He was among the best-loved of all DJs, adored by an audience of millions who felt brutally betrayed when the BBC sacked him from his afternoon show in 2022 and utterly bereft when, just two years later, he died suddenly at the age of 69.
But perhaps no one was harder hit by the death of Steve Wright than his friend and colleague of almost 40 years, Anthony James Rutt – known professionally as AJ – who, when barely out of school and working on local radio, had sent the ebullient Wright a short piece of music.
To his disbelief, Wright telephoned him at home. Thereafter, AJ became a key part of Wright’s team, writing the theme for Steve Wright In The Afternoon and innumerable jingles.
Shattered though he was by Steve’s death and the end of a bond which he describes as ‘50-50 friendship, 50-50 like a father figure’, AJ became fired up by a determination to expose what he considered the BBC’s grotesque mistreatment of one of its greatest and kindest stars.
That fury hasn’t abated. Disgusted by the corporation’s crocodile tears following Wright’s death – it broadcast a tribute concert last August – he has, I can disclose, just launched an action against it in the High Court. ‘I’ve been advised to allow the legal process to run its course without public discussion,’ AJ tells me about his claim. ‘I appreciate your understanding.’
Last year he recalled the toll taken on Wright by the axing of his show, even though its numbers were ‘through the roof’. ‘It ate him up,’ said AJ. ‘He told me, “I’m just really not well”.’
Added AJ: ‘The same BBC leadership celebrating Steve publicly is the one that disregarded and undermined our work privately.’
His legal action may prove particularly stimulating for Radio 2 controller Helen Thomas, who axed the show. Before last year’s tribute, she alerted AJ that ‘the great and the good’ would be in attendance. AJ, who’d already decided to skip the event, replied that the concert wasn’t meant to be about ‘f****** networking’ but a tribute to his friend.
A BBC spokesman tells me: ‘We don’t comment on ongoing legal proceedings.’
Hands off my milk, warns Amanda
Don't ever think that fridge-raiding is confined to kitchens used by the likes of you or me. Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden has apparently felt the need to warn colleagues to stay away from her milk. A fellow presenter on the radio station Heart has revealed that Amanda, 55, has taken to labelling the items that she stores in the fridge at Global Radio’s studios in London’s West End. ‘Amanda Holden’s milk! Please don’t touch – thank you’, a note says, along with a smiley face and a heart drawing. Fia Tarrant, 38, who posted a photo of the item online, appeared to mock Amanda by sticking her finger on the package, commenting, cheekily: ‘Every time! Can’t help it!’
Fia is the daughter of Chris Tarrant, the DJ and former host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. Amanda, who presents Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston, has said: ‘I don’t drink [regular] milk because I can’t bear the taste, so I’ll have almond or soy milk.’ Holden’s spokesman declines to comment.
Macca has a pop at Dylan's live shows
Having long performed numerous Beatles classics during his live shows, Sir Paul McCartney criticises fellow songwriting legend Bob Dylan for leaving fans shortchanged. With Dylan often reluctant to perform his greatest hits on stage, Sir Paul now complains: ‘I’ve been to see a couple of Bob’s shows and I couldn’t tell what song he was doing. Now that’s a bit much, because I know his stuff. I get it if he doesn’t want to do Mr Tambourine Man – maybe he’s fed up with that – but I would like to hear it, and I’ve paid.’
Acknowledging the challenges of performing new songs to fans who come just to hear Fab Four favourites, Macca remarks: ‘Audiences don’t like new songs...I say to them, “I know you don’t like it. Whenever we do a big Beatles song your cameras all light up, it’s like a galaxy of light. We do a new song and it’s like a black hole.”’
Jack's bride Roxy enjoys a bath on the Orient Express
Here's something you don’t often see on the 7.20am to Waterloo... Comedian Jack Whitehall’s bride, Roxy Horner, was able to take a bath during a railway journey on their honeymoon. ‘Nothing to see here, just having a bath on a train passing Austria,’ the model says next to this snap taken (I presume) by her new husband. They were travelling on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express from Venice to Paris. The stained glass-decorated bathroom belongs to the Express’s L’Observatoire suite, reserved exclusively for couples at a starting price of £80,000. Tickets please!
Cameron goes green (fingered)
Having won approval for their plans for a pool at their Oxfordshire home, David and Samantha Cameron now want to add a greenhouse and new garden building. ‘The applicants have become more green-fingered and would like a dedicated area for greenhouse, garden tools, and garden machinery,’ explains the former PM’s design and access statement. Surely, no neighbours will object? When they applied to dig a pool, someone loftily complained: ‘I must object in the strongest terms. We live in the UK – not on some Mar-a-Lago tropical compound.’
Broadcaster Kaye Adams, who was recently sacked from her BBC Radio Scotland show due to allegations of bullying and complaints about her conduct, wishes her elder daughter, Charly, 23, was less strait-laced. ‘She’s studying for yet another bloody exam,’ says the Scottish former Loose Women panellist, 63. ‘What’s wrong with these children? Why don’t they get out and start getting drunk and shagging people?’
