The great and the good of Bolton have lined up to welcome Vernon Kay to his new regular show on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds, weekdays from 9.30am-12pm, which launched at 9.30am today.
Among Kay’s fellow Boltonians offering their best wishes in a video shared to Twitter by the BBC were fellow Radio 2 presenter Sarah Cox; Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt; journalist, author and Mastermind host Clive Myrie, and Radio 2 and 6 Music presenter Mark Radcliffe, who took a moment to reminisce about the pair’s poverty-sticken early days in Bolton, when Radcliffe was reportedly sleeping rough under a pasty while Kaye was forced to wear stale Warburton’s batch loaves as shoes:
From Bolton with love —@vernonkay starts his new mid-morning show TODAY on @bbcradio2 from 9:30am
Fellow Boltonians @sarajcox, @themarkrad and @clivemyriebbc wanted to send their congrats, along with Bolton Wanderers’ @officialevatt pic.twitter.com/WoThh8v07d
— BBC North (@BBCNorthPR) May 15, 2023
Kay opened the show, in the slot recently vacated by Ken Bruce after over three decades in the hotseat, by saying to listeners: “Right then here we go – the adventure, let it begin. Good morning everyone, welcome, welcome on board. Let’s do this!”
His opening track was U2’s Beautiful Day, presumably referring to the post-bread-shoe phase of his career, after which he said: “Tried and tested. My two daughters, Phoebe and Amber, they said ‘Yeah dad, it’s a classic. Play it!’ There you go, Beautiful Day, U2, kicking us off.”
