Pat
Sharp
Pat Sharp
(1975-1978) left Merchant Taylors’ to pursue his dream of a career as a radio
presenter. He has presented Top of the Pops on BBC 1, worked on Capital Radio,
London’s Heart, and Smooth Radio as well as appearing on numerous TV shows such
as cult ITV programme Fun House (which he hosted for 12 years), Never Mind The
Buzzcocks, Britain’s Got Talent and Celebrity Come Dine With Me. He continues
to work as a TV and radio presenter, while also making regular media appearances,
performing DJ sets around the world, and hosting corporate events
into believing this was going to be like
Tom Brown’s Schooldays, with a character
like Flashman who would be waiting in the
wings to make my life a misery.
As it happened, although I struggled
in the classroom, I made up for this with
rugby, cricket and hockey, subsequently
spending many an afternoon in the
freezing wind blowing across the massive
expanse of open space that makes the
school so picturesque when you see it
from the rear gates.
MT’s (I still got the apostrophe in)
helped me into an adulthood, because
when I arrived at the start of my teens I
was very immature and gained a lot of
experience of life from the way the school
operated.
I left before taking my A levels,
having previously achieved poor O level
results, getting just the one in English.
I can blame the love of radio for this (as
opposed to the teaching) as I would have
spent much too long listening to Capital,
rather than studying. However, for me
it paid o as I went on to work with all
the presenters I grew up listening to on
there. I got my first break at Radio 1 in
1982 when I was still only 20 by hosting
their national afternoon show, covering
for Steve Wright. A couple of weeks on the
now defunct Radio Luxembourg followed
and then I got my own show, back at Radio
1, which meant I also got to host Top Of
The Pops on BBC1
My Capital adventure lasted for
a decade and included a number of
returns to Top Of The Pops, but this time
strangely as a singer with ‘Pat & Mick’,
with whom I had a few hits for the Help A
London Child charity, raising more than
£300K in total over a five year period.
My career as a broadcaster has had so
many highlights that I may start turning
this piece into my long-awaited (from my
side that is) autobiography which I have
been meaning to start work on for a long
time now.
Here are some highlights which I hasten
to add bear no relation to the blonde ones
that I had in my rather long hair back in
the day, that incidentally has now become
a lot more famous, or should that be
infamous, than me!
After my Capital job I took my mid-
morning slot to No 1 again, this time
at London’s Heart, becoming the only
presenter ever to rate No 1 on mid
mornings in London on two dierent
stations.
Today, I present the syndicated radio
show ‘All The Hits’, which airs around the
world on various stations. Over the years
my radio shows have also been broadcast
on BFBS for our troops worldwide,
along with in-flight programmes aboard
Swissair, Sabena, Britannia Airways and
currently Oman Air hosting The Easy
y lasting memories of
a teenage education at Merchant
Taylors’ are remembering to always
make sure I didn’t forget the
apostrophe at the end of the school’s
name whenever I was writing it.
Walking on the grass after school on
the way to Moor Park station by cutting
a corner is also high on my list of school
memories, actually, strike that, and make
it NOT walking on the grass is high on
my list! If you did, I seem to remember
you were given lines, but not any old line,
the School line, which was purloined from
Shakespeare ‘to be or not to be that is the
question’ and the only problem for me was
that I never knew the answer!
Yes this radio and TV host of the future
was far from academic, despite having
been accepted via Alpha Prep following
my Common Entrance examination in the
mid-seventies.
I arrived in my grey suit, which, I hasten
to add, I rather liked as it was very smart.
I was given a map to find my way around
the school for my various lessons, which
immediately made it clear to me that I had
morphed from a big fish in a small pond
to… a minnow.
Teachers in ‘old school’ robes and
mortar board hats looked like a daunting
prospect and the likes of Mr Stokes
(nicknamed Rags, if I remember correctly)
who was the Senior Master terrified me
M
Concordia
Merchant Taylors’ School
