A divided lunch order
January health plans had fractured the programme’s normally simple lunch order. Some team members wanted healthier food, while Chris believed Blue Monday justified something comforting and unnecessarily large.
He produced an old-school packed lunch containing a cheese-and-pickle sandwich, a Cheese String, a yoghurt and orange Fanta. Listeners criticised the drink as insufficiently nostalgic and suggested Capri-Sun, but the display generated enough competing meals for an immediate new feature.
Lunch Trumps begins
Three callers from Bristol appeared in succession for the first Lunch Trumps. Dave offered a Dairylea Lunchable, Chipsticks, a strawberry Fruit Winder and an orange Capri-Sun. Joe countered with a ham-and-mustard sandwich, a Curly Wurly, a tropical drink and salt-and-vinegar Pringles.
Student Izzy then raised the standard with smoked salmon, an egg, steak with black pepper and salt-and-vinegar crisps. Scott and Chris responded to every item like American sports commentators, making the food sound vastly more significant than the improvised game deserved.
Radio 1 employees become dogs
Chris sent an all-staff email asking whether anybody could perform a convincing dog voice. The request reached every level of Radio 1 management, but Newsbeat journalist Rick Kelsey and marketing boss Dan both volunteered.
They read birthday cards and messages supposedly written by listeners’ pets, adding barks, growls and voices they imagined the animals would use. Scott found particular joy in hearing respected BBC employees say, “I can’t wait to get my gnashers on that bone.” Greg James later joined Real or No Real, where a flat wine bottle designed to fit through a letterbox proved to be genuine.
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