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Chappers
Chappers was born on the 11th of October 1973. Born under the name of 'Andrew Mark Chapman' he is usually referred to as Mark, Chappers or Chopper. He was born in Rochdale, and spent most of his childhood in Sale. He attended the Manchester Grammar School. Chappers had dreamed of working at Radio 1 from the age of twelve. He began his career in radio with work experience and hospital radio. He went on to do a postgraduate in broadcast journalism, before joining the BBC as a continuity announcer. During that time he worked as a cricket reporter, before applying for the role of a sports presenter on Radio 1. His application was successful and he joined in September 1999.
He begun reporting for Sara Cox's breakfast show, before becoming a regular on the show. In 2001 and 2003 Chappers and Dave spent a week travelling the UK as part of their 'Football Challenge' for Comic Relief. On Boxing Day 2003, he and Dave presented 'Chappers and Dave's Football Annual', which was to become the first of many Chappers and Dave shows. In 2004 Sara and Chappers moved to the drive time slot, to allow Chris Moyles to take Breakfast. In May 2004 Scott moved to weekday afternoons to fill for Sara Cox who went on maternity leave. At this time Chappers and Comedy Dave gained a temporary Saturday afternoon show, replacing Scott until JK and Joel joined Radio 1 and took over. Sara Cox decided not to return to afternoons and was later awarded a weekend slot, so Scott was given the afternoon job permanently, and Chappers remained with Scott.
He continues to present the occasional show with Dave when a DJ is off, usually during the weekends or over Christmas and Easter. Chappers and Dave started up their own gigs known as the 'Chappers and Dave World Tour', touring a variety of places such as universities.
These days Chappers is capable enough to present the drive time show by himself if Scott is ill. Up until late 2005 producers used to get other DJs to cover for Scott including Sara Cox, Spoony and Vernon Kay. He also presents the daily Newsbeat headlines from 3.30pm to 5.00pm each weekday. He usually joins Scott when covering for Chris Moyles throughout the year, although has been known to remain in the afternoon slot.
Outside of Radio 1, Chappers works for Five Live, occasionally presenting the 6-0-6 programme, and has done voiceovers for digital TV channel UKTV Gold. He also writes for football magazine 'Shoot' and has presented several television shows - including covering for John Barnes on Channel Five.
He also became the proud father of a baby boy in 2003, and is a regular in the Saturday league football.
In early 2005 Chappers joined Scott, Laura and Neil in the 'Golden Fleece' episode of Most Haunted. Other notable moments in his career working with Scott, include facing his fear in 2004 when he met 'Hypno Dog' whilst on 'The Chris Moyles Show with Scott Mills' and posing as Santa calling naughty children on the air. In spring 2006 he had to kiss Scott on the lips as part of the forfeit for losing the Radio 1 FA Cup competition. In January and February 2006 Chappers participated in two on-air experiments, known as Dr. Mills' Great Experiments. He also presented the Chart Show with Scott and Laura in March 2006 whilst JK and Joel were away.
Chappers has been known for his outrageous singing and poor quality quizzes. These include the Car Alarm Game, Meal Or No Meal, and What Fish Am I?
In 2000, Chappers joined The Chris Moyles Show for the Euro 2000, broadcasting from Holland and Belgium. He also joined the team again for Euro 2004 and the World Cup 2006 from Germany. During the World Cup 2006 Chappers continued to work for Scott's show in the afternoon as well as the Breakfast show.
In 2005 as part of the campaign known as 'Everyman Protect Your Nuts', Chappers and Dave posed for some revealing photographs in Nuts Magazine. Chappers was part of the team in June 2006 when Scott's show won a Sony Radio Gold Award in 'Best Interactive Programme' and a silver for the 'Music Programme Award'. He joined Gary Neville for the Adidas +10 football event in March 2006, and took part in a cricket tournament for Sport Relief in India with Chris Evans, Harry Judd and Tuffers.
In August 2005 Chappers answered some questions for Unofficial Mills and here's what he had to say:
How did you get your job at Radio 1? It was advertised and I applied.
If you were not a sports journalist, what would you be doing? No idea at all - probably doing something in sport.
If you could swap jobs with anyone for a day who would it be with and why? I would like to Cheryl Tweedy's backstage dresser on the Girls Aloud tour.
What would you do if you were invisible for the day? I wouldn't like to be invisible. I'm paranoid enough.
Have you ever had an argument or fallen out with Scott? Sad as this may sound, never.
Describe an average day in the life of Mark Chapman. I get in to work about 8.30am where I start preparing stuff for the show. This tends to involve a lot of research for the sport bulletins, making sure they are factually correct, finding the audio and editing it all and then writing the material. Sometimes I have time for lunch but not often and occasionally there are voice-overs to be done. Then we do the show between 4 and 7 and then I tend to hang around for a couple of hours afterwards to be across all the evening sport before going home.
Who do you prefer to work with, Dave or Mills? Impossible to answer. I love the variety of Scott's show and the fact that I can dip in and out. I love the responsibility and being in charge of the desk and all the buttons etc when I work with Dave. Also I like the fact that working with Dave has led to us doing the Chappers and Dave World Tour. Doing gigs is a real laugh.
Was it more fun on the Breakfast show with Coxy, or 'drive' with Scott? That's not a fair question either. Working with Coxy was a real laugh. You never knew what was coming next and to do the Radio 1 Breakfast Show for 4 and a half years (I worked with Zoe as well) was a fantastic experience. That was what I wanted to do since I was 13. Working with Mills is more relaxed and less pressurised and as I say I like the features and the acting! I could get panto out of it.
What is your Favourite TV show? Corrie
What type of music do you like? Guitar based stuff like the Killers and Embrace. Madchester stuff like Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and James and great big camp pop like Girls Aloud
What is your favourite food? Sunday Roast
Favourite drink? Boddingtons
Have you ever had to give out the flirt divert number? You're joking aren't you. Been a long time since a girl approached me.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to get a job on the radio? Get work experience and be lucky.
Who is your all time favourite Manchester United player? Eric Cantona or Bryan Robson
Do you remember the first game you saw at Old Trafford? October '81. I went for my 8th birthday with my dad and some friends. Beat Wolves 5-0, Sammy McIlroy got a hat trick and Bryan Robson signed on the pitch before the game.
Who do you think will take over from Sir Alex Ferguson when he leaves? Would quite like the club to recognise that there are progressive British managers out there like Allardyce, Dowie or Curbishley. They will go for an overrated foreigner tho.
He also spoke to Unofficial Mills in August 2006 about his work with Comedy Dave.
What's the secret to Chappers and Dave still being on the air after all this time? How much do you pay your boss to keep it on-air? Unfortunately we cannot reveal the secrets to our amazing success at Radio One. If we did any old trained chimp would be able to do our jobs. However I can say that always being grateful and cheap will help any radio presenter’s career. Dave is probably the most grateful and cheap presenter I know.
When filling in for other DJs, which show do you most prefer doing? I quite like being in Scott's slot. He also seems to like this because it makes him seem so much better when he returns. I like it because it gives me a break from Dave. However when we are together Vernon's hours are the best. You get to talk football on the Saturday and play great music on the Sunday.
How did it feel at Christmas to have to come into work and have to work with Dave when you could be at home with family watching Christmas TV like some of the other DJs? I always get Christmas Day with my little boy so that's all that matters. Christmas TV is usually crap so I don't mind missing that, Dave's motorway anecdotes are more entertaining. That's how bad festive telly is.
When you first came on air as a duo you were branded the "Saint and Greavsie for a new generation", but more recently you've become known by fellow DJs as the "Bert and Ernie of Radio 1". Do you agree with either of those, or is there a more prominent duo that best describes you and Dave? Who the hell has called us Bert and Ernie? How rude. Mind you JK and Joel get called worse. I would say given our djaying successes we are probably the Chemical Brothers of Radio 1.
That was Chris Moyles by the way. Some might say three-and-in is a shambolic feature, but after several years it's still going strong. What do you think is the secret to its success? It isn't a success. Fact. It is embarrassingly shocking and I don't wish to be associated with it.
Are you ever put to shame by the amount of musical knowledge and useless facts that Dave knows? Not at all. I am quite relieved that I actually have a life and get out and have kissed girls rather than spending my teenage years immersed in trivia.
Brian Connelly or Brian Dowling? Connelly is funny, charming, friendly, self deprecating and a pleasure to know. Dowling isn't.
You've taken myspace by storm, with over 15,000 friends. What's your secret? Accept everybody! Also and this sounds really w*nky but we do try and reply to a lot of the messages particularly if they come from attractive people.
We've seen you and Dave do a lot of television work based around sport from time to time, would you like to do more TV work? Don't know to be honest. I don't mind doing telly but it can take so long to do. Radio is much more fun and spontaneous.
You write for sports magazines too, is either sport or media more important to you. Think the two are linked nowadays to be honest but sport will always be my first love.
After reading around there appears to be a lot of interest in getting Chappers and Dave a permanent weekend slot, would you both be up for doing that - with or without Scott's weekday show? Jesus Christ - what have you been reading? Have our mum's started up a Chappers and Dave for weekends campaign like the Free Deirdre campaign? I think things work just fine as they are, although we would do whatever we were asked to. Apart from work with Brian Dowling.
As regulars on the gig scene, did you think the Chappers and Dave World Tour would take off as well as it has? Do you think Kanye West was impressed with your work? We never met Kanye because his appearance with us was getting more publicity than his tour so he was made to pull out. I kid you not. We had no idea it would take off as it has. Trust us; nobody is more astonished than us.
Your myspace caption says "What Goes On Tour Stays On Tour" - can you reveal a bit more about what happens on tour, and what could we expect if we go to one of your gigs? No, pay your money like everybody else does you cheeky gets.
What's been the most bizarre gig you've done so far? The last one was quite strange. We did it on the back of an articulated lorry in the pouring rain at the RAF in Norfolk. We had to go through all sorts of security checks before getting soaked for 2 hours and then with 10 minutes left of the gig we decided to go on the fairground rides there and nearly puked up the 9 cans of Boddingtons (that's BODDINGTONS) that we had drunk each. We should point out that excessive drinking is neither big or clever particularly if you go on the dodgems.
Finally Chappers... How did you end up working at Radio 1? I wanted to work at Radio 1 since I was 12. Did work experience, hospital radio etc. Then did a postgrad. in broadcast journalism. Joined the BBC as a contiunity announcer, took 6 months off to be a cricket reporter, came back to announcing and then applied to be the sports presenter at Radio 1 when it was advertised. The rest as they say is history. I’ve been here 7 years as of September.
Thanks Chappers! Before you go... do you still believe the people of Unofficial Mills regularly meet up "spray tanned, with dazzling white teeth, white wine a-go" and discuss celebrity calls and the chart show, like you said most Mills fans do last year. And does the website scare you? Of course I don't. I believe that you now discuss Laura's Diary, angry pizza guy and Scott’s random TV appearances while still being spray tanned with dazzling white teeth and drinking white wine. And does the website scare me? Of course it bloody does. You all know more about me than I do. It doesn't get scarier than that.