Eurovision updates
Scott continued feeding Tina Eurovision news, including reports that organisers were speaking to Céline Dion’s team about a possible appearance in Switzerland. He stressed that nothing had been confirmed but treated even the possibility as major news.
The programme also returned to Australia’s entry Milkshake Man, which Scott believed could become an earworm for children. One listener said his six-year-old now expected the song every time he was offered milk.
The Easiest Quiz
Jordan from Bridgwater in Somerset played after explaining that he spent his Sundays figure skating at a rink in Bristol. He correctly answered questions about a Sunday roast, royal headwear, ducks, juice and Scooby-Doo, but his run ended when he could not identify the Mona Lisa as a painting. Jordan scored five points, beating his personal target of more than two.
Sue Perkins
Sue Perkins joined Scott to discuss Chess Masters: The Endgame, a new competition built around chess. Scott compared the game’s renewed popularity with the return of vinyl: something long established suddenly attracting a new generation.
Sue explained that the programme treated chess players as competitors with personalities rather than reducing the game to silent concentration. The challenge was making strategy understandable without oversimplifying it.
The conversation covered Sue’s own relationship with chess and how much she learned while making the series. She was attracted to the psychology of players trying to anticipate several moves ahead while controlling visible emotion.
Scott also returned to Sue’s long partnership with Mel Giedroyc. Sue joked that Mel was “still in prison” and that their calls depended on having enough coins, continuing the pair’s habit of inventing increasingly absurd explanations for one another’s absence.
They also discussed Eurovision, which Sue and Mel had previously covered together, and Dame Elaine Paige’s birthday. Scott began to announce Elaine’s age before Sue advised that after 50 it was safer simply to say “happy birthday”.
The Birthday Game: Ashley turns 50
Ashley, originally from north Wales, was staying near Clitheroe with her husband Martin and his parents. She turned 50 with a Eurovision-themed cake and flags from across Europe decorating her local pub.
She shared her birthday with Harry Maguire, Matt Lucas, Matty Lee and Elaine Paige. Ashley described Eurovision as one of her main hobbies alongside walking and gardening, while admitting that Martin found her level of enthusiasm “too much”.
The transcript clearly preserves Ashley’s introduction and anticipation of the UK entry, but the three complete Birthday Game song choices are not reliably transcribed. The archive therefore avoids inventing the sequence.
5 March 2025: Vernon Kay
The handover looked ahead to World Book Day and Jacqueline Wilson’s appearance, while Scott continued to tease that the UK Eurovision announcement was close.
COMMENTS