Ken Bruce was right about BBC bosses getting it wrong at Radio 2, according to Vanessa Feltz. Writing in her opinion column, Feltz recalls doing handovers with Bruce at Radio 2, where he would vent his irritation with the station's mission to attract younger listeners. Bruce couldn't understand why bosses didn't value the millions of devoted listeners already tuning in. He bewailed the 'incomprehensible' decision to import music from Radio 1 and inflict it on an audience who would have preferred Johnny Mathis and Matt Monro.
Greatest Hits Radio Success
Now at Greatest Hits Radio, where defector Zoe Ball is the latest signing, Bruce says: 'We know who we're talking to, we know what they want to hear and we deliver that.' Feltz argues this is the winning formula: value your audience and give them what they enjoy.
Mel C Marries at 52
Feltz celebrates Melanie C marrying her Australian model partner Chris Dingwall. She calls it a tonic to see Sporty Spice looking ethereal and exquisite, joyfully being a blushing bride for the first time at 52. Feltz says Mel is a kind, decent woman with a belting voice, and she loves that Mel found the man of her dreams at the age Feltz became a grandma. She believes Mel has restored faith that Cupid's dart has no sell-by date.
'Yank' Ruling Questioned
Feltz questions an employment judge's ruling that the term 'Yanks go home' is racist. She notes her seven-year-old grandson enjoyed the film A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and asks whether we were all brought up chirping 'I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy'. She argues the hostility lies not in the word 'Yank' but in the unpleasant 'go home', and worries that perfectly acceptable words are being branded illegal and incendiary.
Melvyn Hayes at 91
Feltz praises actor Melvyn Hayes, known for It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Summer Holiday, and The Double Deckers, who is 91 years old. On her show to discuss his autobiography 'It Ain't Half Late Mum', Hayes impressed with his gags and gusto. Feltz says his book is a riot, brimming with jokes, huge names, back-stage gossip and sizzling one-liners. She shares a taste: 'I once performed at the Edinburgh Festival in a play called Saved by Sex. One critic wrote: “Unfortunately it wasn't.”'
Gen Z and Handbags
Feltz observes that Gen Z women leave the house without a handbag, secreting necessities in their brassieres. She notes her own daughter does this, stuffing phone, keys and lippie into her bra. Feltz imagines her father, Norman the Knicker King, would say: 'If you've got room for sundries in your bra, it doesn't fit properly. Go and get yourself measured by a professional. Women, you are wearing the wrong cup-size.'
