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Legendary ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 4 Today presenter John Humphrys puts in an appearance on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Surrey this week as part of a trail to launch the station's new breakfast show presenter Nick Wallis.

For the trail, John, in his capacity as the fearsome question master of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Two's Mastermind, puts Nick in the hot seat and fires questions on his specialist subject of Surrey and North East Hampshire. Naturally, Nick has all the answers!

"I couldn't believe it when John agreed to help out," said Nick.

"He is one of the industry's true greats. It's the best possible lift I could have hoped for ahead of launching the show."

Listeners will be able to hear the trail as the station prepares for the new show which starts on Tuesday 1 September 2009 – featuring news, travel and weather at its core, the programme will highlight ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Surrey's commitment to high-quality journalism, local information and bringing its audience everything you need to get up and out in the mornings.

With the latest local, national and international news stories every 20 minutes, and topical discussions about the issues that matter in the county, Nick, who lives in Walton-on-Thames, is keen to give listeners plenty of opportunity to share their opinions.

He says: "I live in Surrey and spent many of my formative years here. So it is an incredible privilege to be waking up the county with a high quality news-driven show on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳. I want to give our listeners everything they need to know, put a smile on their faces and get them involved."

Also from Tuesday (1 September) there will be no excuse for missing ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Surrey's great radio output as the station launches on µþµþ°äÌý¾±±Ê±ô²¹²â±ð°ù, with Nick's brand new show being the first to go live.

Listeners will be able to catch all their favourites, including Danny Pike and Allison Ferns, whenever they like at bbc.co.uk/iplayer.

Nicci Holliday, Managing Editor of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sussex and Surrey, said: "We are delighted that ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Surrey is now available on the iPlayer, it gives us a huge opportunity share our great programming with a wider audience and to enhance the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ services for our Surrey listeners.

"This is a really important time in the life of the station as we are working hard to develop our service for listeners in Surrey and the iPlayer development is crucial to this offering.

"³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Surrey offers high-quality output, from unrivalled local news, travel and weather to great features and conversation with the feel-good factor.

"Nick's new show is very much part of this and reaffirms our commitment to the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s journalism values and to providing the engaging radio we know our audience wants, a one-stop shop for everything you need at breakfast and a bit more!"

Nick has been a regular voice on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 5 Live over the last three years, standing in for Richard Bacon and Stephen Nolan.

He started his broadcast career at ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Oxford. In 2001 he moved to ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three to help launch its news service and pick up his first TV presenting experience on the channel's 60 Seconds.

In 2004 he moved to ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 1's Newsbeat to become a reporter, specialising in entertainment news. In 2008 he started reporting for ITN's London Tonight and Five News before landing his current role as Five's weekend news presenter.

Nick has interviewed everyone from Tony Blair to Halle Berry and covered everything from murder trials and knife crime to film premieres.

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Surrey Breakfast is on 104 and 104.6 FM, weekdays 7.00 to 10.00am, and on bbc.co.uk/iplayer.

Notes to Editors

Nick is available for interview. Copies of the Mastermind trail are also available.

HB