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 and Lard joined Radio 1 in October 1993 and left in March 2004. The pair moved to Radio 1 from BBC Radio 5'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" (10pm to midnight) in October 1993, taking over from Nicky Campbell who had previously occupied the slot. They then moved to the coveted Breakfast Show in February 1997, replacing Chris Evans. The pair moved to an early afternoon slot after eight months, where they remained until 2004. During this time they broadcast out of BBC Radio Manchester studios, unlike the majority of the station's London-based content.

Phone-in spoof quizzes were made popular on the show, such as "It's a Sausage Roll", "Circle of Chance" and "Fish or Fowl". Other items on the show included "Downcount", "Lard's Classic Cuts" and "Beat the Clock". The pair also used catchphrases such as "Biggedy Biggedy Bong", "Stop.... carry on!" and "Wickedy Wickedy Warp". 'Fat Harry White' (Radcliffe with a vocoder) was also a regular on the show, a thinly disguised parody of soul singer Barry White, 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.

Shirehorses

Mark and 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!
• Our Kid, Eh? The title is a combination of the contemporary Radiohead album Kid A, and the northern phrase 'our Kid'.

Leaving Radio 1

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.^[1] Their last show was broadcast on 26 March 2004 and featured a guest appearance by Travis, messages of commiseration from Neil Hannon, Radiohead, Blur (Damon Albarn composed a special song but "broke down in tears" before finishing it) and Kelly Jones of The Stereophonics, whom they'd frequently insulted during the show's run. They also received a bouquet of flowers from Paul McCartney. At the end of their last show, Riley sat in the silent studio sighing. Radcliffe convinces him to buck up and come to the pub to buy him a drink. But they had time for a swift half a catchphrase: "Stop!" Then the door closed and the show was over.^[2] It was followed by a silence of some twenty seconds causing the station to switch to the emergency tape, this was believed to be a final opportunity to make a nuisance of themselves, but in fact this was due to the show overrunning and studio staff in London not being in place when the show finally finished.

They subsequently worked together on the Mark & Lard's Football Nightmares DVD. They had previously presented Match of the Nineties, which showed highlights of English football seasons from 1989 to 1999, during the summer of 1999.

Media offices
Preceded by Chris Evans	BBC Radio One Breakfast Show Presenter 1997	Succeeded by Kevin Greening and Zoë Ball

References

1. ^ Mark and Lard leave BBC Radio 1, BBC, 19 February 2004, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3503549.stm 
2. ^ THAT LAST MARK AND LARD IN FULL, NoRockAndRollRun.com, 3 April 2004, http://xrrf.blogspot.com/2004/04/that-last-mark-and-lard-in-full-we.html