Singing Grandad
The Singing Grandad returned after becoming one of the programme’s most memorable listener contributors. His willingness to perform live had turned him from an ordinary caller into a recurring character.
Scott revisited the reaction to the first appearance and invited another performance. The appeal remained the contrast between the early-morning setting and the complete confidence with which Grandad launched into song.
Listeners responded with requests and messages, while Scott treated the return as proof that apparently small calls could develop into continuing features.
5ive
5ive joined Scott to discuss their return and the experience of performing together again. The conversation covered the group’s original success, the intensity of late-1990s pop and the songs audiences still expected to hear.
They reflected on how the industry had changed since their first run and how their own approach to touring differed now. Age, family life and perspective had altered the practical side of being in a pop group.
Scott asked about the group’s best-known records and the choreography or styling they still remembered. The members were able to laugh at details that had once been treated with complete seriousness.
The interview also explored the complicated history of line-up changes and reunions. Rather than pretending nothing had happened, they acknowledged the time apart and why returning now felt workable.
Listener reaction showed that the group remained tied to school discos, early CD collections and a very specific period of British pop.
The Easiest Quiz: Mrs Bidwell scores ten
Jane from Leyland in Lancashire was known to pupils at Applebee Wood School as Mrs Bidwell. She had created her own version of the Easiest Quiz for students and teaching assistants, where the best pupil scored nine and two members of staff managed only one point each.
Jane answered questions about North America, greetings, Madonna, hearing, the Princess of Wales, cake ingredients, clocks, nursery rhymes, car horns, subtraction and musicals.
The quiz demanded a second car-horn noise before allowing her to continue. Her run ended when she took too long to name a musical, eventually answering Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Jane scored ten, beating the best result from her classroom version by one point. She admitted she disliked musicals despite once telling Michael Ball so at Radio 2 in the Park.
Before leaving, she asked Scott to wish her husband Ian a happy 49th birthday. The programme played Vernon Kay singing Happy Birthday with the BBC Concert Orchestra.
The Birthday Game: Steve is left with Oasis
Steve, originally from Rotherham and working in South Yorkshire, turned 57. A committed fitness fan, he attended six spin classes a week and had already completed one before work.
He wanted an upbeat record from the 1980s. The first spin was Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ from 1966. Steve admired the boots but rejected the song.
The second was Gotye featuring Kimbra’s Somebody That I Used to Know from 2012. It was still outside his preferred decade, so he took the final spin.
Steve was left with Oasis’s Don’t Look Back in Anger, the number one on his birthday in 1996. He admitted Oasis were good but remained disappointed that none of the three choices came from the 1980s.
27 February 2025: Vernon Kay
The handover reflected on 5ive’s return and the final Piano Room performances of the month.
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