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Lady Boil De Spudswell · Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 429 Location: Location, Location

From The Independent.

My Mentor: ***** On Danny Baker
'Danny will always say something that will interest or annoy you'
Interview by Sophie Morris
Published: 30 April 2007
I started working in radio on BBC Radio Lincolnshire in 1982 but I didn't come across Danny until I came down to London in the mid-1980s, when he was a television presenter. I then started listening to him on Radio 5, the precursor to Five Live, where he was doing the morning show.

I ended up standing in for him on many occasions - an almost impossible task, because for me he is one of the great broadcasters of this or any other generation, with as quick a brain and as sharp a wit as you could ever hope to hear. As a consequence, of course, he was impossible to emulate.

There are certain broadcasters who polarise opinion and Danny is one of those. But there are so many bland broadcasters out there, and Danny will always say something that will interest or annoy you. He also makes you laugh, which so few people on the radio can actually achieve.

His breadth of knowledge is extraordinary. His ability to dredge up information about almost any subject is fantastic. Of course most of it is utterly useless, but being able to do that is one of the great basics of broadcasting.

I'm sure I was unbelievably average when I depped for him, because I tried too hard to do what he did. I should have been myself instead of a poor man's Danny.

He does a show on BBC London these days and I continue to listen to him in the afternoons. His sometimes bizarre choice of music has often forced me to my local record store, asking for obscure records that have probably sold only one copy beforehand - to him.

He once told me, "The day you sound different on air to how you sound in the pub, not only are you a fraud but you're finished." What marks out a great broadcaster is that you're never quite sure what they're going to say next. Listening to Danny is a broadcasting education.
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Who Can Take A Sunrise, Sprinkle It With Dew...

Cherskiy · Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 11:31 am Post subject:

John Inverdale?
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Lady Boil De Spudswell · Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 429 Location: Location, Location

gfloyd · Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 11:44 am Post subject:

and I was going to suggest David Mellor Laughing

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His name was ernie ........ and he drove the fastest milk cart in the west.....