Category: celebs

Virgin Radio’s breakfast DJ Christian O’Connell is currently in the midst of his annual competition called ‘Who’s Calling Christian?’

The simple premise is getting members of the public to encourage celebrities to call in to the show and be entertaining. The winning celeb (voted for by the public) gets £20k for their charity, while the persuasive punter gets £20k for himself.

It’s a clever premise and one that O’Connell pioneered himself, but not on Virgin Radio. In fact, he started it some years ago, when he was on XFM and it was far more imaginatively titled ‘Bounty Hunter’.

In the days when it was on a ‘local’ radio station, the callers were usually very funny, spontaneous and simply willing to do it for a laugh.

The problem is, now it’s on a national radio station and is a successful format, it seems to be being abused by the celebs who ring up, desperate to get a plug in about their latest project.

In its early XFM days, one caller almost won when she got Dame Judi Dench to call up, having spotted her in the Returns department of Ikea in Croydon. Simple as that. Dame Judi was lovely to chat to and didn’t try to shoehorn her latest (probably Oscar-nominated) film into the conversation.

Now you just get the impression that agents invent friends or members of the public who then cajole the celebrity into calling up, all the while knowing that Mr O’Connell will almost inevitably ask the old chestnut: “So, what are you up to at the moment?”

Shame on you, Christian. I always thought you’d sold out when left XFM and now it’s pretty obvious you have!

So Lewis Hamilton has started to show his true colours. Underneath that smiley exterior lurks a young man of deep desire, ambition and extremely strong will.

And I, for one, am extraordinarily pleased. For years, British sportsmen have been plagued by the public’s need to see them as “nice guys” and, consequently, we love the “plucky loser”. So the likes of Tim Henman and Frank Bruno have somehow been seen as failures, despite reaching the upper reaches of disciplines that require an enormous amount of dedication, training and talent.

Now, though, in the guise of such luminaries as Lewis Hamilton and Andy Murray, Britain seems to be producing young, talented, driven sportsmen, who aren’t afraid to show their nasty, or should I say, competitive side.

Hamilton’s spat with co-driver Fernando Alonso has been made slightly easier, because of McLaren boss Ron Dennis’ policy of not favouring either driver, even though the Spaniard is the reigning world champion. This means that Hamilton has a licence to go for it and prove that he is no-one’s patsy.

Meanwhile, Murray, after almost three months out of action with a wrist injury, makes his comeback today. He has already cultivated a reputation for being cynical, critical and, most of all, keen to do things on his own terms.

The obvious question is, why shouldn’t either of these two act ruthlessly, if it means they have more chance of achieving their ultimate aims? You often only get one chance at things and they are taking theirs wholeheartedly.

Murray has a very real chance of becoming the first British Grand Slam singles winner in decades, while Hamilton is on course to become the first driver ever to win the Formula One Championship in his first season.

Even if Hamilton misses out this year, it will not be a failure – after all, how many others have achieved what he already has? Answer: none.

Similarly, if Murray doesn’t score that victory for another couple of years, it will not be for lack of talent, dedication or drive. He is not a failure and definitely not a plucky loser.

You only have to look at another former British sporting champion who hasn’t always enjoyed the greatest reputation: Nick Faldo. Fortunately, recently Nick has revealed that, off the course, in the commentary box, he’s a funny, likeable fellow – it’s just that he’s very single-minded when it comes to the playing of golf.

Both Hamilton and Murray are on the up at the moment and it remains to be seen how the public and press will react when things don’t go so well for them. But will they lose sleep, if people start to castigate them for being too ruthless? Probably not and we should applaud them for it!