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ACTIVE8
Interrog8
He’d love to buy a Concorde and transform it into a restaurant, most likely serving Meat Feast pizzas. BBC Radio Sheffield’s Howie Pressman answers this month’s questions, set by Active8 magazine’s Mike Firth
H OWARD Pressman is the weekday tea-time presenter on BBC Radio
Sheffield.
He was born in London and moved around the country as a child until finally settling in North East Derbyshire as an 11-year-old.
Now, all those years later, he lives with his wife Helen and Jazz the dog in North Nottinghamshire and is kept very busy as the father of five grown-up children and three grandchildren.
“Howie”, as he likes to be known, started out on his working career as a motor insurance underwriter for seven years, running a mobile disco in his spare time.
It was this that helped to land him his first job in radio with the local commercial radio station, Radio Hallam, based in Sheffield.
After many successful years, Howie joined the BBC in 2006 and appeared on BBC radio across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire before being given a permanent base at BBC Radio Sheffield, where he presents the late afternoon show during the week.
Howie is a keen aviation enthusiast and can be found on many weekends at the end of a runway at airports across the UK.
This, with his keen love of cooking, means his dream is to buy a Concorde and open it as a restaurant!
Howie is brother to former Sheffield Wednesday and England goalkeeper, Kevin.
What was the first record you
bought, and where was it from?
‘Bat Out Of Hell’ by Meat Loaf. Wow, what an album! Bought from Audio Vision, an electrical shop that used to sell records in
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the Civic Centre in Dronfield. I was 15 at the time
Which band, or performer,
from your youth would you
love to see again and why?
Would love to see Queen, with the one and only Freddie Mercury. It is the greatest regret that I never managed to see the band in its original form live.
The albums are never off my personal playlist on my phone. Awesome!
How did you get into being a DJ?
As a 17-year-old, I used to run a mobile disco whilst living with my mum and dad in Dronfield Woodhouse.
I thought radio would be fun so submitted a tape to Radio Hallam in Sheffield. The then programme controller, Colin Slade, said that there was enough to work with and spent three months taking a mobile DJ and training me to become a radio presenter.
My first fill-in on Radio Hallam was the Late Show on 25th November, 1985 - a terrifying experience.
Have you interviewed any
of your musical heroes?
During the 1990s, I was fortunate enough to speak to a certain boy band as they launched their first single, and from a little later I interviewed an up-and-coming girl band, who I remember mucked around constantly during the interview.
Yes, the boy band was Take That and the girl band, The Spice Girls.
Who was your favourite
schoolteacher and why?
Mike Gibbons, at the time a geography teacher at Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School. He was so inspiring and his teaching got me interested with the subject
which I successfully passed at O Level and A Level. Mike later went on to become Deputy Head at the school
Did you ever want to be a
footballer like your brother?
I never thought about being a footballer, even at the times when I spent hours with a ball, messing around with my brother, sometimes inside the house, much to the annoyance of my mum.
I did make the school team playing as goalkeeper, so it must be in the blood somewhere.
What’s the funniest thing
that’s happened to you on air?
Hosting live radio can lead to some quite embarrassing things, usually caused by the brain and the mouth not working together perfectly.
Many gaffs are too rude to write here but I did refer to Sir Francis Chichester, the pioneering sailor, as the man who circumcised the world instead of circumnavigated the world!
Who would you most like
to interview, and what
would you ask them?
I have met the guy I would most like to interview, Don Henley.
I managed to catch up with him at a stadium gig in Huddersfield when he was playing with the Eagles. He is my all-time music hero.
The only words that I managed to get out that night as I shook his hand was “I’m your No.1 Fan” Doh!
Everyone goes to pieces when they meet their musical hero.
What’s your favourite pizza topping?
Big fan of the Meat Feast.