Stuart Maconie interview ahead of the DJ’s book signing in York

6:59am Saturday 6th March 2010

By Matt Clark

ONCE it was easy to describe Stuart Maconie – author, journalist and broadcaster. But then he won Celebrity Mastermind, not by being predictable and choosing music as his specialist subject; oh no, he plumped for British poetry before rounding off the show with a flawless general knowledge round.

Overnight the bar went higher. We’d suspected as much, but now it was undeniable; time to add intellectual to Maconie’s already impressive CV.

Not that you would guess it. While he is erudite, sharp of wit and gifted with an eye for the acutest detail, he is also fiercely proud of his northern roots and his Bolton accent. What you see – or indeed hear – is very nearly what you get.

Maconie is revered in the music world. The Freak Show, his programme on the now-threatened BBC 6 music channel, has become a global cult. He has written for everyone from Q and NME to the Daily Telegraph. That is some span.

He says: “I think music today is in terrific shape. I think the music business is in bad shape, but the music culture has never been in more rude health in terms of the diversity of music around in all kinds of genres.

“Bands are now working in a different way in how their music is heard and how their music is bought.

“There’s a lot of different sounds which is a good thing, and also over the last few years the really interesting trend in Britain has been young women beginning to dominate.”

Stuart Maconie and BBC Radio 2 co-presenter Mark Radcliffe have been likened to the great John Peel and for good reason. Both share Peel’s exquisite eye for a band to watch and they are as fiercely passionate about their music.

“The comparison with Peel is flattering, but I see ours as more of an entertainment show.

“Peel obviously was very entertaining, but his was very much specialist music and I feel that ours is much broader. He was championing new bands and I think ours is more of a mainstream show because we are on a mainstream network.

“I suppose we are somewhere in between something like the drivetime show and a specialist show.”

Maconie’s latest book, Adventure On The High Teas, is about to be re-launched in a new format and next Friday at 12.30pm he will be signing copies at Waterstone’s in York. It is a search for middle England, but to him that is not a geographical concept; it is about a way of life, such as Cotswold tea rooms or Bettys in York. It’s a cracking read and at times too observant for its own good. Having focused on everything from Vaughan Williams to Leamington Spa, Maconie turns his attention to the darker side.

He writes: “Midsomer Murders proves beyond doubt that Middle England, like Macbeth, is steeped in blood… Ostensibly a cosy countryside entertainment for dozing Sunday-night stay-at-homes, it is actually a charnel house of glistening viscera, a bloodbath, a catalogue of frenzied stabbings, lust crazed horror, perverted and ingenious slayings; indeed, an ongoing orgy of death. Edgy comedies, lavish period pieces and controversial documentaries may get the reviews and the column inches but Midsomer Murders gets the viewers.”

Maconie has also been compared to Alan Bennett which pleases him; both have northern roots; both focus in on the minutiae of life and neither misses a trick. Maconie is researching his latest book which will be based on the social and political history of this country and promises more of the same sharp, observational humour that we have come to expect.

Filling Alan Bennett’s shoes may be a challenge, but Stuart Maconie will slip into them easily.