BBC RADIO 2: LOVE SONGS WITH MICHAEL BALL
SUNDAY, JULY 21, 2024
“I do all the cooking at home and love it.” Michael Ball
Watching Michael devour that crispy cake with such relish in the Love Songs promo earlier this week made me once again think about Michael ‘the chef.’ So many actors end up being quite skilled in the kitchen. It’s no surprise. Cooking is another form of creativity, a relaxing form with no pressure. It’s made me wonder where Michael’s cooking skills came from. For most actors, learning to cook usually comes from desperation, from the sheer need to eat. Wherever and whenever he learned, Michael’s intelligence and innate curiosity must have inspired him to acquire more and more abilities in the kitchen. He’s been on cooking shows and talk shows where he’s revealed his vast knowledge about the culinary world, so we’ve seen that he’s quite a chef now. And he’s brought his knowledge of food into his radio show at times to the great delight of his listeners. Anyway, it’s a question begging to be asked of him one day.
“Hello, my lovelies,” Michael booms out over the airwaves. “Let’s start the show with our young hearts running free.” There are times when the way Michael says a particular word gives it added emphasis. He just did it with ‘free.’ You’ll know what I mean when you hear it. And he opens with Candi Staton’s “Young Hearts Run Free.” A great way to start the show.
“So how’s your week been?” Michael continues after the song. “Let me tell you a little bit about mine. It was my mum’s 90th. She had a tattoo of a Welsh Dragon on her arm, and right after the show I’m hotfooting it up to North Wales to throw her off a quarry, attached to a zip wire, the longest zip wire in Europe I believe, and that’s how she wanted to celebrate it.” With a giggle he add, “Each to their own, eh?” I say brava to Ruth Ball!
Your Special Day. Michael speaks with Carol on the Love Line, who has a big celebration coming up with her husband Andrew. He’ll be celebrating his 64th birthday, but they’ve also been married 43 years. Michael asks about their 40th anniversary, which was REALLY their special day. On that day, they each wrote down their top 10 love songs, then read the lists. What it ended up doing was taking them back through their years together, creating a wonderful way to celebrate. Michael is impressed “What a great idea!” I agree. Carol gets emotional as she wishes her husband a Happy Birthday and tells him all he’s meant to her (I heard a few sniffles from Michael, too!) Their # 1 song was the same, and before Michael plays it for them, he tells Carol to go up to Andrew, put her arms around him and have a bit of a slow dance. Michael, I adore when the romantic comes out in you! He then plays The Beach Boys “God Only Knows.”
Love Song Tracklist: Finley Quaye “You Love Gets Sweeter”; Myles Smith “Stargazing”; The Beach Boys “God Only Knows”; Phyllis Nelson “Move Closer”; Tina Turner “What’s Love Got to do With It?”; Take That “Rule the World”; Jack Savoretti “I Don’t Understand it”; Wilson Phillips “Hold On”; Faith Hill “There You’ll Be”; Buddy Holly “Everyday”; Alison Moyet “That Ole Devil Called Love”; Fairground Attraction “Perfect”; Sabrina Carpenter “Please, Please, Please”;The Foundations “Build Me Up, Buttercup”; Bebe Rexha “Meant To Be”; Sananda Matreya “Love is Blind”; The Bee Gees “How Deep is Your Love?” Dido “Here With Me”;
In a hilarious turn of events, Michael does quite a long promo for fitness and exercise. “I know,” he pleads, “I know. We don’t all want to do this but I think this is a good thing. Getting started is the hardest part. He then talks about ‘Step Up Radio 2’ and ‘Let’s Move It.’ “We’re also teaming up with Park Run, free weekly running events. Dermot O’Leary will be doing undercover running events with members of the Radio 2 family taking part in secret locations.” With a laugh, he adds, “Don’t hold your breath looking for me!” And then he goes one step further, which almost had me spitting out my coffee in laughter as he said it, “I’m still waiting for my app that I came up with a few years ago.” With a huge sigh he gives us the name of it: “Couch to Refrigerator. It doesn’t seem to have taken off the way the ‘Countdown to 5K’ has, but I live in hope.” Finally, as we hear the intro to Phyllis Nelson’s ‘Move Closer,’ Michael dons a deep, smoky voice and murmurs, “To be quite honest, this is … more … my kind of movement … I’d love you to move closer …”
As Michael reads some of the voice mail that’s come in, one woman Christine pays tribute to her best friend Sharon, adding, “And we will go on getting excited when a new plant blooms.” To which Michael responds, “I know the feeling. My tomatoes are coming out. I’m beyond excited.”
After he plays Wilson Phillips’ “Hold On,” Michael chimes in, “Ah, such memories of that song. Back in 1990 when it came out I was on Broadway at the time, and it became a bit of an anthem for us.” There is a wishful quality to his voice.
On the Love Line, Michael speaks with Pat. “It’s lovely to speak with you,” she says. “I feel as if I know you very well.” This gets a huge giggle out of Michael. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to me all day,” he responds before continuing, “It’s a busy month for you with 3 birthdays to celebrate.” She agrees. “And it’s quite an expensive month.” Michael replies, “No. Lump them all together and have one big celebration. That’s the way to do it.” With irony, Pat asks, “Have you tried that with girls?” Michael says, “Yeah, it doesn’t work.” Pat’s story continues, sprinkled with tons of Michael’s giggles. I’ll let you listen to the rest of it yourself. Suffice to say, what a delightful segment! Michael really, REALLY shines here.
Michael speaks with Maureen on the Love Line whose parents recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. They love to travel and recently spent time in France. Maureen tells a VERY funny and harrowing tale about her parents cycling in France, inspiring Michael’s infectious giggle once again. I could listen to that laugh all day!
Love Letters. Michael speaks with Malcolm who talks about his wife Laura, whom he met 28 years ago but married only 2 years ago. Of course Michael teases Malcolm about waiting so long and has a good giggle over it. Michael calls Laura, who correctly guesses why Michael Ball would be calling. Her anniversary. Malcolm, with great emotion, reads his letter. Afterwards, these 2 lovely people say how much they love each other, which is quite moving. Michael then plays Bryan Adams and Barbra Streisand singing “Finally Found Someone.” What a gorgeous song! This segment (called ‘Love Letters’) is by far my favorite of this new show, and ironically, it isn’t a holdover from the old format of Love Songs when Steve Wright hosted. Michael created it. It’s his baby. He’s the one who brought this idea to Love Songs, this belief that writing down your feelings for someone you love is often so much easier than saying what’s in your heart. It is consistently the standout segment each and every week.
The Last Dance is for Doreen and Ron, celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary . “Have a bit of a dance. A bit of a clutch,” Michael advises as he plays Taylor Swift’s “Love Story.”
And another edition of Love Songs has come to an end. Today I’m sad to see its conclusion. It was a wonderful show, a far different show than in recent weeks. Why? Because Michael made it his own. When he allows his gregarious personality to burst through, the show kicks up into a different stratosphere. That’s why people tune in, of course, to enjoy Michael, who he is, his big heart, his hilarious sense of humor. What makes today truly stunning is that he was able to add a personal touch throughout the broadcast without hogging the spotlight. That’s a rare gift. Of course the show is called LOVE SONGS, and Michael does a spectacular job of providing a wide spectrum of music. But even though the music is very much valued, it’s Michael who draws us to the radio each Sunday, our cherished Maestro.
The Love Song of the Week is Fern Kinney’s “Together We’re Beautiful.” I love how MIchael is highlighting some of the late great oldies. Video link is below: