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WEBCHAT GUIDELINES: 1. One question per member plus one follow-up. 2. Keep your question brief. 3. Don't moan if your question doesn't get answered. 4. Do be civil/polite. 5. If one topic or question threatens to overwhelm the webchat, MNHQ will usually ask for people to stop repeating the same question or point.

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MNHQ

Live webchat with Radio 2 DJ Simon Mayo, Monday 27th February 1 - 2pm

142 replies

RachelMumsnet · 22/02/2012 12:34

Simon Mayo will be joining us next Monday (27th Feb) for a live webchat. Best known as host of Radio 2 Drivetime, Simon has been broadcasting with the BBC since the early 80s, including a stint as host of Radio 1 Breakfast show.

Simon's debut children's book ITCH is described as 'a fast-paced thriller starring an accidental school boy hero called Itch whose hobby of collecting all the elements in the periodic table gets him into some seriously explosive situations'.

If you have a question for Simon, join us next Monday or send in your question in advance to this thread.

OP posts:
SimonMayo · 27/02/2012 13:43

@benportus

Hi Simon,

I would like to ask about the art of writing. Where did you learn to write well and what help / feedback did you get along the way as you wrote "Itch"? Is it the first fiction writing you have tried, or have you written short stories or attempted novel writing previously?

I can't wait to read Itch and I think that science-based fiction that will encourage boys to read is really important. Keep up the writing!

Ben Portus

I'm not sure that I have learned to write well just yet! But, I'm hoping to improve by the second book.

One of the main problems with writing both the book I'm on at the moment and the first Itch book was that you don't get feedback. I didn't tell anyone I was writing the book, no one knew what the subject matter was, I wasn't commissioned. I wrote all 94,000 words without showing it to anyone. It was only when I'd finished, and was reasonably happy with it that I printed it off and showed it to a small number of people.

Yes, it was the first piece of fiction I tried. It was never going to be a book, either! It was only meant to be a short story, intended for an audience of one, my 11-year-old son. If I'd known about it becoming a book and doing all the publicity about it, I don't think I would have had the guts to start but once I had my idea clear in my head, I just went for it.

And the only other thing I'd add was that i'd read Stephen King's book on writing, which is part-memoir, and part-this-is-how-you-can-write, and I found it inspirational, and a brilliant way for anyone to learn how to start.

plus3 · 27/02/2012 13:43

Northern Sky is my favourite song as well, but I love it when you hear something slightly unexpected being played on the Radio.

I am also interested to know if the confessions are rewritten, or arrive as you read them?

policywonk · 27/02/2012 13:44

OH NO we forgot the biscuit question and he had to pretend that we'd asked it

cocolepew · 27/02/2012 13:44

Thanks Smile
For the record I've just finished off M&S dark chocolate ginger biscuits.

CMOTDibbler · 27/02/2012 13:45

Hi Simon, I've listened to (and enjoyed it Grin) for a distressing number of years now, and enjoy listening with my 5 year old now. He says he'd like more rock and that Dr Mosh should get to choose everyday.

Could MN get a dedication this evening ?

SimonMayo · 27/02/2012 13:46

@Knittingmamma

What were you favourite books to read to your kids, and did they coincide with their favourite books to hear? I would love to read Winnie the Pooh and Beatrix Potter to my two boys, but all they want is trucks and trains!

Because they are the ages they are, I read all the Harry Potter books, three times, once through to each of them. When our eldest came home and asked me whether I'd heard of Harry Potter or not, I said I hadn't and I went to our local bookshop, and asked them, and they hadn't. And then someone went and found one on the shelf, and most people forget that when it came out there was no publicity, no advertising, it was just word of mouth from children.

So our children sort of discovered, or feel that they're a part of the generation that discovered the books for themselves, so reading the books for them was a wonderful moment.

The His Dark Materials trilogies by Philip Pullman was the next step up after Harry Potter, and to be honest, not really children's books at all. They just happened to have children in them!

I loved reading the Hunger Games this year, and going back a few years, the Machine Gunner by Robert Westall.

SimonMayo · 27/02/2012 13:46

@seeker

Does he listen to Jason Solomons and Xan Brooks?

No. When you work with Mark Kermode, you don't need any other critic.

SimonMayo · 27/02/2012 13:47

@MrsJasonBourne

One question - are you really having as much fun as you all sound like you are? Sounds like a great place to work.

Enjoy your Mumsnet experience. XXX

The answer, MrsJasonBourne, is yes. I love every moment, and fully intend to be there a very long time, if the BBC lets me!

georgee · 27/02/2012 13:48

Thanks very much for your response Simon! What I'm getting at is that you do more than just avoid bitchiness. I remember a throwaway comment you made a few months back when you played a live version of Elbow's Open Arms (For Broken Hearts) that they'd recorded in a cathedral and you just commented on what an appropriate place it was to sing that song. That was an actively cheering thought - I suppose that's what I mean by edifying! Thanks for all that stuff anyway - it helps at an often tricky time of the day!

SimonMayo · 27/02/2012 13:49

@GetChildrenReading

Hi Simon I'm a Children's Librarian, part of a team working across the city of Bristol - will you be doing a promotional tour for 'Itch' and if so where can people go to see you and hear about your book? I would also like to know if you would be available to visit libraries to talk to young people about boks and reading? Love your radio 2 show btw

Yes, I'm doing a number of festivals. As you're a children's librarian, you might like to know that I'm doing the YLG join conference in Windsor in June - rock and roll!!!

And I'm going to do lots of school visits as well, starting on the 12th of March in Ilford.

MNHQ
RachelMumsnet · 27/02/2012 13:49

@policywonk

Grin coppertop

Audio-boo MNHQ, you know you can do it

we're working on it Grin

OP posts:
AblativeAbsolute · 27/02/2012 13:49

Love love love the film podcast, and didn't even realise you were writing a book. Why haven't you mentioned it on the show? Maybe you have, but I'm still catching up with the podcasts from before Christmas. Perhaps you could ask MK to talk just a little less?! Also, please tell him he doesn't know nearly as much as he thinks he does about language. One of the problems with listening to the podcast is that I'm frequently itching to write in and correct him, but I'm always about two months too late!! Hmm, no question in there. I know: have you ever played him at Scrabble, and, if so, who won?

SimonMayo · 27/02/2012 13:51

@plus3

Northern Sky is my favourite song as well, but I love it when you hear something slightly unexpected being played on the Radio.

I am also interested to know if the confessions are rewritten, or arrive as you read them?

It depends - essentially they are broadcast as they're sent in, but we always say that if they need to be neatened or shortened, then we'll do that. Sometimes peoples' stories run for pages and pages, and it would take up most of the programme! But we don't want to lose a good story just because we've got too much detail.

crazymum53 · 27/02/2012 13:52

Hi Simon
As a Chemistry teacher am fascinated by the idea of the hero collecting all the elements in the periodic table and wondered whether this was a hidden ploy to get children interested in Science.
Have noticed that on the Homework sucks section of your show that there are regular Science questions so there must be interest in Science out there.

cocolepew · 27/02/2012 13:54

Dh has just texted me to tell you he loves your show Grin

SimonMayo · 27/02/2012 13:54

@CMOTDibbler

Hi Simon, I've listened to (and enjoyed it Grin) for a distressing number of years now, and enjoy listening with my 5 year old now. He says he'd like more rock and that Dr Mosh should get to choose everyday.

Could MN get a dedication this evening ?

I agree, Dr Mosh should have his own show! We love having our middle-aged moshing moment, and hard rock is unbelievably popular. I never knew that we would get to play so much AC/DC on Radio 2, but every time we play them we play them we get inundated with requests for more. I have this vision of everyone driving home, gently rocking in their comfortable family saloon as they remember their days in the moshpit.

My favourite comment from a listener was when we did our Christmas Mosh, and someone messaged in saying that they were enjoying Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast, just before heading to their carol concert, which was a wonderful thought!

MrsJasonBourne · 27/02/2012 13:55

Simon answered me!!!

herecomesthsun · 27/02/2012 13:56

Hello Simon! Doing a number of festivals? Which festivals? Are you doing Greenbelt? Oh, and can you say which festivals you think are best for children (mind you, ours are quite small still).

(love to all at St. L if you are still involved with it)

SimonMayo · 27/02/2012 13:56

@crazymum53

Hi Simon As a Chemistry teacher am fascinated by the idea of the hero collecting all the elements in the periodic table and wondered whether this was a hidden ploy to get children interested in Science. Have noticed that on the Homework sucks section of your show that there are regular Science questions so there must be interest in Science out there.

It's not a hidden ploy - I reason that boys love collecting things, and once I'd come across the term 'element hunter' to describe those who collect the periodic table, I knew I had the beginnings of a story. I have to say that while Itch finds it the most fascinating thing to collect, everyone else finds it utterly baffling. So one of the tensions in the book is between Itch's love of science and the periodic table, and everyone else's studied indifference, which I think reflects where most of the readers will be.

Many will want to skip the science and get on the with the story, and others will want more explanation, and more explosions. Hopefully, I've got the balance right!

CatVonB · 27/02/2012 13:57

I'd love a bit of Metallica as I'm driving the kids home in the people carrier... more of it!

CMOTDibbler · 27/02/2012 13:58

I heard that ! It did make me smile Grin

So, maybe a little Back in Black for MN ? Please ?

hippoCritt · 27/02/2012 13:58

No question just the memory of you dressed as a ninja turtle on the radio one roadshow a 'few' years ago!

MNHQ
RachelMumsnet · 27/02/2012 14:00

we're going to close the webchat now so we have time to record Simon reading an exclusive excerpt of Itch which we'll put up on the site later today. We'll let you know which festivals Simon is going to this year as soon as the programmes are announced.

Thanks for joining us today and huge thanks to Simon for getting through so many questions.

OP posts:
SimonMayo · 27/02/2012 14:00

Thanks to everyone for their fantastic questions! And I hope they were half-decent answers. (And thanks for the sandwich MNHQ, I'm still waiting for my luxury ginger biscuits however...)

ripsishere · 27/02/2012 14:01

So, you won't be reading out my DDs messages on a Friday when we are doing the long drive Smile ever so slightly passive agressive there.