Media UK

Mark and Lard

Mark and Lard, the stage name of Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley, are former BBC Radio 1 presenters. 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 early morning "graveyard shift" but moved to an evening slot and then 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 at the breakfast show.

The Mark & Lard show was noted for its spoof features and competitions including 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. Mark & Lard are also the creators of the spoof rock band "The Shirehorses". The Shirehorses released two albums and did several tours of universities.

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.

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.

External Links

• Fancy a Brew - The Mark and Lard Story (http://www.planetbods.org/markandlard/)

Some or all material in this page has been adapted from the Mark and Lard entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_and_Lard), or others, in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org), the free encyclopedia.