Mark and Lard
 |
Mark and Lard |
Mark and Lard, the stage name of
Mark Radcliffe (Mark) and
Marc Riley (Lard), are former
BBC Radio 1 disc jockeys. Mark & Lard joined Radio 1 in
October 1993 and left in
March 2004 allegedly after an argument with Radio 1 management about constraints on their
playlist. The pair moved to Radio 1 from
BBC Radio Five's evening "Hit The North" programme, where Radcliffe was presenter and Riley climbed from researcher to producer.
Mark & Lard began their Radio 1 career presenting the late-night "graveyard shift" but moved to the coveted
Breakfast Show. The pair acknowledge that the breakfast show was not their best work, and they moved to an early afternoon slot after only a few months.
The Mark & Lard show was noted for its spoof features and competitions including "Beat the Clock," the
Rabbi "
Lionel Blair" in a spoof of
BBC Radio 4's
Thought for the Day (the
Today programme's religious slot), "One Man And His Frog", a spoof of televised
sheepdog trials, and "Oh Lucky You", a competition which always featured Riley impersonating an unlucky
Irish caller given the chance to win prizes which once included BBC Radio 4. One of the most memorable features was 'Fat Harry White' (Radcliffe with a voice-distorter), a thinly-disgused parody of soul singer Barry White who would spout endless double entendres. This character was so successful he was given his own CD in 1998, entitled 'Mmmmm Baby' (which was also his catchphrase) - it peaked at number 83 in the UK charts. Mark & Lard are also the creators of the spoof
rock band "
The Shirehorses", who released two CD albums:
The Worst Album in the World, Ever... Ever! and
Our Kid, Eh?.
The pair were also noted for their poorly disguised contempt for many of the playlisted records. One notable stunt was on
November 23 2001, when they played a track by the
Sugababes five times in a row, at least partly in order to see if anyone would even notice. Mark also had a tendency to follow-up some records with a "rubbish!" or "dreadful!" before pretending he'd be talking about something unrelated (eg
"Rubbish!... There's a lot of rubbish outside the studio, Marc").
In
February 2004 the pair announced their resignation from Radio 1, with Radcliffe moving to
BBC Radio 2 and Riley moving to
BBC 6 Music. Their last show was broadcast on
March 26 2004.
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Mark & Lard webring
