Bob Harris (radio presenter)

Bob Harris
OBE
Harris in 2012 at the Concert at the Kings, Wiltshire
Born
Robert Brinley Joseph Harris

(1946-04-11) 11 April 1946 (age 78)
Northampton, England
Years active1970–present
Spouse
Trudie Myerscough-Walker
​
​
(m. 1991)​
Children8
Websitebobharris.org

Robert Brinley Joseph Harris OBE (born 11 April 1946), popularly known as "Whispering Bob" Harris, is an English music presenter. He was a host of the BBC2 music programme The Old Grey Whistle Test and was a co-founder of the listings magazine Time Out. He has presented The Country Show on BBC Radio 2 on Thursday nights since April 1999, and Sounds of the 70s on Sunday afternoons since November 2024, replacing Johnnie Walker.

Harris has been broadcasting on the BBC for 50 years and has been recognised with the Americana Music Association of America Trailblazer Award, a UK Heritage Award and a MOJO Medal, as well as his OBE for services to broadcasting.

Early life

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Born on 11 April 1946 in Northampton, England, Harris first followed in his father's footsteps and joined Northamptonshire Police as a cadet for two years. Harris's father was from Pontardawe in South Wales.[1][2][3]

He then helped found Time Out magazine, as co-editor. Years later, he still refers to himself as "a journalist who can broadcast".[4]

Career

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The Old Grey Whistle Test

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Harris presented The Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC2 from 1972 until December 1979.[5] His first appearance on the show was as chair of a debate on the Night Assemblies Bill, based on his experience as a journalist and at the invitation of producer Richard Williams. Shortly afterwards he was invited to be the main presenter. His velvety voice and quiet delivery earned him his enduring nickname "Whispering Bob". His hippie-style beard and laid-back presentation made him a favourite target for parody, most notably by Eric Idle on the 1970s BBC comedy show Rutland Weekend Television.[4]

Harris later became notorious among the younger generation for distancing himself on air from Roxy Music's first performance on the show and deriding the New York Dolls as "mock rock".[6][7] In the summer of 1974, Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood included Harris ("or the 'Sniffing Whistler' as we know him") on a "Hates" list on their "You're going to wake up one morning and find out which side of the bed you've been lying on" T-shirt.[8] In early 1977, at the Speakeasy (a London nightclub popular with rock stars of the day) Sex Pistols fan and subsequent bass player Sid Vicious threatened Harris over whether the Pistols would appear on the Old Grey Whistle Test.[9]

1980s

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In 1981 Harris moved to BBC Radio Oxford, presenting the weekday afternoon show from 15:00-17:00, taking over from Timmy Mallett. He remained there until 1984. He then joined London's LBC radio station, presenting a weekly half-hour music review and also joined GWR, where he did shows on Saturday lunchtimes and Sunday afternoons.

From October 1984, Harris presented a Saturday evening show on Norwich's Radio Broadland, and the Sunday afternoon show on Hereward FM in Peterborough. At the same time, he was still continuing with his half-hour music review on LBC and was recording shows for GWR. In 1986, he was offered the Weekend Nightline phone-in on LBC every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 10 pm until 1 am, which he hosted until 1989. He was heard on BFBS from 1986 to 1998 and on the UK Independent Local Radio sustaining service, The Superstation.

Return to BBC Radio 1

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Harris rejoined BBC Radio 1 in 1989, standing in for Richard Skinner for two weeks on the weekday midnight to 2 am slot, before being offered his own weekly show on Sunday nights from 11 pm to 2 am later that year following the death of Roger Scott. Harris then took over the weekday midnight to 2 am slot from April 1990, which then became midnight to 4 am when Radio 1 started broadcasting 24 hours a day on 1 May 1991.[10]

His programme on Radio 1 came to an end in October 1993 when Matthew Bannister took charge of the station, although he continued to present documentaries for the station for some time after.

Move to BBC Radio London

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In summer 1994, Harris moved to BBC GLR, presenting a three-hour Saturday night show from 10 pm to 1 am, then additionally on Monday to Wednesday evenings from 8 pm to midnight. He later left the Saturday night show to concentrate on BBC GLR's Monday-Wednesday evening shows.[citation needed]

Return to national radio

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In spring 1997, Harris returned to the national airwaves, this time on BBC Radio 2, where he took up an 11 pm to 1 am Saturday night slot. He still continued to present on GLR, but at this stage he quit the Monday to Wednesday evening shows and presented a Saturday afternoon show from 2 to 6 pm.

Harris eventually quit GLR in late 1998 as he took over another show for Radio 2, Bob Harris Country, (previously David Allan's Country Club) on Thursday evenings from 7 to 8 pm, from 8 April 1999, and his Saturday night show then went out from 10 pm to 1 am. From April 2006, his Saturday show moved to an 11 pm to 2 am slot, and moved back another hour from 4 April 2010, meaning it aired early Sunday mornings from midnight to 3 am. From October 2014 until January 2017, the show was on from 3 am to 6 am on Sundays. In February 2017, his Sunday show moved back to midnight to 3 am. However, on 26 March 2017, Harris presented his last weekend Sunday early morning show on Radio 2 due to major changes to the weekend schedule. The final song played was When You Come to the End of a Lollipop by Max Bygraves.

On 9 January 2022, Harris started a weekly show on Boom Radio, sponsored by Find My Past, which explored how songs link together with other tracks. The hour-long programme was broadcast on Sunday nights from 9 pm and repeated on Wednesdays. The series ended its run on 27 February.[11][12][13]

On 10 January 2022, Harris announced he was returning to the Sounds of the 70s programme after more than 50 years away by sitting in for Johnnie Walker on the episodes to be broadcast on Radio 2 on 16 and 23 January. He also sat in for Walker for four shows in January 2023.[14] He currently presents The Country Show on Thursdays on BBC Radio 2 at 9 pm.[15] He celebrated his 25th anniversary as host of the country show in 2024.

On 6 October 2024, Johnnie Walker announced that Harris would take over as host of Radio 2's Sounds of the 70s in November, with Walker leaving the show due to illness after 15 years.

Other work

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"At a time when media is ruled by the loud, the crass and the cruel, Harris is the anti-Cowell: a soft-spoken but fiercely witty presence, whose velvet delivery is as much a part of British rock culture as Roger Daltrey's stutter or the rolled letter "r" in Johnny Rotten's invective."

— Henry Yates, Classic Rock.[16]

In addition to his Radio 2 programmes, in 2002 Harris was a presenter on the newly launched digital station BBC Radio 6 Music, presenting a Sunday evening show from 5 to 8 pm. He left 6 Music in 2004. He went on to present a new show on Radio 2, which broadcast on Friday nights/Saturday mornings from midnight to 3 am. He was replaced in this slot by Mark Lamarr, but returned to it temporarily, when Lamarr left the BBC at the end of 2010. The end of the Friday show has allowed Harris to concentrate more on producing one-off shows such as the Maple Leaf Revolution under the auspices of the Whispering Bob Broadcasting Company.

Harris was the subject of This Is Your Life in 2003 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at BBC Broadcasting House.[citation needed]

Harris has presented the C2C: Country to Country festival live from The O2 Arena in London every year since its inception in 2013 and simultaneously broadcasts over BBC Radio 2 Country which was first established in 2015, the same year when Harris was given his own stage to present at the festival. This stage, the Under the Apple Tree stage, formed the basis for his own Under the Apple Tree festival which will first take place in 2016.[17]

Harris has been credited by John Thomson as the inspiration for his The Fast Show character Louis Balfour, who comperes "Jazz Club"[18] and whose softly spoken delivery echoes Harris' "unshakeable enthusiasm" on The Old Grey Whistle Test.[19]

In 2018 Harris made a cameo appearance in Tom Harper's country music drama film Wild Rose.[20]

In 2018 Harris joined 26 other celebrities at Metropolis Studios, to perform the original Christmas song "Rock with Rudolph", written and produced by Grahame and Jack Corbyn. The song was created in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital and was released digitally on independent record label Saga Entertainment on 30 November 2018. The music video debuted exclusively with The Sun on 29 November 2018 and had its first TV showing on Good Morning Britain on 30 November 2018. The song peaked at number two on the iTunes pop chart.[21][22]

In 2023, Harris began presenting on the free-to-air 1960s music channel That's 60s.[23]

Personal life

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Harris has eight children and six granddaughters. Harris married Trudie Myerscough[citation needed] who is also his manager, in 1991. She is the mother of his three youngest children.[24] Harris lives in Steventon, Oxfordshire.[25]

In 2007, Harris was diagnosed with prostate cancer, for which he was treated with hormone therapy and radiotherapy.[26]

In May 2019 it was announced that Harris would take a break from his Radio 2 presenting for a while, after suffering an aortic dissection (having undergone a tear to his aorta while walking ten days previously). He returned to Radio 2 on 19 September 2019.[27]

Awards

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Books

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  • Harris, Bob (2001). Bob Harris – The Whispering Years. BBC Worldwide. ISBN 0-563-53775-2. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  • Harris, Bob (2015). Still Whispering After All These Years. Michael O'Mara Books. ISBN 978-1782433613.

References

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  1. ^ "Bob Harris: why Stand By Me was a thunderbolt from above". 9 March 2021. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021 – via www.youtube.com.
  2. ^ Scott, Interview by Danny (8 June 2023). "My hols: Bob Harris" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  3. ^ "Bob Harris: I remember". Reader's Digest.
  4. ^ a b Old Grey Whistle Test DVD Vol 3; Bob Harris speaking before Track 3
  5. ^ Harris, Bob. "Bob Harris Biography". Bob Harris - Official Site. Archived from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
  6. ^ Stevie Chick (13 June 2011). "The New York Dolls play 'mock rock' on British TV". The Guardian.
  7. ^ "Simon Price: There's no going back to the Old Grey Twilight Zone". The Independent. 21 August 2011.
  8. ^ England's Dreaming, Jon Savage, Faber & Faber 1991
  9. ^ GriefTourist (25 October 2008), Bob Harris talks about being attacked by Sid Vicious, archived from the original on 13 December 2021, retrieved 28 October 2017
  10. ^ BBC Programme Index - BBC Radio 1, 1 May 1991
  11. ^ "Bob Harris".
  12. ^ https://www.boomradiouk.com/progs1/2022/01/16/ [dead link]
  13. ^ "Programmes - Boom Radio". www.boomradiouk.com. Archived from the original on 13 January 2022.
  14. ^ "Bob returns to his old stamping ground, BBC Radio's "Sounds of the 70s"".
  15. ^ "BBC Radio 2 - the Country Show with Bob Harris".
  16. ^ "Bob Harris on Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Queen, Robert Plant and more..." Louder Sound. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  17. ^ "Whispering Bob Harris Announces Under The Apple Tree Roots Festival | Folk Radio UK". Folkradio.co.uk. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  18. ^ "The Fast Show – Character Guide". BBC. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  19. ^ Deacon, Michael (18 August 2010). "'I don't feel like some old fogey talking to these kids' – Bob Harris". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  20. ^ Hughes, Tim (24 April 2019). "DJ legend 'Whispering' Bob Harris makes cinema debut in Wild Rose". The Oxford Times. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  21. ^ Barker, Faye (30 November 2018). "TV stars sing for Great Ormond Street Christmas charity single". ITV News.
  22. ^ "The Celebs - Rock With Rudolph". YouTube. TheCelebsVEVO. 29 November 2018. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  23. ^ "Tony Blackburn to launch new 60s music TV channel for the UK". Radio Today. 6 January 2023. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  24. ^ "Eight kids, no drugs, but plenty of rock'n'roll". The Independent. 10 April 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  25. ^ Hughes, Tim (13 June 2019). "'Whispering' Bob Harris on road to recovery after serious health scare". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  26. ^ Bowlder, Neil (30 April 2010). "DJ Bob Harris talks about fight with prostate cancer". BBC News. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  27. ^ Martin, Roy (21 August 2019). "Bob Harris returns to BBC Radio 2 Country Show". RadioToday. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  28. ^ [1] Archived 24 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  29. ^ "The Sony Radio Academy Awards". Radioawards.org. Archived from the original on 15 May 2009. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  30. ^ "The Sony Radio Academy Awards". Radioawards.org. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  31. ^ [2] Archived 24 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  32. ^ "No. 59808". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2011. p. 10.
  33. ^ "Bob Harris". Archived from the original on 17 March 2016. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  34. ^ "Bob Harris on Twitter: "Thank you to @CountryMusic – I've just won International Broadcaster of the Year!! "". Twitter. 11 March 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
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