second year although it tended to take up at least half a show and was dropped after a while.

There's still quite a bit to get through today including Lottie and Eric with their Razzle Dazzle show and Goodlass and Marshall minus The Mole.
The early January period's never really one I've enjoyed at University for some reason.

2012? Hah!

We've had Freesat installed into our house which is basically a cut down equivalent of
Sky Plus but it's the only way we are able to get digital television due to Freeview not being available in our area.
There's not really a great deal on offer but there's the extra channels from the BBC and ITV and on the plus side there's most of the Chart Show channels including Scuzz and The Vault so if they decide to show the classic countdowns again then I'll be able to see them.
We've got it working downstairs although I need to buy a new box for my room in order to recieve it in clear picture and glorious mono sound quality due to my television not being as up to date as it could be.

Apart from that, I'm still looking back on Refreshers Week, Day 2 to be more specific where Steven and Caroline made their debut presenting Smoke Signal and Steven revealed his love for Dead Or Alive's Pete Burns as well as putting Caroline's musical knowledge to shame with Rhianna's then latest tune, sampling Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Starting Something".

Goodlass and Marshall were also in full swing or so to say, where they got me to take part in one of the worst features I've ever done where I played a character called
"The Mole" who was meant to be an undercover reporter with 50 years experience and my mission was to find out why the Undercroft was closed.
I personally thought it was a load of nonsense and didn't enjoy it at all and it was highlighted by them getting me to utter "I am a Mole and I live in a hole" which some people seemed to find amusing at the time.
I was also asked to take on Nana Glover in "Challenge Nan" where I decided to print off the questions from Goodlass's computer and bring them in with me to the shambles that was taking place on air.

As I was in Central on the Wednesday they dropped the feature the next day although they brought it back at the end of the week but this time round with newsreader Dan Kennedy in the guise of "The Mole" who was more enthusiastic than I was and actually went to the Undercroft itself with the help of the Scoopy.

I'm not sure if the boys will be sending anything in for this years awards after
"being snubbed" twice but they did manage to remain consistent throughout the week and the fact that they've gone will probably allow current daytime shows and the newcomers to be more ambitious and creative with what they do on air next year.

"Oh Dear Oh Dear"

I've managed to find a few vintage episodes of the popular children's series "Chucklevision" on Youtube and particularly this one from 1992, called quite naturally
"On The Radio".

Basically it involves Paul trying to get his song that he's made played on the radio at any cost and features a guest appearance from nonenother than Dave Benson Phillips.
There are also some Sonifex cart machines and reel to reel recorders that can be seen within the episode which shows how much technology has changed in over 15 years.

Quite a lot of episodes from the series are on Youtube but the ones I'd really like to see include one from the series before the above episode when the pair try to convert a bingo hall back into a cinema, and another from a few years later where they play for Rotherham United with disastrous results.

Overall it shows how they've managed to continue with the series successfully
for 21 years.

Refreshing Radio?

I've just started reliving Refreshers Week 2008 which managed to get off to a pretty good start with Chris and Pete "Doing Breakfast". As they would probably put it, "Good Mornin'.

This was their first regular slot presenting together although Chris revealed he nearly didn't make it because he was travelling back from Derry in Ireland just days before they were due to start and there were problems with the planes due to the snowy weather.
The highlight for me was when they rang up Sarah Smith off of Smith and Bracey and told her that they weren't going to be able to put their show on that day because off it's rude content and usage of words such as "bum".

Smoke Signal was cut down to just an hour long show that week and the Monday show was bit all over the place as it was meant to be presenting by Steven and Caroline but they weren't back until the next day. This resulted in basically an hour of sucking up and self indulgent features presented by senior members of the comittee.
As what Steven and Caroline did was completely different to that show in terms of structure and features, it wasn't really the strongest of starts and showed no signs of contingency within the people on the station.

Hopefully that won't be the case with next year's comittee as they all seem to get on well with each other pretty well.
I just don't like those who just come in and do their show and go, without acknowledging those who are on before or after them resulting in things sounding very out of place, which was common with a few of the shows that week.

I was also presenting on that day with a rather desperate attempt on the request show which was probably because of the lack of enthusiasm around in the studios or just me feeling pretty poor overall but luckily it was followed by said duo Smith And Bracey.
To be honest quite a few of the features were quite visual as it involved them making use of their Christmas presents which included Charlotte's giant rubber breast which I had fun playing with, and a giant yellow poncho which Charlotte wore throughout most of the show.

The other highlights included on Tudor's show where he gave a rendition of a song found on a Youtube video called "Chocolate Rain". This went on to become a feature called "Chok Or Lick" on Dan Robert's show the next day which I got roped into taking part in and had to lick co-presenter Sophie Clipsham which I found enjoyable to say the least.

In fact I'd say that was my personal highlight of the whole week.

"The Beginning Of The Twist?"

I spent most of the afternoon/evening searching for more places to get possible employment over the summer and filled out an application to hopefully get a temporary position at WH Smiths.
Whilst doing this I made a start on listening back to the shows that Smoke has done over the last year starting off in the Autumn although there's not really much I have from the first semester especially in daytime. That's good however as as there's a wider selection of music and presenting styles.

Some of the shows I've listened to included the boys from "You Heard It Here First" who were very "rock and roll" in their presentation which resulted in them getting the prize of the same name at this years Smoke Awards.
Although some of the stuff they come out with is hilarious and matches my sense of humour perfectly, I reckon it would be too rude even for the likes of BBC 6Music or XFM with references to some of the dodgier lyrics from an N.E.R.D tune, and suggestions that Santa Claus may be addicted to cocaine.

I've also had a listen back to Caroline from the second year's first edition of
"Back To The Future" which she would probably think is embarassing but there's a good selection of indie tunes on offer such as little known act "The Glad Rags" as well as a few classics from the likes of the Smiths and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
There was also a brilliant tune from her favourite band The Futureheads called
"Broke Up The Time" which reminded me of a song called "High Rise" by the Trainspotters lead by ex Radio 1 DJ Mike Read which was released as a single that my Dad used to own.

I reckon I'll be on to the beginning of the Spring semester tomorrow and the muddled period that was Refreshers Week 2008 and I may make a start on another application form, this time for Woolworths. I'm hoping also to get a chance to do the cooking this week although everything seems to taste different in Canterbury than when I'm back in halls.

Even More Awkward

I went up to ASDA in an attempt to get an application form, only to find that they didn't have any there.
This is making me feel even more reluctant about returning and even if I was successful it would get in the way of trying to get work placements elsewhere geared nearer towards University.

I would imagine that the ideal thing to do now would be to print off my copies of my C.V and covering letters to send out to stations in hope of getting possible work placements although I doubt I'll be too succesfull in that area either but I guess it's worth a try.

Overall it's very depressing for me at this time.

Avoiding Awkwardness

I gave ASDA a ring this morning trying to explain that I used to work there and I got told that I would need to get an application form, which probably means I'll have to go through group selection which I managed to avoid last time I applied for a job there.
I'm really not sure if I want to go back there now and I doubt they'll want someone who's only going to be there for a few months, but on the plus side it allows me to be more flexible with my time in London and my time back in Canterbury.

There isn't really much happening today so I may try and take advantage of the warm weather outside. Then again it may be worth the long walk up to ASDA in this warm weather.

Trying To Be Celebratory

Our rather cramped garden is full of people for a surprise party for my Dad's 50th birthday. Most of our guests are from Canterbury although we have two visitors who have come over from East London to celebrate.
The weather's perfect for it but I'm feeling rather nervous about tomorrow and ringing up ASDA which is slightly putting me off wanting to come down and stay there for longer.

I just want to get the whole thing done with and if it's not possible to return, then I'll have to be a bit more careful with my money this summer. However the thought of it being all over by this time tomorrow will hopefully make things a bit better and I can try and have a good summer.

Settling Back In, Or Trying To...

I spent quite a while trying to sleep last night and gave in eventually by switching the radio off. Normally I have 5 Live on when I'm in bed although I don't really think much of Stephen Nolan, and as for Dotun Adebayo...
It wasn't completely quiet as there were fireworks going off and a load of people were coming down our road singing "The Great Escape" although I don't exactly know why. Maybe it was a case of getting over the disapointment of Euro 2008 with a few drinks.

I woke up at around 7:45 this morning to give Dad his birthday present as he's turned 50 today but shortly after I went back to bed and stayed in there until about 11.
I then had a listen to Bill Bailey guesting on Desert Island Discs where there were some good choices ranging from "Memphis Soul Stew" by King Curtis to "Once In A Lifetime" by the Talking Heads who Bill wanted to be the keyboard player for.

We then went to an Indian restaurant for lunch to celebrate Dad's birthday and it turned out that we were the only ones in there. It wasn't too bad a place overall and it went pretty well.
As for the next few days I'm rather nervous about how things are going to pan out. I may give a call to ASDA tomorrow just to see if it's possible to return there over the summer but I'm not hoping for too much.
It's just a struggle organising my time between staying here and coming to London as I don't really like making the long journey there and back within a day.

Closing The Soul Cellar Door

Only just a month after meeting him in Fopp when Incognito were performing I've found out via Digital Spy that Peter Young made his last appearance on Smooth Radio tonight on his soul show. I'm rather gutted as I was unable to hear it but I'm hoping that he finds somewhere to spin his ever superb selection of tunes.
I know he has made a few appearances on Solar now and again and it would probably be the ideal place to move to as he would fit in perfectly with the rest of the people on there who share just as much passion for the music but PY definitely stands out for me as one of the best soul presenters on UK Radio.

From what I read on the forums at Digital Spy he mentioned about his long stint on the station which lasted on and off for 18 years and I spent many a Sunday afternoon during the time of my HND course listening to him on Jazz FM as it was then, often influencing what records I would buy.
At Smooth they've lined up Andy Peebles to replace him who used to present a Soul and Soccer show on the station a few years ago, and will be going out on other stations within the network but it's not going to be the same to be honest.

Hopefully it won't be the last we hear of PY on the wireless.

An Even Quieter Return

I'm not sure how I'm going to manage the next few months although it's obvious what I don't want to be doing or ending up. There's not really anything happening at home and already I'm missing being able to do my own cooking and enjoy the offerings from Wenzel's in Harrow in favour of my Dad's own bread maker which doesn't really have much flavour.

I'm planning to spend the next few days working on trying to sell myself and hopefully getting some voluntary work in radio and currently I have my eyes set on my local station KMFM, part of the Kent Messenger Group who own a set of stations around the county.
It's still sounding enthusiastic with a strong overall sound along with positive sounding presenters, and it would be interesting to see how it all operates from it's hub in Canterbury.

I may try and see if I can get placements at stations in London as well as I really want to build up my C.V. over the coming months and have something to keep me occupied towards my final year.
Hopefully things will start moving pretty soon.

A Quieter Departure

I spent my final night in London this year at a housewarming at Lottie, Eric, Will, Dean and Troy's new house and I'd say that it's one of the best looking houses out of the ones I've been to with a lovely garden and well furnished rooms. They've also got a bar in the front room and a gym with a treadmill and a punchbag so they've definitely done well.

Those who were there when I arrived included Alice, Amy, Smith and Bracey and Sophie, and arriving a while later were Tudor, Chris, Phil H and Denis who brought all of his Irish mates along that were staying for this week and had brought several cans of Fosters
with them.
Things got a bit chaotic with a swingball set in the garden with Chris taking on Tudor resulting in rather hilarious consequences and things got even more chaotic as it got darker when Denis started to playfully attack one of his mates on the grass after a lot of drinking.

Later arrivals included Spike and fellow first year Rich as well as Phil Landers and Sarah's housemate Trine. However I'd drunken all of my drinks past midnight and decided to head back over to halls where unlike last year it was very quiet and no one was setting fires and so on.

I left at around 8:20am and arrived at Green Park tube station only to find that the Victoria line was closed this weekend, but luckily I managed to get a bus to Victoria station where I just managed to get the train to Canterbury.
Compared to what it was like as I left London, the weather here isn't too good but I'm hoping it will improve soon.

As for the next few weeks I'm going to try and start writing letters and seeing if I can get any work placements either in London or nearby.
And of course I'll start listening back to the audio from this year for the 2008 SRAs although it took a bit of time for things to get off the ground this year from a personal level.
But then again it will probably stop me from getting to over-enthusiastic about the year to come which is why things went wrong for me last year.

The Ideal Covering

With my time in halls coming to an end, I've more or less got everything packed and sent back to Canterbury.
The rest of the day has been mainly spent talking about what to do career wise and what I should do over the summer and I've managed to get some helpful advice from the people at the Marylebone Campus about C.V. writing whilst Anna, one of the post-grads up in the radio rooms has been talking about the best way to approach people and where good possible places would be to work.

As there are one or two stations around I'd like to work at, with people who I know of working there I may give it a go and see what happens. It's just writing the ideal covering letter
that I need to work on and seeing how things go.

As for tonight I may attend Lottie's housewarming at her new house in Northwick Avenue where as far as I know the two Phils will be attending. It may also be my last visit to Sainsburys this year to buy the appropriate drinks needed but I'll try and avoid the Red Russians this time as most of them taste rather vile and don't really get me drunk enough.

My Almost 3rd Year

In the words of the Smiths "These Things Take Time", and that's how I'd sum up my third year at university.
Having missed the first semester it was going to be rather tricky to get to know the first years and it was difficult at first. It was also going to be a task getting used to a few of the changes that had taken place, as they normally do every year and being depressed for most of the time added to the trauma.

I only had two theory modules to do this year which were "Broadcasting and Society in the 20th Century" and "Advertising and Promotional Culture" which had there fair share of interesting and dull lectures but I wouldn't have wanted any of the other modules on offer and they were worth doing. Plus at least I won't have to sit through any more dull seminar presentations.

As far as Smoke Radio has been this year, I wouldn't say it was the best year during my time at University but it's slowly improved. I managed to get my show moved to a Friday as hoped for but I didn't really enjoy doing it as the place would normally be dead on a Friday night, and I had to use a smaller studio for most of the Spring semester which wasn't very convinient.

Also the timeslot made me feel left out of the other things going on at the station and made it difficult for me to get to know the first years, especially during Refreshers Week which once again I felt was pretty weak in terms of what we've done. The fact the Undercroft was closed that week and me getting mugged in Harrow towards the end made things even worse.

There was also RAG Day in February which was a hastily put together day of programming for Raising and Giving week at University which in my opionion didn't really show any imagination or creativity as the shows didn't gell well together as a station and most of them relied on waxing people.

By March however things started improving with things such as the Smoke Radio Marathon which was our second 24 hour broadcast raising awareness of charities and allowing lots of crazy goings on such as messing about with silly string, building a fort out of my quilt cover and watching Family Guy.
There were also other moments such as our visit to Central for Dean's 19th birthday and our end of term do at Denis's house where I'm certain I got the most drunk I've been all year.

The gig side of things has been good with Incognito at the Jazz Cafe and the Reel People at the same venue not long after. I also got to meet two of my favourite radio presenters during the year, being Tony Blackburn and Peter Young which was also an acheivement.

The third semester was enjoyable with many Smoke Radio nights at the Undercroft under the Messy Monday banner where I managed to get the headlining slot spinning the cheese which I really enjoyed especially when the place was pretty full.
Just a shame it all had to end rather aggresively last Monday but I'm not too bitter.

The year went out well with Smoke's Out 4 Summer 2 which included outside broadcasts from around the campus and probably our best awards party that the station has done.
I'm hopeful that the new comittee will do a good job next year as those chosen for their roles have definitley proved themselves that they are capable and the outgoing comittee have thought hard about who should get what job.

On a similar note certain people involved with the station for me have become associated with particular songs for infamous reasons, with a few examples...

Ross Goodlass - Beyonce "Crazy In Love" (3:36)

Stewart Paske - Klaxons "Golden Skans" (2.58)

Phil Landers - Dizzee Rascall "Fix Up Look Sharp"

Pete Cooper - Ian Dury And The Blockheads "What A Waste"

Robin Blamires - Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince "Summertime"
(well the first few seconds..)


Overall it's been a good year despite the unsettling start but I'm going to try and make the most of the final year, especially in Freshers Week where it will be my last chance to get truly wasted.
Then again that might be my aim for tonight if there isn't anything else worth doing.

Hopefully Occupied

I've spent part of the afternoon working on IDs for a series of podcasts that Emma from the second year is working on for Koko in London which includes the voices of Eric, Alice and Oli P. I hope that they're OK with what what I've done although there will probably be some more.
I ended up falling asleep for the rest of the afternoon but luckily I've got enough things to occupy me tonight including for my sins, the launch of Big Brother 9.

Whether it will encourage me to watch the whole series is another matter but I plan to follow it with the DVD of "This Is England" that I brought from HMV earlier today.
I was disapointed that it's not the two disc copy but it will keep me entertained for tonight.
As for tomorrow, it's going to be a struggle as I know that there are certain things going on, but I don't know where and when. I'm sure that I'll end up doing something overall.

My 3rd Year In Aural Form

As my time at Uni this year comes to an end in a couple of days I thought it would be good to do what I did last year and list the tunes that will remind me and many others of all the things we've been up to.
As of last year they don't necesarily have to be tunes that have been released this year but here goes...

Kanye West - Stronger

Sean Kingston - Beautiful Girls

Girls Aloud - Sexy! No No No

Reverend And The Makers - He Said He Loved Me

Samim - Heater

Peter, Bjorn and John - Young Folks

Timbaland featuring Keri Hilson & DOE - The Way I Are

Sugababes - Without You Now

Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse - Valerie

Plain White Ts - Hey There Delilah

Jonny Trunk & Wisbey - The Lady's Bras

Feist - 1234

Scouting For Girls - She's So Lovely/Elvis Ain't Dead/Heartbeat

Jack Penate - Second Minute Or Hour

Hoosiers - Goodbye Mr A

Mika - Happy Ending

Britney Spears - Gimme More

Timbaland Featuring OneRepublic - Apologise

M.I.A. - Jimmy

Roisin Murphy - Let Me Know

Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love

Wombats - Let's Dance To Joy Division

Take That - Rule The World

Craig David - Hot Stuff

Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight

Alicia Keys - No One

Kylie Minogue - Two Hearts

T2 Featuring Jodie Aysha - Heartbroken

Plain White Ts - Hate

Nickelback - Rockstar

Newton Faulkner - Teardrop

Soulja Boy Tellem - Crank That

Pigeon Detectives - I Found Out

Kate Nash - Pumpkin Soup

Kanye West - Homecoming

Kylie Minogue - Wow

Rhianna - Please Don't Stop The Music

Mika - Relax, Take It Easy

David Jordan - Sun Goes Down

Mary J Blige - Just Fine

Jack Penate - Have I Been A Fool

Adele - Chasing Pavements

Britney Spears - Piece Of Me

Booty Luv - Some Kinda Rush

Kelly Rowland - Work

White Stripes - Conquest

Wombats - Moving To New York

Hoosiers - Worst Case Scenario

David Jordan - Sun Goes Down

Tay Zonday - Chocolate Rain

Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor

Robyn - Be Mine

Mark Brown featuring Sarah Cracknell - The Journey Continues

Craig David - 6 Of One Thing

Mark Ronson Featuring Phantom Planet - Just

OneRepublic - Stop And Stare

One Night Only - Just For Tonight

Taio Cruz - Come On Girl

Duffy - Mercy

Ting Tings - Great DJ

Futureheads - Beginning Of The Twist

Alphabeat- Fascination

Utah Saints - Something Good '08

Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain - Low

Estelle Featuring Kanye West - American Boy

Guillemots - Get Over It

Girls Aloud - Can't Speak French

Kooks - Always Where I Need To Be

Mariah Carey - Touch My Body

ABC - Very First Time

September - Cry For You

Wiley - Wearing My Rolex

Pendulum - Propane Nightmares

Kylie Minogue - In My Arms

Senor Bollox - Blasphomy

Mystery Jets - Two Doors Down

Ting Tings - That's Not My Name

Coldplay - Violet Hill

Sara Barrielles - Love Song

Royworld - Dust

Mint Royale - Singing In The Rain (Possibly this years "Umbrella")

Quite a long list but they will all remind me of what a rather interesting if muddled year it's been.

Halls Comforts

The downtime wasn't too long as by the time I got back the internet was working was working again in my room.
Asides that it's been rather quiet for the rest of today although I'm going to spend to night catching up with a few things on the I-Player including last week's Have I Got News For You with Alexander Armstrong presenting.

Tomorrow I'm making what will be my final visit to Wenzel's this year to get one of their ever delicious bloomers and I may also go into Harrow town centre as well. I've also started packing my belongings into black bin bags so I'm organised for Friday when Mum comes over to collect everything to take back to Canterbury.

Other than that things should be rather quiet around here as ever.

Intermittent Irritations

The internet did start working in halls this morning but it's gone down again rather incoviniently so I've come back up to the radio rooms again. It's also rather warm in here as well so that makes things more incovinient but I'm hoping that things will start behaving themselves in halls before too long.

On the plus side I mananged to book tickets for a gig taking place next month at the Clapham Grand which is where I went to see Atar and The Funkadrome, my first gig in London just two days after arriving there. This time Atar's performing with his new band Royal Showdown alongside some other acts who will be on the bill.
The new band have a slightly more edgier sound compared to the Funkadrome but it will be good to see them live and hear some of the new material which I'm sure will be worth the wait.

I've also looked at a few work placement opportunities during the summer and there's an interesting one about a radio station operating at a primary school in South London where they want people to help out in areas such as station branding, features and other area of production.
I may also have a go at trying to get placements at other companies and stations as it would be nice to have some sort of experience within radio before I finish my degree. Especially as I won't really be doing anything else when I'm writing my dissertation.

Knackered, But Craving For Enjoyment

I've spent most of the afternoon up in radio editing a few sweepers to be used for our SRA entries. Everythings starting to come together and hopefully it will lead to succesfull results, especially with the amount of shows we want to enter this year.

As for tonight I'm absolutley tired, but very hungry at the same time so I'll probably have a very meaty bolagnaise to make up for the one I missed at lunchtime in Uni. I guess the case is to now find other ways to keep me occupied whilst I'm here for the next few days until I leave here on Saturday as the atmosphere here is very quiet compared to last year with the poor weather possibly being to blame.

I may get another DVD out of the library but as I'm starting to run out of decent ones to get out I may end up buying one although to be fair I haven't actually bought any DVDs since last year.
I reckon if I do my next purchase may be "This Is England" as it would complete my collection of Shane Meadows cinema releases. I'm sure it was one of the many DVDs we rented last Autumn when I was recovering from mania but I think I fell asleep halfway through.

"Drums Please!"

Just in case anyone from the Undercroft security is reading. But seriously, the title does fit in with one of the subjects of this post.
The internet's still down in halls and seeing Jane SY Lee in the library using one of their computers on the way to the radio rooms gave me an idea before I checked in my room.
I'm also rather irritated that I went past the pasta bar in the refectory where they normally serve vegetarian friendly sauces and today when I went past they had a lamb bolognaise which really irritated me as I didn't have any spare bob on me.

On the plus side I made a return visit to the Undercroft where everyone there's OK with me about what happened last night although they were a tiny bit worried about what happened after seeing CCTV footage of the incident showing how aggressive that bouncer was.

It doesn't look as if my DJing days are numbered overall though, as a mate of bar manager Jim Chapman has a band who play 60s and 70s inspired tunes and Jim suggested that my soul set could complement them well if they came to perform. We also had a chat about the James Taylor Quartet and percussionist Snowboy the latter of whom I was lucky enough to see at my first Incognito gig at the forum in November 2005.
On the subject of percussion there was a tribal drum lying about during last night which many people included myself kept mucking about with and even that annoyed the bouncers.

One things for sure, as they didn't succeed in drinking the bar dry, especially with the VKs as I savoured an orange one whilst I was there. If the internet in halls doesn't see any signs of sorting itself out I may make a few more visits to succeed in this rather ambitious aim.

Hang The DJ

I can honestly say that I will never DJ or at least headline a night at the Undercroft again after what happened at last night. I'll go on to explain exactly what happened later on.

The night itself started off pretty well with a good reception for my soul set with people in attendance such as film students Lawrens and Edders as well as Tudor and third year radio student Dave Baldwin who were spending their final Monday night in the Undercroft.
Also around were "homegirls" Leah and Lucy and a new arrival in the form of Barry, Denis's mate from Cork who's moving in with Chris, Stoobie etc.

The other sets went well courtesy of Mattie playing his selection of rock and indie,
DJ Ska's bizarre mash-ups and Steven with his R&B going down a storm as normal. I then came on to spin my selection of cheese which got extended beyond closing time although I didn't know exactly when. At this point Mattie came back hassling to let him DJ again and I gave in letting him having a go for 10 minutes this time playing some more dancey stuff such as the Chemical Brothers and the Gossip. About halfway through we were given a five minute closing time warning and I eventually got control back of the decks finishing off with "Summer Holiday" by Cliff Richard at the request of outgoing Head Of Events Phil Harris.

By the time the record had finished just about everyone was chanting "One More Song!" but the bouncer was having none of it. I decided to tease the crowd by playing the first few seconds of "Summertime" by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince and as soon as they heard "Drums Please!" the bouncer charged right round the DJ booth and headlocked me which was uncalled for.
I wasn't too offended as I managed to get out quickly but not without Stoobie accidentally knocking his beer over the bouncer as a result of his overeactive behaviour.

I didn't come back down afterwards but it took Phil, Poulter, and Stoobie a long time to come out as they were arguing with the bouncer about what he had done as there was no need to attack those responsible for providing entertainment for the customers.
We eventually left and went back to Becmead Avenue where myself and Phil spent a very long time talking about the year that's past and how next year's going to see quite a change for Smoke Radio events with more priority on live bands rather than DJ sets which is no problem as DJs such as Ska and Decio can take care of them.

By the time Phil went to bed it was already rather light outside so I didn't really get any sleep and spent most of the morning watching VH1 Classics where amongst the highlights on on offer were the top 10 Janet Jackson videos. I was rather surprised that the most recent hit "All For You" was rather low in the rundown but was impressed to see the stunning "When I Think Of You" in the top 5. Number 1 was "Together Again" which I'm sure Stevie McIntosh would have been impressed with as that's the tune he normally finishes his DJ set with with last night being no exception.

I was joined by Barry at around this time where we continued to watch other offerings such as the "Number 1's of 1992" and the "Top 20 Party Songs" which rather controversially had YMCA at number 15. I hope I get to see more of him later this week and possibly if I come over during the summer to see how everyones getting on.

Overall it's been a rather eventful night and morning.

Going Loco In The Undercroft

I spent most of the afternoon in radio where both the Phils were working on the audio to submit in this years Student Radio Awards. Phil Landers suggested that I entered the Best Specialist Music category again although to be honest I reckon most of my shows this year have been inferior to those in my second year.
I'll have a listen back in the next few weeks to see if there is 20 minutes worth of audio worth submitting.

As for tonight I'm just about to head off to the Undercroft for we've called "The Big Phat End Of Term Party" where we've got quite a good DJ line up with Mattie from "You Heard It Here First" spinning the tunes after my soul set, where hopefully they'll be visuals involved again. After that Steven's coming on to do another of his superb R&B sets and I'll be back on to spin the cheese at the end of the night.

It's also Phil Harris's last Undercroft night as the Head of Events at Smoke Radio so it looks set to be a great one overall. Let's hope the VKs haven't ran out before I've arrived.

Top Shelf Treats

The internet's still not working in my room which is inconvenient, so I'm using one of the library computers again. I spent last night watching another documentary that I borrowed from the library looking at adult comics such as Viz and 2000 A.D., and characters such as Roger Mellie, Johnny Fartpants and Judge Dread.
The contributors in the programme included Stewart Lee and Andrew Collins who had one of his drawings published in A.D. 2000 many years ago.
The programme also looked at some of the lesser known publications such as "Deadline" which was available around the time of the Acid House era and reflected the culture surrounding it.

I'm not sure if I'll be up to much today before tonight's goings on at the Undercroft but it should be a good one overall. I just hope the internet gets sorted soon as I don't know how I'm going to spend my time before leaving halls this weekend.

"Who's On Line 1?"

I've just finished watching a documentary originally shown almost exactly a year ago called "When The Stranglers Met Roland Rat", looking at the relationship between pop music and children's television originally shown as part of BBC 4's Children's TV On Trial season.

The documentary itself went as far back to Freddie and The Dreamers on Blue Peter back in the 60s and looking at the many acts who appeared on Saturday mornings shows throughout the 80s and 90s such as Captain Sensible making an idiot of himself on Saturday Superstore and Chrissie Hynde getting splattered on Tiswas and to a lesser extent Mike Read getting his guitar out at any given moment.
One of the contributions I liked was when someone compared the Stranglers said performance on "Roland Rat - The Series" to the scene in "This Is Spinal Tap" when the revamped band were scheduled alongside a puppet show.

However the documentary ended on a rather downbeat note looking at the current state of children's television where there are no longer platforms for popstars to perform on shows anymore.
Emma Forbes, formerly of Live And Kicking also appeared as a contributor saying that her children long to ring up and speak to their favourite performers and now that there aren't any programmes to offer such things is disapointing.
The use of the S-Club track "Goodbye" in the end credits helped to elaborate the current overall situation of music and television and how it's changed in the last 5 or so years.

With programmes allowing the public to choose future acts now in centre stage it doesn't appear that many of the acts last beyond the limelight of the shows and if this is the way it continues then it will be predictable as always.
Not just the performers but the way the programmes are produced like in the X-Factor for example, there's always a big build up with a Whitney Houston track playing in the background when an auditionee is waiting to find out if they have passed the judged approval. In which case they'll have.

I never realised at the time of shows such as Going Live! that I'd remember them in such a way as innovative and that hardly any of today's programmes would be good when compared. Programme makers just don't appear to like creativity these days and that seems to go for radio as well.

On Anoff

There were quite a few people about for Michael's party in my flat yesterday who he'd brought from Mersea and Colchester, including his twin brother Alex who was also celebrating. Some of the boys decided to muck about with a football in the kitchen after a few drinks, and attempting to do tricks like the fella who was on Britain's Got Talent a few nights ago.

This more or less continued until 11pm when we decided to head into Central and some of us took some drinks with us as it would be our last chance to do so under the new rules of Boris being in power.
When we got to Central we went to a bar/club called On Anon where the first two floors where playing what seemed like all the R&B hits from 2005, i.e. Pussycat Dolls, "Gasolina" and MVP's "Roc Ya Body", whilst the club upstairs was playing a load of dance tracks and was very crowded.
Michael and a few others went out after a while to get a cigarrette and I decided
to head back to Harrow via the N-18 where there were very noisy people as per-usual.
A few of them were actually familiar faces in the form of JonJon and George who present the Bamboozle show on Smoke, who had been spending the night drinking on public transport as much as they could and could be heard at the back singing "Gold Digger" rather loudly.

I woke up rather late this morning and found that most of Michael's mates had been sleeping in the kitchen which had become rather messy as a result. I've ended up having to use the computers in the library as well due to the internet access missing from my room in halls which I hope will be sorted out soon, but at least it made it easier to avoid finding out who won Britain's Got Talent which I recorded last night due to all the chaos going on in the flat.

I may get out another DVD from the library tonight although their range is rather limited but then again I'm only here for a few more days.
Monday should be good though as it's Smoke Radio's final night at the Undercroft this year which I have been asked to headline again. The drinks will definitely be flowing, but I hope they don't run short of VKs like last year.