BBC Radio's Tony Blackburn on 'challenging feud' with 'frosty Noel Edmonds

24 January 2023 , 00:01

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BBC Radio's Tony Blackburn on 'challenging feud' with 'frosty Noel Edmonds

BBC Radio icon Tony Blackburn has spoken about his "challenging feud" with television star Noel Edmonds.

In 1973, Tony was axed from the Breakfast Show and was subsequently replaced by Noel who fronted the programme from June of that year to April 28, 1978.

Tony, however, was the first ever radio DJ to be heard on Radio 1 when it officially launched in 1967 and remained in the role until his subsequent exit.

But despite being friends, Tony, 29, has recalled his reaction to discovering that he was being replaced on the radio programme – by a much younger person.

Radio legend Tony Blackburn has addressed his "challenging" relationship with Noel Edmonds (ITV)

Speaking to Radio Times, he said: "He was five years younger than me, good-looking and very good.

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"I was married and had a child and thought 'this guy could be challenging me a little bit', and he did.

"We're great friends but it was frosty between us for a while."

This isn't the first time the pair have had a frost friendship, as Noel hit out at a string of his former Radio 1 colleagues appearing in a TV documentary titled The Curse of Noel Edmonds.

Noel replaced Tony on BBC's Radio 1 in 1973 (ITV)

Noel, 74, claimed that Tony was losing his mind, fuming: "Poor old Tony's got a big memory problem.

"I always wondered whether he realised that Capital Gold is actually an Oldies station."

But Tony being replaced on the programme actually led to a string of jobs across the BBC network, including his chart show before culminating in the 1980s.

Tony was left stunned when it emerged he wa axed by BBC Radio 1 after a conversation with a commissionaire at the station.

Tony addressed their feud in the latest Radio Times (Radio Times)

Tony now presents on BBC Radio 2 (Getty Images)

During his mid-morning show, he would often take cheeky calls from listeners which he said were "quite outrageous".

After a call with a controller, Tony explained that he was asked to stop being so outrageous, before the commissionaire in question said: "We're going to miss you, Tony."

However, after leaving Radio 1, he ventured over the road to Radio 2, which he describes as a "natural progression", adding "it's only taken 30 years".

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Tony has been at the station since 2010 and was briefly suspended during Dame Janet Smith's inquiry into the Jimmy Saville scandal in 2016 but he was subsequently re-employed after it emerged there were no suspicions surrounding him.

Nowadays, Tony is still involved in radio and now fronts Sounds of the 60s on Radio 2, taking over from Brian Matthews in 2017.

He also appears on the Golden Hour music programme each Sunday night.

Daniel Bird