A good few years ago I was driving into Birmingham and there, on a flyover above the Aston Expressway, was a huge advertising hoarding with Stephen Bumfrey’s face smiling down. As a fellow Gorleston lad, like me he was a long way from his easty Norfolk home.
With co-presenter Hannah Cox, Stephen was half of the much-vaunted Heart Breakfast Show in the Midlands. Believe me, in radio terms, it’s quite a thing to hold down a highly popular radio show in such a major city, and Stephen was doing it.
Music, radio, and television fascinated the young Bumfrey and he wanted to be a radio presenter but, when he got to the age of properly deciding what to do, he was told not waste his time on such fancy ideas. “The careers master talked me out of it,” Stephen tells me. I sense that even now he’s still a bit miffed that he wasn’t taken seriously. He started training to be a paramedic, but it wasn’t what he really wanted to do. Jobs as a bingo caller, shifts at Birds Eye in Great Yarmouth and as a trainee manager at Pontins all filled his time, but he was drawn back to radio. As a huge fan of the offshore Radio Mi Amigo, Stephen rang a number he had for the fan club and found himself speaking to a Dutch DJ called Ferry Eden. It was a chance call that changed everything. Ferry was launching a radio station in the Ventimiglia tourist area of Italy. Stephen was invited to go and help run it. He was just 19.
This story is from the March 2020 edition of Let's Talk.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the March 2020 edition of Let's Talk.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
STOP ME AND BUY ONE: Nigel's on the way with his 1981 Bedford
It’s something we all recall with delight. “Mum, it’s the ice cream man!” Let’s Talk’s motoring man David Clayton meets someone happy to be the owner of a Bedford ice cream van. Bring on the Strawberry Mivvis, choc ices and 99s ...
Beautiful Hill: Normandy Origin For A Name Meaning
Let’s Talk’s surnames expert Derek Palgrave, from Suffolk, researches three more of our readers’ names, the first of which probably stems from the geographical presence of a beautiful hill.
Words of wisdom about a hobby so many of us love
Let’s Talk’s gardening expert Charlotte Philcox has been trawling through some books to find words of wisdom from so many people about gardening and farming. Here she shares just a few.
Vicki remains so positive despite missing her panto
For actress Vicki Michelle, Christmas usually means performing in panto. But, due the coronavirus pandemic, this year will be different. Vicki speaks to Rachel Banham about her plans for the festive season, her outlook on life and her fond memories of filming in East Anglia.
Two centuries on Thomas would be DELIGHTED WITH HIS SUCCESS
He was a man without sight but with such vision. Derek James remembers Thomas Tawell who died 200 years ago.
TURNING 50
Here at Let’s Talk we recognise that our magazine is targeted at those aged 50 and older. So we hope we are always fair to our readers and to the older generation in general. But it seems many believe other media and businesses do not treat older people in the best way.
THE CHASE COULD BE ON FOR a Norfolk home for Bradley Walsh
He is one of the most popular celebrities on television at the moment. He’s a comedian, singer, actor, personality and probably the best quiz show host doing the rounds. David Clayton looks back to when Bradley Walsh came to Cromer.
The calendar is rolling around to the WINTER SOLSTICE
Claire Manion, of Norfolk-based Broadsky Astrology, looks at how we have always honoured the winter solstice, our shortest day.
PEACE, GOODWILL AND PROSPERITY must surely follow
In view of such uncertainty hanging over the rest of this year – and possibly well beyond – it was hard to come up with a suitable offering for December in his usual style, says Keith Skipper. So, he has decided to settle for a festive story set in 1951, that he wrote some time ago.
Friends
Readers of our short stories don’t have to have long memories to recall work by Anne Maxwell, who had a previous short story entry published in the summer.
