Kevin Greening

Jan 2 2008 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

IN THE strangely detached world of radio, the shy man can bloom in ways which would have been denied him in the glare of light.

Being a voice rather than a body allows him to reach into his eccentricities.

Besides that, Simon Mayo, another DJ, said that the man with the short hair and amused, brown-eyed stare, had “a great brain”.

But Kevin Greening himself, the grammar school boy, who graduated from St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, in chemical engineering, felt a little embarrassed by the fame broadcasting had given him.

He was brought up in Bristol, where his enduring childhood memory was of taking a corner too fast on his Noddy tricycle – ending up in a bed of nettles in his shorts.

However, the experience did not prevent him riding motorbikes with nerve and aplomb in later life – his other great enthusiasm being for chorizo ice cream.

Greening, who was gay, had worked on hospital radio, an experience which enabled him to manage Cambridge University Radio.

From there, he joined the BBC as a trainee studio manager, working on Radio 4’s Checkpoint with Roger Cook, the investigative reporter, whom he believed hated him.

In 1989, Greening became a producer on GLR and within two years was presenting its breakfast show.

Three years later, he was a presenter on the new Virgin Radio. Throughout this time, his confidence as a broadcaster was growing. His subtle and inventive sense of humour appealed to intelligent listeners and to bosses on Radio 1, who in 1994 lured him back to present the Weekend Breakfast Shows.

Although his style was his own and resented by some, Greening appealed to listeners missing the surrealistic style of the Liverpudlian Kenny Everett, who died in 1995.

Greening’s support turned Mike Flowers’s cover of the Oasis song, Wonderwall, into a major hit.

He also introduced his characters, the DJ Raymond Sinclair and Eric the Gardener. In 1997, he advanced to the Drivetime slot and began features such as the Wastepaper Web and 60-second cinema.

Deputising for Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley on the morning show, he impressed with his sensitive coverage of Princess Diana’s death.

This led to his pairing with Zoe Ball, which lasted a year. In 2000, Greening left Radio 1. He was working for Smooth Radio at the time of his death.

Kevin Greening, broadcaster; born December 30, 1962, died December 29, 2007.