The last Friday before Christmas
Schools and colleges were breaking up, teachers were beginning staff-room drinks and drivers were setting off home. Scott remembered encountering his own teacher in a pub after the final day of sixth form and not knowing whether the usual classroom rules still applied.
The previous day’s transfer embargo had already been broken in football, with Chelsea and José Mourinho separating. Listeners demanded a penalty for ignoring Relationship Transfer Deadline Day, although the show had never created an enforcement mechanism.
Bear, the Scouts and Obama
Bear Grylls visited with his son and discussed volunteering as Chief Scout. The movement’s A Million Hands project focused young people on dementia, disability, mental health, clean water and sanitation. Bear connected it with Radio 1’s One Million Hours campaign, which had reached 95,000 pledged hours and was aiming for 100,000 by the end of the day.
He also described filming with Barack Obama in Alaska. Four helicopters and around 50 Secret Service snipers surrounded the production, but after an initially nervous half-hour Bear treated him like any other expedition guest. They discussed family, fears, flatulence, berries and whether somebody could drink their own urine.
At the end Obama asked for something to sign for Bear’s wife. The only available object was a novelty airport bottle opener showing the president in his underpants. Obama signed it while observing that the image was slightly dated and the presidency had taken its toll.
Can anybody top Bear?
Listeners offered pub stories for Bear to beat. Ellie had been bitten by a tiger cub in Thailand; Bear responded with snake bites, crocodiles, sharks and a lion cub placing a paw on his chest. He admitted being pleased by his first snake bite because it qualified him for the Snake Bite Survivors’ Club.
Other stories led into being trapped underground with actor Michael B Jordan. Bear remained reluctant to boast, but almost any ordinary prompt produced an experience impossible for a listener to match.
By the end of the show, Radio 1 had passed 100,000 volunteered hours. Scott and Chris thanked listeners and carried the campaign into 2016.
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