The 5 Live Must Watch blog Feed

Football on 5 live for 2013-2014

2013-08-16T08:45:16+00:00

The start of the Premier League season is always an exciting time for everyone at 5 live.

We're extremely proud to bring you a total of 128 live matches from the Premier League, with our commentary team led by Mike Ingham, Alan Green, John Murray and Ian Dennis. On top of that, we'll also have coverage of the Champions League, Scottish Premiership, Football League, FA Cup, Capital One Cup, the Europa League and next summer, the World Cup in Brazil. Plus, this year, we'll also be enhancing our coverage of women's football with commentaries from the Super League and some of the key World Cup qualifiers.

However, as we embark on the new season, there is also a sense of sadness in our ranks. For the first time in nearly 40 years, 5pm on Saturdays will not be graced by the familiar, melodious tones of James Alexander Gordon reading the classified football results.

James - or JAG as he is known to friends and colleagues - has been forced to retire as his voice is no longer strong enough to broadcast following surgery to treat throat cancer.

It is a cruel way to end a legendary career. He had made reading the results into an art form - every inflection of his voice indicating which way a match had turned. We will miss him terribly.

It was never going to be easy to replace James, but I am delighted that the former Radio 4 newsreader, Charlotte Green, has agreed to take on the role. She will start on Saturday September 28th and says it is a dream come true.

Only myself and producer, Audrey Adams, have been fortunate enough to hear Charlotte reading the results. We met up earlier this month to have a run through - and it left us in no doubt that Charlotte is the perfect choice to take over one of the most high-profile roles in radio. She can't wait to get started.

Our football line-up includes more new voices this season as well, with Chris Waddle and John Hartson joining our team of pundits, Ian Wright and Kelly Cates presenting Sunday 606 while Dan Walker takes over as Friday 5 live Sport presenter.

So there's lots that is new, but Dan will also be bringing back something old and much loved - the theme music which used to herald the start of Sport On Two many years ago will now play out at the opening of Dan's show every Friday night. It's a wonderfully evocative piece of music and we hope it will get everyone in the mood for our big weekend preview show. You can listen to it by pressing play below:

Then, after all the action, the Monday Night Club returns with Mark Chapman, Motty and Steve Claridge debating the big issues from the weekend.

But it's not just about big clubs on 5 live - listen out for Caroline Barker's excellent Non League Football Show at 5.30am every Sunday or, if that's too early, it's available as a podcast.

It promises to be another great season and we hope our blend of old and new will be a winning combination for all our listeners.

Dan Walker’s first Friday night 5 live Sport begins at 7pm on August 16^th. You can get in touch with the programme on by calling 0500 909 693, by texting 85058 or by tweeting @bbc5live.

Subscribe to our Football Daily podcast for all our best football analysis. You can also read our full commentaries list here.

At the head of the peloton with the 100th Tour de France

2013-06-28T08:54:04+00:00

5 live will be at every stage of this year's Tour de France - the 100th in its history. Here our team talk about their expectations for the race - a second consecutive British winner? - plus how they'll bring it to you:

Simon Brotherton - Commentator:

This will be 19th time I've covered the Tour. At first it was quite a battle to get 30 seconds on to the sports desks and now here we are with a team of four, providing full commentary on 5 live Sports Extra and the �� Sport website every day, along with a round-up for the 5 live Bespoke podcast after every stage.

It's an illustration of how far British Cycling has come. From the days when we were relieved just to have a British rider in the race, to finally seeing a British winner of the event last summer in Bradley Wiggins.

It'll be someone else's turn this year in this special 100th edition and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the race brings and painting the pictures from the commentary box on the finish line every day.

Listen an extract from 5 live's Tour de France preview where Britain's Mark Cavendish - with 23 Tour de France stages to his name - talks about the art of sprinting:

Olie D'Albertanson - Producer:

I’m lucky enough to have produced at some of the biggest sporting events in the world: the World Cup in South Africa, Euro 2012, Ryder Cups, plus the Olympics and Paralympics last summer. However, this is my very first Tour de France. I can't wait for it all to get started.

More than any other event I've attended, this one already feels like a travelling circus - and the race hasn't even begun.

This is the 100th Tour de France, and it all gets underway in Corsica tomorrow (Saturday 29th June). It’ll be on the island for three days before it takes a 12-hour overnight ferry back to the mainland to continue the journey.

The cyclists themselves will be riding nearly 2500 miles. However, the actual distance covered by everyone involved is probably more than double that; there can be as much as 350 miles between the end of one stage and the start of another.

My "office" for this trip is the back of a small people carrier which will carry all our broadcast equipment, our clothes for a month, some emergency brioche, as well as transporting your commentary team around France and (hopefully) up and down some it's most impressive mountain ranges. Due to the cramped conditions I can't help but think I've been chosen to cover this event as I’m not much bigger than a hobbit.

There are three people who will be bringing this event to life for you over the next few weeks, from the race itself to all the behind the scenes chaos: as well as commentator Simon Brotherton we have expert summarisers Rob Hayles and Graham Jones. As well as what you’ll hear on air they’ll be posting behind-the-scenes photos, blogs and videos here on the 5 live website.

If you have questions for the team you can leave your messages here, and for those of you on Twitter follow @bbc5live and use the hashtag #bbctdf. We will try to answers as many questions as we can during commentary.

Rob Hayles - Summariser:

I'm a triple Olympic medallist, double world champion and British national road race champion in 2008.

This will be the fourth Tour I have covered, although the previous three have been from the comfort of a studio back in London. So this year I am looking forward to witnessing the 100th edition first-hand. Having warmed up this year already alongside Simon Brotherton at the Giro, I feel (almost) ready for what awaits us in France.

The enormity of working on the biggest annual sporting event is something that can’t be taken lightly. I hope we’ll be able to convey the atmosphere of the Tour to everyone back home with the justice it fully deserves.

Last year the Yellow Jersey for the winner of the Tour came to Britain for the first ever time – Sir Bradley Wiggins. This year he’s not in a position to defend that title, but his team is. The burden of that possibility rests squarely with another Brit: Chris Froome. Can he do it? Well we will have 21 days of coverage to bring to you before we may know for sure.

Graham Jones - Summariser:

I am a veteran of the Tour; in fact this will be my 29th. I have ridden it five times, covered it four times as a press consultant for the Guardian, Herald Tribune and the Observer, and since 1995 I’ve been a summariser for �� Radio 5 live.

I was described by the late sportswriter Geoffrey Nicholson in his preface to one of his books as 'The Great Navigator'. It's a title I consider to be totally justified, as I believe I know France and all its roads better than 99% of French people!

I will be bringing you my tactical insight into the race, as well as brining to life what goes on once the microphones and cameras are packed up and moved on to the next stage.

5 live's coverage of the 100th Tour de France begins on Saturday 29 June at 3.30pm on 5 live sports extra. There will be a summary of each day's action on 5 live's Bespoke podcast, available here.

Life in a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan

2013-06-17T16:55:53+00:00

It would be hard to find a place more full of contrasts than Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan. This vast lunar landscape is now home to more than a hundred thousand Syrians who've fled the fighting in their own country.

It's a place of safety for sure, but also a place where understandable distress and frustration can quickly take on an ugly hue.

Water is in short supply despite the best efforts of aid agencies from around the world. Heat and dust seem to goad you every step of the way.

Surges in the numbers of people arriving a couple of months ago put even more pressure on the UNHCR.

Their senior man on the ground here, Killian Kleinschmidt, tells me he drops into people's tents and caravans (really they're nothing more than a container with windows and a door) to listen to their requests and complaints and to involve the refugees themselves in as much of the decision making as possible.

You lose a lot when you become a refugee. First your home, your possessions, then your passport, even your freedom.

The camp has a perimeter fence past which people cannot go. Some of it is topped with barbed wire and there are checkpoints too all around.

It looks and feels like a punishment and yet it's a refuge. People arrive every day but others are desperate to leave.

We stopped at the place where hundreds go daily to try to get on a bus back home. Clearly for these people today was the day they'd had enough of being refugees.

Whatever it was that made them flee Syria, Zaatari isn't enough to stop them risking their lives again and those of their children.

We asked the men there if we could speak to them but the atmosphere quickly turned from restlessness to aggression.

"We want out! We want out!" They chanted, banging heavily on our car. They had nothing more to say.

Away from there, the vast stoney ground is dotted with the tiny figures of the children living here.

One boy wearing a scary mask follows us and when he gets close up removes it to reveal a cheeky smiling face. The balm of make believe I suppose.

There are imaginative projects to keep them occupied and to make fun a part of their broken lives. Oxfam's public health team at the camp hold painting sessions where each child paints his or her own large tile in bright colours.

They lay it out in the scorching sun to dry then it's used to decorate their communal wash units. It's an opportunity to teach them the importance of sanitation and give them places they care about.

I met a young couple expecting their first child, a group of mothers at a wash block trying to clean clothes (and children) with limited success, and a huddle of men who told me they would return to Syria tomorrow if Britain and others would arm them in their fight against President Assad's forces.

Later, a former fighter in the Free Syrian Army tells me the world has left it too late for that now.

Ahmed saw his mother shot dead by a sniper when she went to rescue a child shot seconds before. His handsome, young face tightens at the telling of it and does again when he describes being beaten and stabbed while under arrest by Government forces.

All the while his four tiny children potter in the tiny caravan they all live in, clinging to him from time to time.

Everywhere we go, what little people have is offered anyway. Syrian coffee, sugary tea, juice, water, sweets. Tiny displays of dignity made vital to people who have lost everything.

Farid, a singer, feels like his dignity has gone. "Refugee. It's a small word but it means a lot to me. A refugee is humiliated. Being a refugee is the height of humiliation".

You can listen to Shelagh Fogarty present from the Syrian border in Jordan on Tuesday 18 June at 12.00

On the pitwall with the Marussia F1 team

2013-06-13T08:16:21+00:00

During free practice 3 at the recent Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal I had the chance do something I have never done before in 23 years in F1: to go on a team’s pitwall stand. I’ve listened in on team radio and observed in plenty of garages, but never sat plugged into the famous ‘prat perch’ and got a detailed insight into operations.

It gave me a chance to get closer to the sport; to really understand how a team like Marussia operates. It was an eye-opener.

With Marussia technical director Pat Symonds staying in the UK that weekend, there was a spare seat on the pitwall. Marussia’s sporting director Graeme Lowdon offered it to me for the Saturday morning session. I was given Symonds’ radio and plugged into the main desk, meaning I could hear all the radio traffic for both Jules Bianchi’s and Max Chilton’s cars, along with any intercom messages on the pitwall.

It provided a unique window in on the operations of the team. It is all about clear communication and fast, clear, decision making.

That Saturday morning FP3 session was wet and the start was delayed by barrier repairs, but when it started it was all about deciding when to go onto slick tyres. It provided a fascinating case study in how a team makes a crucial decision like this.

The level of discussions and real time analysis was as impressive as you would expect. They knew exactly what everyone else was doing, how the crossover point from intermediate to slicks had been hit by Gutierrez on a sector by sector basis. At one point the engineer in charge Dave Greenwood observed, “if we were racing we’d have gone to slicks by now.”

With just two hours to prepare the cars between FP3 and qualifying, the highly experienced team principal John Booth knew that he didn’t want to put excessive pressure on his rookie drivers to try to set times on slicks on a cold, damp track and face possible crash damage. But at the same time, they are here to learn and those last few laps on slicks were an invaluable learning exercise.

Some experienced drivers like Webber and Alonso went out on slicks first. The track was cold and the tyres were taking their time to come up to temperature. The Williams pair went out and then suddenly the decision was made to send Marussia’s drivers out. It was well judged; despite final analysis showing they waited about 90 seconds longer than was ideal they still got enough timed laps to get a sense of the conditions, should qualifying turn out the same way. In the end it was wet and they never got to slick tyres.

To help them make the vital decision on timing, the management figures on the pitwall have screens in front of them that are an Aladdin’s cave of software and real time analysis tools. At the click of a mouse it was possible to view the runs of each driver to make quick and easy comparisons. There was also a tyre degradation chart, showing the drop off in performance of each car. In all there were dozens of ways to look at and analyse what was going on.

All F1 teams have their own driver tracker graphic, which shows where its cars are on the circuit. Marussia’s is a circle with clear delineation points. It shows the gaps in the traffic and the cut off points for decision making, such as for when a car should come in to the pit lane. It also has a countback facility, which recalibrates timings based on the car’s progress around the track.

With seven minutes to go in the session, on a damp but drying track, Greenwood knew at a glance that it was possible to complete four-and-a-half timed laps. It meant that Chilton’s engineer was able to inform his driver exactly what time he had left, and so by pushing a bit harder on the out lap Chilton duly got all his timed laps in.Interestingly, while Bianchi struggled to get the slicks up to temperature in those conditions, Chilton managed it and set a good time. Greenwood is an experienced engineer; he worked with Fernando Alonso at Renault in the mid 2000s.

Marussia has a deal with McLaren for this kind of support and they have modified McLaren’s system for their own purposes.

What struck me the most about the experience is the high level at which the team operates. The difference between the backmarkers and pace-setters in F1 is now the smallest it has ever been.

James Allen is �� Radio 5 live's Formula 1 commentator. You can read more from James on his website (external link). The Chequred Flag podcast, featuring a review of the Canadian Grand Prix (recorded before the annoucement of the death of a race marshal) is available here.

Question Time Extra Time, the Sonys and Rajars

2013-05-16T15:39:09+00:00

This week on 5 live has seen the start of our new schedule changes.

As I write this our late night news team are busy planning the first of our new Thursday night politics shows – 'Question Time Extra Time'. This is a chance to partner with a great brand like Question Time and showcase how we do politics on 5 live. Stephen Nolan and John Pienaar are the hosts and, within the programme, they will simulcast �� 1’s Question Time and then will continue the debate after the show. If you can, join the show tonight from 10pm and have your say.

In other changes we’ve also added a 'Late News Hour' between 10.30pm and 11.30pm Monday to Wednesday hosted by Phil Williams and, in typical 5 live-style, the running order was ripped up and put back together for the very first show as news came through of Roberto Mancini’s sacking from Man City. It was also great hearing Tony Livesey settle into his new role on weekend breakfast, with Eleanor Oldroyd on Saturday and then Sam Walker on Sunday. He already sounds at home.

We were very happy earlier this week to get recognised by our colleagues across the radio industry at the annual Sony Radio Academy Awards. Danny Baker triumphed yet again with a gold award for the Best Entertainment Show. He also picked up a bronze in the Best Speech Broadcaster category. Peter Allen and Colin Murray won Best Sports Programme for their Olympics show, and we also won the Best Live Event award for our Olympics and Paralympics coverage.

The icing on the cake was UK Station of the Year award, reflecting what a truly memorable year 2012 was for us here at 5 live. We are very grateful to our listeners for the huge part they played in this; we were very proud to share 2012 with you.

Special mentions should also go to Victoria Derbyshire who won a silver award in the Best Speech Broadcaster category (which was won by our colleague from Radio 4 Eddie Mair), Not Just Cricket - presented by Greg James, Graeme Swann, and Jimmy Anderson - which won a silver award for Best Sports Programme in its inaugural year and Adventures of a Blue Badger, Nikki Fox’s documentary on disability in the UK which won a bronze award for Best News Feature.

Today we’ve also received our latest audience figures. It is a mixed story for us. There's the good news - our total audience reach is very strong at 6.3 million for 5 live (up 160,000 on the quarter) and for 5 live sports extra at 860,000 (the 2^nd highest ever for this time of year) and there are challenges - we, as do lots of other parts of radio, need to find ways to keep our audiences listening for the same amount of time as they used to. The average amount of listening to our linear radio output has fallen by 10% over the last year. There are some good stories coming through around the growth of those listening to our best clips via social media, and listening back to programmes via our podcasts, so we’ree focused on looking at all the different ways we can get our content to our audience.

Anyway, the huge presence that is John Pienaar has just walked in the building and he looks raring to go so I better go and wish him luck.

Jonathan

Behind the scenes at McLaren's Woking base

2013-02-28T10:48:52+00:00

For the �� Radio 5 live season preview special I had a unique opportunity to go behind the scenes at the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) in Woking, where Jenson Button and Sergio Perez’ new cars were being prepared for the start of the 2013 season.

I’ve been to all of the F1 factories and I’ve visited MTC many times before, but this was truly special as I got to go into places that have always been “off limits” – such as the Simulator and the Operations Room and the Wind Tunnel. You can hear it all on the show which airs Thursday 28 February at 7.30pm.

The reason for McLaren’s openness was that we were recording for radio, so there were no cameras involved.

But even without cameras, the Simulator in particular has always been a closely guarded secret. McLaren invested heavily in this technology 10 years ago and got ahead of the game with it, which has brought a lot of benefits. The other top teams have caught up now, but it’s still rare to have a chance to see it.

What is a simulator, you ask? Well it looks like a giant Sony PlayStation game with a large curved screen and an F1 chassis sits in front of it, mounted on electrically operated rams.

So it’s a PlayStation with a difference. It’s so uncannily accurate that Button can drive a lap of the Melbourne circuit in it and it will be the exact same lap time to 1/1000^th of a second as he would do in the real car.

Better still, the engineers can make changes to the set-up of the car - try a new front wing or a different tyre - and he will feel it in the cockpit and the lap time will be affected by it.

Vital strategy decisions

A lot of work in F1 today goes on in the simulators as track testing of real cars is limited for cost containment reasons. It costs around £1,500 per lap to run an F1 car and a typical days testing will be around 120 laps.

Elsewhere we visited the wind tunnel, where the engineers try out new ideas for parts that will make the cars faster in future races as well as the fabrication and assembly bays where the cars are manufactured. They are mostly made from carbon composite with exotic materials like titanium and inconel.

And we saw the Operations Room where a team of engineers monitors all the on track activities when the cars are racing – even on the other side of the world - and they make vital decisions on race strategy and pit stops.

We were hosted by some of McLaren’s senior management including Sam Michael the Sporting Director and Simon Roberts the Operations Director. It’s a must for F1 fans and for anyone with an interest in just how much goes into the design and build of an F1 car.

Behind the scenes at McLaren on 5 live Sport, Thursday 28 February at 7.30pm. Get a download of the programme.

A feast of 5 live programmes for Christmas and New Year

2012-12-21T14:16:52+00:00

There are plenty of special treats, as well as all the live sport and live news programmes on 5 live over Christmas and New Year. Our schedule this year has more live output than ever before.

On Christmas Day, from 7am-10am Chris Warburton and Clare McDonnell present 5 live Breakfast which is followed by a live three-hour show from Lapland with Colin Murray and guests.

Then at 1pm we have a special taped edition of Not Just Cricket with Greg James, Jimmy Anderson and Graham Swann, recorded towards the end of England’s recent successful tour of India.

The Radio Review of the Year on Christmas Day 4pm-6pm celebrates the highlights of UK radio in 2012 and reflects on all the big news stories in the radio industry from 5 live’s coverage of the Olympics to Chris Moyles’ departure from Radio One. Mike Sweeney, a legend for over thirty years in commercial radio co-presents that with Radio 4’s Jane Garvey. It really is a compelling listen.

The Olympic and Paralympic year will be reflected across three special programmes – we thought our Olympics Soundtrack programme, which contains all of the great moments from London 2012, including every single Team GB medal, set to music, would be perfect for 6pm-7.30pm on Christmas Eve as many people drive to family and friends.

Tanni Grey Thompson and Marc Woods present Tanni and Marc’s Paralympic Feast on 30^th December at 11am, with guests including David Weir and Sarah Storey.

Listen to 5 live commentary as David Weir takes a second gold in the T54 1500m.

We also have the 5 live Sport Review of the Year 10am-midday on Boxing Day capturing not just the Olympics but everything from Manchester City’s dramatic title win to the Ryder Cup comeback of comebacks, and from Andy Murray’s first Grand Slam win to Chelsea’s Champions League final triumph.

On Thursday 27^th, Tony Livesey and Stephen Nolan look back at the biggest news stories of the year featuring the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the Eurozone financial crisis, the Syrian uprising, the fallout following revelations on Jimmy Saville, and Barack Obama’s re-election as US President.

I also want to give a mention to one other news programme we commissioned – Hillsborough: Faith and Justice in which Shelagh Fogarty talks at length to the Bishop of Liverpool, chair of the Hillsborough Independent Panel. This really is a must listen interview on one of the news stories of the year, and is first broadcast at 6pm on December 28th.

We get in the mood early for one of the big football weekends of the year with FA Cup Third Round Memories on Monday December 31^st at 8pm-9pm. Mark Chapman and Robbie Savage host a retrospective journey through the stories of the FA Cup Third Round, compiled by the 606 football community highlighting the magic, despair, frivolity and uniqueness of the oldest club competition in the world.

It all starts this weekend (Sunday 23^rd), with a big Roy Hodgson interview on Sportsweek with Garry Richardson at 8.30am and then our behind the scenes documentary with American football team Green Bay Packers at 11am - 5 live NFL – A Week with the Cheeseheads.

Darren Fletcher talks to Bea, who has missed only one game since 1957. But why?

I wish you all a very nice Christmas and a Happy New Year wherever you are listening. I do hope there is something in the above list that you will really enjoy. I know how much our teams have enjoyed making these special shows.

Happy Christmas

Jonathan Wall is acting controller for �� Radio 5 live and �� Radio 5 live Sports Extra

You can download a selection of 5 live's Christmas and New Year programmes by subscribing to our 5 live Christmas Specials feed.

Watch: A manic morning for 5 live's weather presenter

2012-12-20T11:31:43+00:00

I’m Simon King and I’m 5 live and 6 music’s weatherman. Working across two stations during the morning can be pretty hectic, especially when there is a lot of weather going on.

The hardest part of my job is having to be flexible with what I say so it fits into the ever changing time allotted to reading the weather.

I also try and keep listeners up-to-date on social networking sites but trying to fit the forecast into 140 characters is a challenge.

It’s all good fun though, especially when some of the presenters like to play around a bit. Take a look at my typical morning:

Meet 5 live Breakfast's meteorologist Simon King during a hectic half hour of his shift.

You can hear Simon King on 5 live Breakfast, weekday morning's from 6am with Nicky Campbell and Rachel Burden.

5 live ��coming: Stephen Nolan on his love for Belfast

2012-11-30T12:11:52+00:00

All this week 5 live presenters have returned to their roots to explore the big issues facing the towns and cities where they were raised.

5 live Breakfast’s Nicky Campbell returned to Edinburgh, Drive’s Peter Allen to Basildon, Richard Bacon to Mansfield and Up All Night’s Dotun Adebayo to Tottenham.

On Saturday 1 December from 10pm Stephen Nolan will be with an audience in Belfast. Here, in his own words, he describes the capital of Northern Ireland as he remembers it as a child:

Stephen Nolan as a child

“I use planes like buses these days, travelling back and forward from Belfast every week to Salford for 5Live. There is nothing that is more comforting than coming home to Northern Ireland every Monday and landing in Belfast City Airport. It makes me feel whole again.

I'm so proud of NI - and we have changed big time. I remember very well as a child a ring of steel around our city centre - if you needed to go shopping in Royal Avenue, you were searched for bombs before going through the metal barriers.

I wanted to be a policeman when I was a child, and I had a toy gun and holster which I would proudly wear, concealed under my armpit, like the cops did on TV. It always made the security guards who were searching for the real thing in our city centre laugh.

Of course, NI has changed now. The abnormal security has gone and Belfast as our capital city has developed beyond recognition. But it isn't the bricks and mortar which makes NI so special - it's the people.

If you visit, you will find a sense of openness and banter among the locals. Our biggest asset in NI is our collective personality, it is an extraordinarily friendly place and all I would say is visit us once to find out just how special our wee country is."

Click here to find out more about Stephen’s ��coming programme on Saturday 1 December.

5 live ��coming: Dotun remembers the bad boy of Tottenham

2012-11-29T16:28:29+00:00

All this week 5 live presenters have been looking at the issues facing the areas where they grew up.

The 5 live ��coming series continues with Up All Night's Dotun Adebayo returning to the Tottenham he remembers as a child.

Here, in his own words, Dotun shares his memories of growing up in north London:

Dotun as a child for the ��coming series.

"The thing I am most looking forward to in my homecoming to Tottenham is rediscovering one or two of the neighbours who were always calling the cops on us when we were young, gifted and too hyped in the endz. I owe them all an apology.

To them I ain't no 'radio presenter'. You might think so. But that's not who I was in Totty. Growing up on the border with Hackney, caught in the crossfire, I more saw myself as a 'bad bwoy' going on like a Rudie. A teenager who ain't having it from noone. This kid spent nuff time on road from Manor House to Green, Bruce Grove to High Road, N15s to N17s, in an out of White Hart Lane every other Saturday in season, bunking over the wall for stock cars and greyhound racing at Haringey Stadium. Always up to 'no good'.

That was me back in the day. I'm a couple years older now and when I'm not on air I volunteer my time to stop youngsters from the endz making the mistakes I made growing up in the manor. Yet I have still to apologise to the bloke next door who used to dial 999.

Journey with me then into my past. You'll hear a different kind of Dotun on my homecoming. No fronting. And remember, what's said in this special programme stays in this special programme."

Dotun will be in Tottenham, at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre, from 1am Saturday 1st December and will be made available on 5 live's listen again service. Guests include rap artist Wretch 32 and former Spurs player Ledley King.

Dotun chats to his hero, former Spurs player, Ledley King about all things Tottenham.

Read earlier blogs from the ��coming series when Peter headed to Basildon, Richard Bacon to Mansfield and 5 live Breakfast's Nicky Campbell to Edinburgh.

5 live ��coming: Nicky Campbell returns to Edinburgh

2012-11-28T15:01:17+00:00

On St Andrews Day, Friday 30^th November, 5 live Breakfast’s Nicky Campbell returns to his home city of Edinburgh.

Watch Nicky describe his memories of growing up in the Scottish capital for the 5 live ��coming series in which presenters look at the big issues facing the areas where they were brought up.

For 5 live's ��coming series Nicky Campbell talks about growing up in Edinburgh.

You can hear Nicky on 5 live Breakfast from 6am on Friday 30 November where he’ll be in Edinburgh looking at Scottish independence, football finance and meeting a few blasts from his past.

5 live ��coming: Richard Bacon returns to Mansfield

2012-11-27T15:33:12+00:00

5 live's presenters are returning home this week to look at the big issues facing the areas where they were brought up.

Following Peter Allen's return to Basildon, Richard Bacon continues 5 live's ��coming Series by heading back to Mansfield on Wednesday 28 November.

Richard hasn't lived in Nottinghamshire for 16 years but here he explains why he's still keen to be involved with his hometown:

Presenter Richard Bacon as a child.

"I lived in Mansfield for 20 years, my mum, dad, aunts, uncles and cousins are still there and I visit four times a year. I was very much shaped by Mansfield and the town has had a huge impact on me and I'm very affectionate towards it.

Mansfield has had its problems; when I was growing up all the mines shut down and Mansfield lost its chief employer. More recently it was hit by the economic downturn and quite a few shops are boarded up now.

But Mansfield is full of strong personalities. I used to regularly spend a Thursday, Friday and Saturday night in Mansfield town centre getting up to all sorts of scrapes. There's very much a strong sense of community.

I took part in an event last year organised by the local Rotary club at Berry Hill Park where I used to be a runner with the athletics club. In recent years the park has been covered in graffiti and become a bit of a mess.

The Rotary advertised for volunteers to help clean the park one Saturday. Myself and Rebecca Adlington helped publicise it and masses of people turned up, an extraordinary cross section of people who came to help get rid of the graffiti and do up the band stand. It was obvious on the day people still have a strong sense of pride.

I think an outsider can see Mansfield has had its challenges but if you know the town you realise it's full of good, hardworking, decent people who very much care about Mansfield. It's not necessarily famous for anything or a destination for many people but when you get to know it, it does have an identity that outsiders might not understand."

Richard will be broadcasting from Mansfield's High Street on Wednesday 28 November from 2pm where he'll be joined by fellow resident, Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington.

5 live’s ��coming: Presenters return to their roots

2012-11-22T16:44:29+00:00

5 live's presenters are returning home next week to look at the big issues facing the areas where they were brought up.

First to make a return to the place where his career started is Drive's Peter Allen. He'll broadcast from Basildon on Monday 26 November.

Here Peter explains why he's chosen to return to the Essex town:

Peter Allen as a correspondent in 1989. Basildon town centre 2011.

"Basildon was part of a social experiment when I worked there, literally a new town built and slapped down in the middle of Essex.

"It had new houses and factories for the residents to work in and shops of course. But somehow it has precious little soul.

"After learning my trade on the Basildon Standard I moved on as a reporter and I have not been back to the town since.

"I am fascinated to know what became of Basildon. Has it worked? Is it a good place to live? Does it have decent shops, good pubs and a thriving sports scene?

"Do the people go out into town on a Saturday evening or do they go somewhere else? I'll be exploring whether the experiment has worked."

You can hear more on Peter's impressions of Basildon on 5 live from 4pm on Monday 26 November. He'll be looking at the rise of the Essex Man and will speak to Basildon based Olympic gymnast Max Whitlock.

Soon to come more: personal accounts of 5 live Breakfast's Nicky Campbell talking about his memories of Edinburgh, Richard Bacon on a return to Mansfield, Stephen Nolan on his home city of Belfast and Dotun Adebayo on returning to Tottenham.