The other name not mentioned above was Wilf, the “spiritual grandfather to culture lovers everywhere” and the regular characters were always good to listen to.

I actually went and saw John Starkey in Birmingham having heard him so often on the show , though he didn’t come up with any amazing revelations it was interesting to put a face to the voice, and he is still there on the road from Wolverhampton I see.

I don’t remember the end of the midnight line, probably because I had met my (now) wife by then and with three young kids now 2am doesn’t seem so late these days! Now live over in Black Country still listening to Beacon.

Will have to listen in at 5am when poked out of bed early by the sounds of it to see what Ian is upto these days.

I keep meaning to dig out some more of the old shows… one day…

It’s good to see that, even a couple of years after your original post, people are still commenting on it.

I seem to remember Ian joining Dave Myatt at 11.55 on a January evening in early 1988. I think Andy Wint had run the Midnight Line before but it took off with Myatt and Perry (or Martin Perry as one listener wrote in to – I named a character after that in my GCSE English essays!)

Also remembered are the Ketley Junta, and Carl from Chelmsley Wood. The regression shows were brilliant.

LMFAO on the Tony’s maitreya comment – he sincerely believed in it though!

The ML really WAS a ‘link’ to the outside world and wider Midlands community to many local disabled/housebound folk, like myself, and you simply cannot ever stress enough just what a huge ‘void’ was created, when it disappeared. National talk stations such as the (then named) Talk Radio were simply no replacement, as they were generally manned by cocky, arrogant presenters who didn’t even have the courtesy to end a conversation with a caller properly, simply retreating to the land of the ‘fader’, to ensure that THEY (and not the caller) always had the last word.

I can genuinely say that I have YET to hear ONE ‘talk’ format radio presenter who even comes REMOTELY close to yourself, in terms of sheer quality.

It may be true that ‘handling’ a talk show, with the advent of emailing, etc… is more demanding for the presenter, these days, but a presenter of true quality and appeal, like yourself, can always rise to any new challenges.

For this reason, many of your fans still hold out the hope that ONE day, somewhere in the cosmos, the ML will resurface once again…and, of course, it would only be the authentic ML with your good self as the anchor.

I make this pledge. If lady luck ever does shine on me, I will aim to use my newfound wealth to open a new local radio station…and one of my first tasks will be to offer you a very lucrative contract to come and revive the ML for the 21st century.

Hey! Stranger things have happened.

One of my favourite callers? Hmmm. Let’s see…possibly ‘The Codfather’, Dave the chip-shop owner, who I just thought made such intelligent comments…and not to mention that lovely, deep voice!

Greatest memories, Ian. We will always treasure them.

Mark in Cannock.

Crikey – I’m blushing here. I honestly didn’t know how much the Midnight Line meant to people. It meant everything to me and the day I heard GWR were binning it ranks amongst one of the worst days of my life.

Why did the show sound so different? That’s easy – I had no idea at all about what I was doing. So I just did my own thing. I literally walked out of an advertising agency and into a radio studio. Initially Beacon gave me a five day contract – it lasted nearly ten years.

Thank you for all the kind comments. I really do feel we achieved something great and wonderful and brilliant with the Midnight Line – before the internet it was a vehicle were you could put stuff up for debate -be serious- have a laugh – and feel like you were amongst friends. I certainly did. How did we get away with it for so long? Because it was ultimately fun and everybody was invited along that’s why. There was genuine anger when the show was axed.

The regression show was for real by the way. If you search the commonwealth war graves database you find this:
http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2062111

Not an exact match but close enough to get me worried. Especially as this database appeared a good five years after the show went out. I went a bit pale the first time I found it. I haven’t followed it up any further because I don’t have a copy of the show. And anyway… I’d look a bit out of place at a Scots Guards reunion.

I could talk all night (In fact I used to!) – for the record Steve Harleys ‘Make Me Smile’ is my favourite record of all time.. closely followed by ‘Cool for Cats’ … I also used to sneak in Ian Dury’s ‘Sex and Drugs’ and the Specials ‘Message to You Rudi’ oh yes, and anything by the Clash.

I am so sorry I couldn’t bring the show back for you (and me) but it wasn’t through a lack of trying. Nobody wanted to know which is why I had to take a different direction.

But we all know… Man, we were there! And it was a total and utter blast. I met a councillor a few weeks ago and he told me that the phone show.. and a call he’d made to it.. had helped him overcome, or at least learn to live with, his stutter. I felt ten feet tall. Worth doing just for that.

The Captain was, and still is, a real person. He used to come up with his own mad adventures… how true they were I’ll leave you to decide.

Thank you my friends. You’ve made me very very happy. One thing though that I need you to know is that when the show was brutally axed I didn’t lose my phone show… we lost our phone show.

But hey – what a great feeling – the 1st Battallion Under the Duvet Culture Lovers are still keeping the Midnight Line alive.

Thank you.

Ian Perry