Weekend and Weekday Sport

Which programmes do you present?
Saturday Sport, Sportstalk and the occasional Matchnight.

What are your local connections?
West and South Cumbrian roots, Brampton born, Carlisle based.

Where else have you worked?
I had a three year spell at Carlisle United before joining BBC Radio Cumbria in October 1998.

Where was your first broadcast?
A live Children In Need outside broadcast from a bank in Carlisle. I was made to perform an unintentionally bad solo version of John Travolta and Olivia Newton John's 'You're The One That I Want' much to everyone's amusement/horror. At that point, I wondered if I'd made the right career choice!

Favourite broadcasting memory?
It would have to be working as a touchline reporter when Jimmy Glass scored the goal that kept Carlisle United in the Football League. I was standing just a few yards away behind the goal on an empty terrace along with a colleague from Sky TV, who was also a Carlisle fan. We forgot all about our professional duties when the ball hit the net. We both ended up in tears, hugging each other. It was an incredible moment.


Most embarrassing moment?
It would have to be when I conducted a five minute interview with a local football manager, congratulating him on a hard earned away point, only for him to tell me at the end of the interview that his team had in fact been beaten! I'd been given an incorrect score. I'll never live that one down.

What would you be if you weren’t a radio presenter?
I'd happily leave it all behind and become a smallholder on a remote island somewhere - as long as it had a good pub.

What is your favourite thing about Cumbria?
The scenery. I love the drive from St Johns In The Vale to Grasmere and the view across Thirlmere. It reminds me of just how lucky we are to live here. The country pubs are pretty fantastic too.

What would listeners be surprised to learn about you?
I had a trial with Maidstone United Football Club. I scored twice but they went bust two weeks later!

What do you do when you’re not broadcasting?
Enjoy a quiet life with my wife and three cats. I also do Thai Boxing and train weekly at the gym. I've just started training again after a few years of being lazy. I've had my nose broken twice because of it - you'd think I might have learned by now! I've also spent the last few years renovating an old Victorian terraced house which has been hard work but rewarding.