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Radio review: Castaway Mortimer captured the spirit of Desert Island Discs

Comedian Bob Mortimer was an engaging castway on Desert Island Discs
Comedian Bob Mortimer was an engaging castway on Desert Island Discs Comedian Bob Mortimer was an engaging castway on Desert Island Discs

Desert Island Discs - BBC Radio 4

The Kitchen Cabinet - BBC Radio 4

IF you haven't heard Bob Mortimer - of Reeves and Mortimer fame - on Desert Island Discs, then listen, you're in for a treat.

Mortimer is endearing, open, honest and downright loveable.

New presenter Lauren Laverne hit her stride with him - it was like a chat between two friends.

He talked about his father being killed when he was just seven and how he felt at the time that it hadn't really affected him at all... but later realised it was probably the defining moment of his life.

He became his mother's little helper. It was a very close bond, and he chose a Madness single, It Must Be Love, for the moment at 17 when he left home for university and left his mother behind.

There were stories aplenty - turning up to meet the other new law students at university wearing a denim jacket and a Middlesborough football shirt when they were all in black tie; the time spent as a dustbin man and the glory of becoming the Cockroach King lawyer.

But it was meeting Jim that changed everything. Jim is the real name of Vic Reeves - with him, life became a whole new adventure.

This was a true gem.

You couldn't have a Kitchen Cabinet coming from Belfast without a mention of the mineral man.

This was a mystery to the non-locals who swigged some brown lemonade at the recording in Belfast's Lyric Theatre.

But nobody suggested a smokey joe - when you throw a lump of vanilla ice cream on to the lemonade.

There was a perky discussion about boxty and how you make it and Tim McCarthy was there to introduce the panel to his hottest hot sauce.

He was sold out with people buying it as Christmas presents for family members - never for themselves.

His hottest hot sauce is commonly known as not quite toad in the hole and more like "pain in the...", he said.

On one occasion he had such a close-up and painful encounter with a hot chilli and a call of nature, that he ended up in A and E.

This Kitchen Cabinet had a distinct local flavour and a few laughs.