Inside the world of Five Live
- 20 Jun 06, 05:46 PM
COLOGNE - What a set of guests we've had on in the last 24 hours.
Tony Blair co-presented 606 last night with Adrian Chiles (well worth a download if you haven't heard it), Sir Geoff Hurst was on Breakfast, Paul Jewell on Victoria's phone-in, swiftly followed by Craig Brown, and then Frank Skinner and David Baddiel came along to entertain us all for half an hour before lunch.
I must admit it was rather weird to see Victoria Derbyshire signing autographs - for Frank Skinner!
The "two lions" are touring the World Cup for , but this morning's meeting will go into our own World Cup podcast - the Daily Mayo.
Coordinating the Daily Mayo out here is quite a fine art. You need to make sure you listen to all the programmes in order to pick the best from each, then get logged in a computer to write some links for the items - and then we have to make sure Simon Mayo is able to record the links as soon as he goes off air.
It makes for a good atmosphere though, as very often he's recording the links straight out of whichever stadium he's presenting from - lots of crowd noise!
It tends to be a close-run thing, with about a five-minute window between the programme finishing and our presenter being ejected from the stadium - but it's worked so far.
Sir Geoff was a tricky one as well. I went down with our reporter Philo to meet the great man beside the river this morning, making sure we had plenty of time to set up the satellite link-up.
Could we get a satellite signal? Not for love nor money. Balancing the kit on various tables, chairs and balconies provided no solution, and in the end we had to hand him a mobile phone for him to talk to Nicky Campbell. At least we got him on air, but there were some jangling nerves...
As I write, , topping their group - and the Fan Fest in the square below us is deafening. Which sets things up nicely for England vs Sweden...
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James,
Yours truly was interviewed by Rhod Sharpe last night on Five Live's 'Up All Night' show.
We discussed the , what the reaction has been in America regarding the World Cup thus far, who has been the most famous soccer celebrity I've interviewed for the podcast, and much more.
A link to the clip is available on .
Cheers,
The Gaffer
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Dear James (if I may),
I have been following your blog with interest. Although I am not much of an expert on football, I am particularly intrigued by the talk of England's revised tactics for later rounds in the hot weather. Can you shed any light on this rumoured 'gazeboo formation'?
Many thanks, Celia
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