'If you love dogs, if you love travel and if you don't mind Mark, you will love this book' Paddy McGuinnessCall me Mark. My first time in the Roman district of Trastevere was in 1997 whilst covering the England World Cup qualifier for Radio 1. Nearly thirty years later, I'm headed back there, with my wife Bella and dog Arlo in tow.Call me Arlo. I normally hate the sight of suitcases in case it means Him and...

Approaching 50, Mark Radcliffe decided to write about his life, most importantly, his time in music. But crucially, he only wanted to write about the most interesting days and not the dull ones in between. With predictable good taste, Mark takes his title from the Kinks' song and has written an entertaining, funny book worthy of such a pedigree.Mark's family life is covered by 'The Day My Mother Hit Me With a Golf Club' , his school life by 'The Day I Ruined a Perfectly Good Suit' ...

Standing at the crossroads – the Mississippi crossroads of Robert Johnson and the devil’s infamous meeting – Mark Radcliffe found himself facing his own personal juncture. Aged sixty, he had just mourned the death of his father, only to be diagnosed with mouth and throat cancer. Together these events led Radcliffe to think about pivotal tracks in music and how the musicians who wrote and performed them had reached the crossroads that led to such epoch-changing music.Cr...

'If you love dogs, if you love travel and if you don't mind Mark, you will love this book' Paddy McGuinnessCall me Mark. My first time in the Roman district of Trastevere was in 1997 whilst covering the England World Cup qualifier for Radio 1. Nearly thirty years later, I'm headed back there, with my wife Bella and dog Arlo in tow.Call me Arlo. I normally hate the sight of suitcases in case it means Him and...

'Mark Radcliffe: the world of rock salutes you' Melody MakerMark Radcliffe recalls his less-than-glittering rock career in a succession of bands which all ended in ignominy and frustration.'Lancashire's answer to Nick Hornby. If Mark Radcliffe ever gets bored with DJing, there's a highly promising career as a writer waiting for him.' MirrorCombining his trademark humour with an acute eye for the ridiculous, Mark ad...

When Radio One chief Matthew Bannister popped into 'A Lite Bite' in Altrincham for his favourite gherkin roll, little did he expect to find the two northern chancers who would bring so much sophistication to his beloved station. For there in the corner, playing a DLT Give Us A Break trivia game, stood Mark Radcliffe and his mate, known not particularly affectionately as Lard. Soon millions would be tuning in to hear the witty banter and roughhouse sketches of the men once described as 'tha...

Standing at the crossroads – the Mississippi crossroads of Robert Johnson and the devil’s infamous meeting – Mark Radcliffe found himself facing his own personal crunch point. Aged sixty, he had just mourned the death of his father, only to be handed a diagnosis of mouth and throat cancer.This momentous time in his life, and being at the most famous junction in music history, led Radcliffe to think about the pivotal tracks in music and how the musicians who wrote and perfo...

Having been sacked from his university teaching job, Ed has returned to his home town to pick up the threads of his old life with his friends and ex-girlfriend, Jeannie, in the Northern Sky folk music club. His dream is to play with them again, making music like his hero Nick Drake - and maybe even a little money. But know-it-all Matt O'Malley is now running the club and has ambitious plans for them that involve contracts and record deals. Can Ed get in on the act, or does O'Malley have a ...

All 36 episodes of the maverick literary quizPoet Ian McMillan is our host in this gleeful game of literary tomfoolery, outrageous parody and biting wit. Joining him for some lighthearted competitive wordplay are a quartet of writers and comedians, all ready and eager to run riot through the halls of great literature.Their bookish challenges include 'New Beginnings and Endings', which sees them topping and tailing well-known literary works to produce some v...

STRANGER THAN KINDNESS is funny, poignant, intelligent and compelling.I believe books are like stepping into little alternative worlds floating in your mind and this world was one I wanted to stay in much longer.' Jo Brand. It is 1989 and Community Care is about to reboot the industry of psychiatry. In a soon-to-be-closed asylum a bruised nurse, Adam Sands, is feeling less like a purveyor of kindness and more like a concentration camp guard with every passing drink. Many years later Adam h...

Tender astute and very, very funny.' Christopher Brookmyre. Gabriel Bell is a grumpy 44 - year old web journalistirritated by the accumulating disappointments in life. He and his girlfriend Ellie want to start a family, but Gabriel has so few sperm he can name them and knit them flippers. So it's IVF, which is expensive. Losing his job was bad enough, but getting run over and waking up to find himself in a therapy group run by angels really annoys him. In Gabreils' group are a professional...

If you could save the life of a loved one by trading in years of your own life, how many years would you give? How many lives could you save? Would you know when to stop? Francis Broad has done just that and has negotiated the day of his death, now he must come to terms with the decisions he has made. Three Gifts explores one man's attempt to live a good life, his sense of responsibility, gratitude and what it means to love.