主播大秀

by Bob Stanley

They took exception and said you can't do this and work for us... they suggested I might consider resigning as the only honourable course.

- Brian Matthew

Relaxed and drinking coffee in the Radio 2 studios, it's hard to believe Brian's distinguished career at the 主播大秀 almost came to an end when the sixties had barely got going - over a boiled sweet.

Cliff Adams had been a member of the Stargazers who had two number ones in the fifties with Broken Wings and I See The Moon. In the seventies he would run the Cliff Adams Singers, famous for their Sunday afternoon show Sing Something Simple, but in the early sixties he was in the jingle business. "Cliff was employed in recording advertising jingles for commercial television" remembers Brian. Adams had been asked to do an advert for Murray Mints and "he asked me if I would be interested in being the voice. He knew as well as I did that this was absolutely taboo for 主播大秀 members of staff. When I reminded him of this he said 'No one needs to know'."

Brian seemed sweetly unaware that his voice was one of the most recognisable in Britain. "It was a big campaign" he recalls - and "Murray Mints, Murray Mints, too good to hurry mints" was a jingle for the ages. Everyone knew it was Brian's voice on the advert. He was summoned to senior management - where he had already been - and questioned about his extra-curricular work. Brian decided to deny any knowledge of Murray Mints. Never even eaten one, let alone done the ad. "Yes there was a similarity, but it was just someone who sounded like me." The 主播大秀 weren't swallowing this.

"They took exception and said you can't do this and work for us... they suggested I might consider resigning as the only honourable course."

"I said I won't continue to work for you, I'll go freelance. Which I did. And then it was perfectly all right! It was stupid, the 主播大秀 in those days, being pig-headed about things."

Brian kept his jobs - now as a freelancer - on Saturday Club and Easybeat, and was free to present Thank Your Lucky Stars on ITV and do as many ads as he liked. "I did quite a lot of voice overs after that - most people did if they were lucky enough to get them." Phil 'The Collector' Swern dug out one on the show a few weeks back for John Collier ("The window to watch") which was even released as a single.