This month, Mike met up with the Virgin Radio DJ to hear all about his life in broadcasting and beyond.
By Mike Thatcher
I felt a movie scene was being described to me as Eddy recalled sitting in front of his housemaster at school. “He slowly and deliberately tore up my UCCA form, saying ‘I’ve talked to your father - you’re not going to art college, you’re going to university.’ My father was a wonderful Member of Parliament and great with strangers, but any kindness did not trickle down to me.” Unlike in my projected movie, it was not the huge crossroads moment in his life; it merely delayed him getting to where he wanted to be, rather than derailing him. He dropped out of university in London at the first opportunity and discovered club culture: Boyclub, KitKat Club, Batcave, Heaven, Alice in Wonderland. “I moved in with a couple of DJs and the rest is history.”
He had led a double life growing up; idyllic summers back in Iran, where his great uncle was Prime Minister and whose home is now a UNESCO World Heritage site, coupled with the tough reality of being a mixed-race boy in a late 70s school in the UK. He has ADHD and the bullying was not confined to his contemporaries: “Once, I had the temerity to put my hand up in class as I didn’t understand something, only for the teacher to announce I was ‘a stupid, stupid boy.’ Naturally, the rest of the class all laughed.”
Like many in his situation, he disappeared into music and he ended up with a record collection, and crucially, music knowledge. The kids who had thrown chairs at him ended up being his friends; he was telling them who the cool bands were. The first record he bought was Rattus Norvegicus by The Stranglers. I asked if this was a political or rebellious statement. “No, it was probably cheap!” Japan was the first band that was ‘his,’ the one he fell in love with to the exclusion of others.
Eddy has had three careers (with one, he hopes, yet to unfold): musician, DJ and TV presenter. As a producer at Radio 1, he used his musical skills to create their jingles, moving it from ‘the hairy cornflake station’ into the era of Chris Evans and Mary Anne Hobbs. When the jingles won awards, he was headhunted by MTV, which was launching in the UK. With no real desire to be in front of the camera, he didn’t prepare anything for the audition. “This made me all the more appealing to them! The screentest went all the way up to the worldwide boss of MTV who loved it and I was told to resign from my job.” His friend and boss Matthew Bannister at the BBC told him to go for it, saying: ‘I look forward to welcoming you back into this building at a vastly inflated salary!’
To read Eddy’s full story, please pick up a copy of July’s Hurst Life today and turn to page 22.