The Frank Skinner Show - Role-Playing As Ray Davies

Episode Date: April 6, 2026

Frank and Emily are joined again by Rob Auton. Expect stories of surprising celeb encounters, handshakes and thoughts on Project Hail Mary (sci-fi film or secret catholic society?) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Frank Off the Radio. It's the Frankskinner podcast, don't you know? So this is Frank Off the Radio. I'm joined by Emily Dean. Rob Orton's with us. A-U-T-O-N, in case you're thinking, Is he the bloke who wrote entertaining Mr. Sloan? He's not Joe Orton.

No. Do you know Joe Orton, Rob? He's a playwright. He was, too. Yeah, he was. Sadly, no longer with us. It was a bad business. Yeah, his boy put a hammer through his head.

I don't know. You should prick up your ears. But hello, and thanks for having me back. Hello. Follow the podcast on X and Instagram. You can email the podcast via Frank off the radio at avalonuK.com or... Oh, 745.

741, 77769. Oh, 7445. 747717. It's quite frenetic that one. Yeah, I like frenetic in others. Okay. So here's the thing. We did the podcast.

What's that strange the noise? That was tea. I'm drinking tea. Okay. Does that make me a bad person? It was the noise it went with it. So we finished the podcast. Yeah.

And I left the building with Ember. Lee Dean. You did. And I left with her because I wanted to go to a comic shop. And I'd only been there about seven times. So I couldn't remember where it was. I had to find it for him. So Emily led me there.

Yeah. Tragically. He paid the ferryman. I got my penny. Yeah. Placed on my eyes. But I don't know what happened that day. But do you remember, we walked out of that thing.

This woman said to me, oh, thank you so much for all the laughter you've given me of me. I said, oh, thank you. She said, oh, really, what a pleasure to meet you. Such a wonderful. I said, thank you very much. And then before I was interrupted by a bloke going, oh, man, I had to come and say what absolutely. I thought, what is going on? So we walked down there.

I went to the comic shop. I hadn't got what I wanted, I'll be honest with you. They certainly hadn't got what I wanted. I'll be honest with you. So I came out. Well, you'd gone then. I believe, Frank, I said I have to get out of here immediately. Yeah.

So I bombed in. Someone said, all right, Frank. And I thought, sorry, someone else now. It was Helen O'Bonham Carter. I saw her earlier. And I thought, oh, how funny. So we had it, stood having a chat. And then I went off and, you know, great to see you and all that.

And I walked down the road. And then this woman approached me and I thought, God, it's gone mad today. She said, hello, this is a bit weird. I said, no, no, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine. She said, was that Helen and a Bonham Carter you were talking to? And I said, yeah, it was. She said, lucky you. and then walked off.

But before I met myself sound like some sort of grande. I'm going to gosh comics. So I got home and my wife phoned me up just from the bottom of the road. I've just seen Ray Davis. Oh, the kinks? Yeah. And I love the kinks.

Yeah. So I said, where is he? She said, he's just like, look, he's in the shops down here. I said, hold on a minute. You didn't. So I went down. Oh, my God.

Desperately seeking Ray Davis. And I was actually thinking, oh, this is, yes, I'm going to say, I was actually thinking, right, how do I'm going to do? Oh, wow. Oh, no. Oh, right. I'm not going to lie. And it would have been an Alex Kingston. He wouldn't have known who I was probably.

He would have. He's old enough. I don't mean that rude. No, he's all right. I don't mean that rude. No, but Rob, we've got to be honest about these things. But I went in every shop. I even ended up going in like the shelter charity shop.

What he'd be doing in there? It's just renewing his record collection. But I couldn't. Could I find Ray Davis? Could I? What about, he might have been attracted to the C-Santi town Starbucks. Yeah, I looked in there as well. Oh, did you?

There was no Ray Davis to be. It was like, you know that film Scarlet Ribbons? Yeah. When a bloke hears his daughter praying for Scott, that's all she wants for Christmas is scarlet ribbons for my hair. And he goes out to get them, but it's light. You know, all the shops were barred and shuttered. All the streets were dark.

Broken Britain. And that was like me trying to find Ray David. Waterloo Bridge. Yeah. Yeah, true. What, can I just ask, what would you have said? I mean, you know, I say this with love. What, in the best of all possible world, how do you see the encounter of gone?

So I'm Ray Davis. I'm in M&S looking at a spatchcock. You approach me. Yeah. I would say. Hello, I'll just, I'm looking. Right, I don't really want to bother you mid-spatchcock. but by now I'm leaving gaps to see if he's recognised me

he hasn't no he hasn't looked up from the Spatchcock and his thomies rubbing on the breast as if he's trying to see Frank! No but you know the dots you get from the feathers he's trying to see if pressure removes them Ray is not that kind of man He's respectful old gent anyway And I'd say to him, either, look, I don't want to bother you,

but I've seen the Kinks like seven times live and, you know, I saw your one-man show in Edinburgh. I just want to say, you're brilliant and you've made me very, very happy. And then I'd leave him alone. I might say the first thing I ever stole from a shop was a Kinks album. I don't think you should say that. No, I think he'd like that. No, I don't think he would.

He's law-abiding. I think that would ruin. I think he'd like the idea of somebody. liking his album so much that they stole it. The last time that I saw a famous person where it really got my, you know, it's mild, quite heavy panic. I thought, I'm going to have to say something. Was it the last time he did this podcast?

Yeah, it was, yeah. And it was me. It was, no, it was Eric Cantanar. Oh, wow. See, I'd be too frightened to speak to me. Well, we'd all be frightened with him around. Oh, no, I was, uh, but I could just, see that he gets approached by a lot of people and was very wary.

And I just said, oh, sorry to bother you. My dad's a massive Leeds fan. I think you're absolutely brilliant. What did he say? He put his fist out, gave him a fist bump. Oh, that's nice. And that's good because I love fist bumps. Me too.

That's quite nice that he did that. I can't ever approach famous people because my parents told me I wasn't allowed. They said, don't know. I told you this. There was a child once when we went to somebody's famous as house when I was younger. And it became this big scandal because this eight-year-old boy asked someone for an autograph

and everyone was horrified and said, we've told you you must never ask for autographs. It's the height of rudeness. So I was told never to. Well, I was at the after party for the Royal Variety performance and Shirley Bassie was there. At the time I was going out with a woman

who had a daughter, I think was 11 or something like her. And she said, I said, oh, grandma, I love Shirley Basset. Do you think I can ask for her autograph? And I thought, I fucking wouldn't. Look at her. She was famously quite... I said, let him clear the coterie first.

She's famously quite a fiery character. Really? Oh, man. She could see menace in her eye. Fantastic. I said, I would wait till everything, anything that could be used as a weapon is... Yeah, I wouldn't ask. I wouldn't go there with Bathsey.

She could smother you in the tablecloth. You won't go there with Bassi, though. I wouldn't go there with Bassi. Anyway, at the end of the night, she said, do you think it'd be all right now? And I said, might be. And there was still, you know, stuff happening. Anyway, she went over and said,

I just want to, I'm sorry to bother you, Miss Bassi, but, and she went, oh, I can't believe this. Come on, everyone, call all of you, let's go. And she stormed off. The kid bursted to tears. Oh, for shit. It was awful. Bassie.

I think the rules are, I think you can ask them in a public space, but certainly in someone's home, that is not, that was what we were taught. It's not acceptable because it's giving someone a sense of otherness. This wasn't in her home.

I know it wasn't. This is Bassi we're talking about. She's not a reasonable woman. How are you getting into a famous person's house, though? How do I begin to answer this? Frank, can I handle, can you deal with? Well, Emily's got lots of contacts. Okay.

Yeah. So she's been an... So your parents said to you, when we go to someone's house, don't ask them for an autograph when you're in their home. It's bad manners. I think that's... Well, right.

Yeah, because it's making them feel other in their own space. Okay. I've had a couple of people ask me for a selfie and stuff in church. It's a similar thing. I always say this is not my gig. I mean, outside, but not in here. But yeah, it was... And then, take that with it, and they'd just started.

Why is this? What, we thought it was Molly Bassi? This was in this post-Ral variety. Oh, yeah. She said, do you think I can ask Robbie Williams when she stopped crying over Bassi? And I said, let me ask him. So I went over.

And I'd already met him a couple of times. He's a very young bloat then. And I said, Mike, he said, okay, He said, it's, you know, it is pretty mad at the moment. Probably says. I said, look, if it's a problem. He said, no, no, no, I'll sign it. So he came over very secretly signed it.

Turn around, there was 70 people behind the queuing up. Bassie was, I could still hear a noise in the fire. I have never been so fucking insulted. I mean, it was terrifying. terrifying. Funnily enough that day, when I arrived, it wasn't at the Palladium. I can't remember where it was at.

It's a big theatre. I was just the right... It was just at the right lane or something. I was just at the... No, no, it wasn't that. I arrived at the reception and she came in and someone said Shirley Bass is coming. I looked, there was a black Rolls-Royce pulled up.

She got out. She came in... It's discreet. Went through. in a big fur rap thing. I mean, you know, you get your money's worth with Bassi. So I'm talking to the person at reception, trying to persuade them to give me a dressing room.

And Bassie comes out the other way. Straight out into the Rolls-Royce sign-on. I said, that was a quick rehearsal. And the blocs, and apparently she could smell paint in the dressing room. She has to protect her voice. gone. Yeah, so they're all shitting the South Bass is coming so they paint the dressing room

and then she storms off because it's getting on her chest. She has to keep her instrument pure. That's true. Well, you know about that. Maybe that Queen's Road Peckham yesterday because that was painted and they knew that I was going to be using the theatre. So that thing about the fist bump, you

said, I have an awkward moment every Sunday morning because part of the Catholic Mass is you now give each other a sign of peace and you turn around and we always shook hands. Right. And when COVID happened, we stopped doing it

and I thought this is great, not having to shake people's hands. And I thought I'm going to keep this up for our fact, but some people give you a direct, I mean, they are properly holding out their hands. What, the handshake? And I have folded arms. And I must admit, sometimes I just weaken

and just think better to die of a major... Do you? No, I'm absolutely. ...and upset this completely. stranger. I have zero tolerance around it now. I mean, I'm not placed in that position that you're in, where there's a spiritual awkwardness

to rejecting the handship. Spiritual awkwardness, I like. Oh, good. Well, you know, what I tend to do now, I just absolutely, I say, I'm very sorry, I don't shake hands. And it goes one of two ways. Sometimes it doesn't go well. So I just say I do hugs. Do you do hugs?

I think it's easier for a lady. Do you? Because I don't really think of women as handshakers. the way men. Oh, with men, I think it used to be a Yes.

How hard you squeezed? Chris Eubank had this thing that he would really, he never did it to me, but I saw it was a real, I saw him do it to Jeff Goldblum once Jeff Goldblum. That's extraordinary.

Very nearly. What was this evening? I saw him do it to Jeff Goldman. We'd done some showty on it, but he was very nearly, he went right down, Goldman, like, you know, like that.

Look, he was, nearly on his knees with Eubanks. You're hurting my hand and it's kind of, it was like, oh man, Goldblum. Eubank wouldn't stop. But yeah, I noticed when you came in earlier, Rob,

you gave us all fist bumps and I felt immense relief. Well, I was following Frank's lead on that. But you were saying about handshakes, it goes when you say, no, I don't shake hands. It goes one of two ways. What people get terribly offended

And then I just never speak to them again But what will happen is some people say Oh, okay Yeah Yeah, I know they do They don't like it And if it's the first thing If that's the first interaction

It's awful Well we're on the back for But you know what I call that Information Yeah Which we need I find that very useful Dun Dun

Information Information Everybody that's what you need But do you still carry Hand sanitar occasionally. I mean, I'm not quite Robbie Williams on New Year's Eve celebrations. Do you know about that, Rob? No.

He had to, when was it, Frank, a few years ago? It was one of the big ones. Never asked me a question like that. I'm sorry. It was, I think it was a big one. But he was performing at a New Year's Eve celebration and he, everyone wanted to shake his hand. And so he was in an impossible situation. It was being filmed live.

So he took hand sanitizer on to the show, the live performance with. and performatively sprayed it on his hands as a bit, but everyone watching thought, well, it wasn't really a bit. You were genuine, you were using the hand sanitizer. It's not a bad thing. No, I respected him for that. Yeah, I mean, when I do this handshake, if I have to do a handshake, I always carry a falconry gauntlet which I slip on last minute.

Well, we all know why the Queen wore gloves. Yeah, exactly. Apparently, every year they would burn all her gloves. in the garden of Buckingham Palace because they were covered in ordinary people cells. That would be great if it was really just a, oh yeah, we're going to go burn the gloves and it was really just a kind of a thing that they just love doing.

It's like the queen. The burning of the glove. That could be the job, the glove burner. Just like a family thing, yeah. But I can see that it's harder for Frank to reject people because that becomes a story then. Oh, well, I met Frank Skinner and he wouldn't shake my house. What if the queen wouldn't shake you in?

Yeah. She went for the fist bump. I think they have to. I shook the coin's hand, but she had gloves on. True. But then it's hard for you, because presumably you guys, is that harder. My strategy, I don't do handshakes. I'm happy to do hugs.

A little harder for men, particularly, no offense, Frank the older man. Love as a young lady, for example. Oh, I don't. If I hog... You couldn't say I don't do handshakes, but I love a hug. That would sound disgusting, Rob. You could probably get that. But I don't love a hog because I'm so wary if it's a woman in particular.

Yeah, you're quite painful to heart. And even a man, you can sometimes detect a bit of helmet. What is wrong with you? Why would you say that? But with a woman... I don't... It's awful. I don't want to hear it. If a woman asks me for a hog or moves to a hog, I always say I've got nits.

Yeah. The only thing that repels. When someone's got a kid, you can believe it. Have you ever had knits? Oh, yeah, I've had nits. I had it as an adult woman, and I was so ashamed. I went to the chemist, and I lied and said I had children. It was the chemist not far from you, actually, Frank.

And it was awful. And I remember I went in and... Not the House of Mystery. Not how we love House of Mystery. It's fantastic. There's a chemist called the House of Mystery. It might have been House of Mystery, actually. I mean, what are you going to buy for? Yes, I'd like...

Tongue of frog And wing of lark They were wizard hats in there Back problem Well it might have been House of Mystery Yeah And the mystery was

Why was a 34 year old woman Or however old I was at the time Buying hair light shampoo It was because I don't know how I'd got it But anyway She said how many children And it wrong footed me

And I thought Well I'm going to have to just lie Because I can't say It's just me So I said too and she said boy or girl so I said there's one boy one girl

oh no it was awful when you're trapped in a line it was awful it's like it's like it's being in a lift where you've missed your floor you know when you're meant to get out at the ground floor

and realise you're in lower basement and you think I don't want to be there I don't even know what I'm going to see what the fucking doors open down here oh man that level of line And then I took it on holiday and I was keeping it, I was in a new relationship and I didn't want the guy, my boyfriend at the time, to know that I was having to use the light shampoo.

So he said, what's that in the cupboard? I said, what is that in the bathroom? I said, it's just this special shampoo. He said, everybody's got giant beetle on the front of it. Yeah. Well, the stuff we had at school was purple, bright purple stuff that you put in your hair. Oh, really? Well, what about...

Actually, that explains that bloke that lied to me about Cardi B. Well, you used to have to have pripson worm powder as well. Did you have that? What was that? If you had worms, you had pripson. I never had worms. Really? My brother was a keen angler.

I wouldn't have dared. He'd have been using me for bait. I was speaking of fist bumping. Have you seen Project Hail Mary? No. The film. I haven't seen it. Oh, no.

There's a bit in that when he tries to teach an alien, a language, and he shows him the fist bump. And he says he keeps out, shall I fist your... a bump and he goes, no, no, you can't,

you can't use that story. Is that a sci-fi or a horror film or something? It is a sci-fi. Would I like it? I honestly said

this is absolutely true, not comedy. I said to my wife, I'm going to take Buzz to Project Hail Mary. Yeah. And she said, was he all right with it?

I said, I think you'll enjoy it. She said, is it at the church? I said, no. No, it's not an indoctrination class.

It's a film. She honestly thought poor old boss is getting dragged to something. secret Catholic society. Project Get Buzz to start saying is Hell Mary. I'll tell you somewhere about it, though.

It surprised me, and this will surprise you. You know my view on science? Well, it's good. The people try to make it interesting, but it's desperately dull. Yeah. Frank doesn't like it when they make science cool. Well, I must admit, about half a matter of this film, I started thinking, you know, what? Science can be cool.

But if Ryan... Ryan Gosling is your science teacher. Is it Ryan Gosling? Yeah. Oh my God, you should have bloody said. Ryan Gosling is a cool science teacher. Whereas all my science teachers at school were like, you know, science teachers. I think they were always, some of them are a little odd.

We had Mr Henderson who would make bottle rockets over and over again. Did you ever used to make them? Bottle rocket. It was like a very liquid bottles with a pump attached to it. Yeah, really. And then they'd go up in the air. Love that. When science has explosions and stuff like that.

Oh, yeah, I mean, putting magnesium in water in a petri dish, I mean, good at those. Before you know where you are, it's maths. Well, that's the thing. But not with Ryan. He did a bit, actually. He did a bit of maths. Okay.

Did it make you like Ryan? Do you like Ryan anyway? Oh, do you? Well, we spoke earlier, don't we about Barbie. I love the Barbie film. I couldn't fucking face the other thing. What was the other thing called? Oppenheimer.

I couldn't face it. I couldn't face the other thing. Oh, man, what's doing about that? Frank likes escapist things. You know. With movies you do, not with other stuff. Well, there's enough misery going around without having somebody making something about it.

Oh, dear. All right? Yeah, but you only feel this about films. You're not like that about literature or poetry or... I think when it comes to films. Well, it's a big commitment. I don't want to be watching something about fucking bombs and all that stuff.

meat in popcorn. Something wrong with that. Puritanical view. I like watching Starvation. Oh, yeah. So now we're going to go through. We're going to bomb the job. Oh, we're going to bomb jopold leave now.

There's something wrong about that. Yeah. Shit, I've lost to reform people again. They come and go. They like bonjie. Well, they like the war films, you see. Oh, God. They love a war film.

I've ever seen an interview with the Reverend Ian Paisley. Oh, yeah. And they said, have you ever been to the cinema? He said once, just in Cromwell. That was it. Oh, God. I bet he never had any popcorn. That was like Michael Owen.

Remember seven films he'd seen? Oh, yeah. Because he hated films, Michael Owen. And when I interviewed him, I asked him about those seven films. Could he remember them? Yeah, his daughter was with him. And she went, he can't even remember them. He said, I can.

There was C-Biscuit. I saw an interview with... Seabiscuit. Sorry, Ron. I saw an interview with Carrie Neville. And he didn't know who Bill Murray was. No, it just wasn't on his radar. No.

Doesn't watch films, doesn't know. I couldn't believe it. I thought, I mean, you're interested in a lot of other stuff if you don't know who Bill Murray is. And now he's a bloody dragon, Gary Neville. You know, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You think that broadened your mind a bit. So what he, what's...

An S&M don't you? I've met Deborah Meadon. Have you met Deborah Meadden? Yeah, yeah. What about two, Cusilloman? Never met Tuka. Have you met Tuka, Suleham and Frank? No, I've met Meadden.

Nice. Nice. What context did you meet through? She came to one of my shows. Did she? Yeah, in Edinburgh. Wow. Yeah, probably, yeah, yourself and Deborah Meadam,

probably my most famous audience members. Well, I'm letting that pass. I said, I had Mead, I used to a thing called Room 101. You had Hillary DeVay as well, didn't you? And I enjoyed Hillary DeVay. Yeah. She wanted to try to get a horse somewhere. Duvet.

How did you spell that? Is it like Duve? Well, because it's a made-up name, I think it doesn't. Oh, right. Okay. Yeah, I think it was in the 70s. You know, like my godmother called herself to Paul. It was very fashionable to put a duh.

Oh. Because everyone was into very cool. So her name was Hillary Vey. I don't know what it was, but I don't think DeVay. I think it was a French kind of 70s thing. I don't know that, by the way. That could be completely incorrect. She was a character.

She was in pallets. Is that what she was in? That was exactly right. It's how she made her fortune. Yeah. God bless her. No longer with us. You know my 15 to 1 story?

No. I was doing 15 to 1 when Adam Hill was hosting it. And he was actually literally... I know he hosted it. Yeah. Yeah. He was literally doing a piece to camera saying, so now, you know, blah, blah, blah.

The Australian accent, you can put that in after. Yes. And I heard this voice saying, Frank, Frank! Hillary DeVay, it was like about five people away from me. Do you fancy doing a corporate gig in Paris? What is he's talking on the? He's doing her link. Oh man, she was a real character.

Did you do it? I didn't. In the end, I was too frightened. I know a corporate gig in Paris sounds tough. Yeah, I know. But it depends on the morning, obviously. Yeah. You can put up with a laugh, them on his wife.

Michael Owen, three of the films he was forced to watch and didn't enjoy were Sea Biscuit, Cull Runnings was another film he seemed. Oh, what is that? Oh, that's so about the Jamaican, Bob Slater? Yeah. Sport theme, then. And Rocky, three out of ten you gave it. Yes, that, yes, there's a theme. Three out of ten for Rocky.

Three out of ten for Rocky. Sea Biscuit, four out of ten. And Cool Runnings, six out of ten. Right. Okay. There you go. John Cundi. Cold Runions.

Is he in that, is he? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. He's on a, there's a bit where he's on a shelf, in it. John Candy? Love is like candy on the shelf. Oh, God.

Oh, God, it wasn't worth going there. I went there anyway. I love that about you. You will always go there anyway. Yeah, why fret? Have we had any word from outside? We have. We've heard from Ben.

It's like being the Chillion miners. Were they Chilean? They were Chilean. Yeah. And I'm afraid it's very inappropriate thinking about, but some of us ladies, we did rate them as they came out. Really? Yes, me and some friends watched it live.

You called out of ten? I'm afraid we did, and I do apologise. I was hard to tell. They were filthy. How could you even judge you? Well, that's what we liked. And it was awful. But that's why it was a sort of competition,

because it was like, even under that, If you still manage to look good under that, there's hope. We watched it together. I mean, looking at it's very problematic. I do apologise, but we were going, oh, number seven. I do apologise, Frank. Yeah. We've all had low moments like that, and we've learnt, haven't we?

Yep. We're all different people, Frank. They weren't behind this, though. I cannot remind you. Anyway, carry on. Ben says, dear... Ben, the two of us. Everybody, need look no more.

Come on, Rob, sing up. He says, sing up. In a recent episode, it's about a rat. Michael Jackson's song about a rat. It's about a rat. In a recent episode, I really enjoyed it when you all found out that Russell Grant was still alive. I enjoyed it as well. He's it.

As Russell Grant would say, I didn't see that coming. And at his age, do you know Russell Grant, we can explain? We will explain if you like. Frank, would you explain it? He was a sort of... Astrologer. Astrologer, you know, psychic person. And I would say a flamboyant character.

Yeah? Yeah. I was going to say he was a medium, but he was at least an extra large. I saw him on stage once in Edinburgh. There were feather bowers and a little bit of backstage temper going on. Great. But he was a medium. Yeah, he was very famous.

He is... He did my Star-shot. Oh, yeah. And he said, you're going to be famous for seven years. Yeah. Exactly. And you'll never hold down a long-term relationship. Did he say you or did he say we?

He said we. When was that? That was, oh, 25 years ago. He was right. Anyway, when you all found out Russell Grant was still alive in his age, you all cried out in unison. What did we cry out, Frank? Still alive at 75?

Still alive at 75? I enjoyed this very much and propose a running segment in the podcast where each episode you name a living 75-year-old celebrity and all cry out, still alive at 75. I'm all, friend. It's very life-affirming, Ben says. It is.

Suggestions for future candidates. Princess Anne. I don't know what I find that funny. I just do. Is she 75? And Kurt Russell. Both. Both.

Both. Kurt. No, what are they both, Frank? What are they both? They are both 75. Oh, I'm still alive. Very good. Fantastic.

Okay. On the subject of Russell Grant, and we are, this is from Paul and East Grinstead. Hearing a recent mention of Russell Grant, I was reminded of the time in the 90s when myself and friends secured tickets for a recording of fantasy football. It was the week following the infamous cantomers. our kick. So we were all

looking forward to a sympathetic and thought-provoking analysis by yourself and Mr. Bidiel. Settling in for the recording with a complimentary beer, I didn't know they got beers, Frank. Was that to get them riled up? Yes, to get them, Larry. I know it's...

I didn't know you gave them. Also, a lot of them didn't turn up in football shirts, so we had a big being of football shirts to make them look like they were joining in. I didn't know that, Frank. A lot of Liverpool shirts. Oh, it's so false. It was... It was announced that the night's guests would be comedian Nick Hancock,

along with celebrity astrologer Russell Grant. We exchanged some somewhat bemuse looks at the choice of guests, expecting a dissection of Cantonar's behaviour as being born on the cusp of Virgo justifying an assault on a Piscian Crystal Palace fan. But imagine our surprise when Grant went on to display an encyclopedic knowledge of non-league football. Yes, he was obsessed with non-league football. Yeah.

Well, yeah, I wish he hadn't have done that. Frank. I told him in the interval. Frank, please. Okay. Paul says it just goes to show you shouldn't judge a man by a sparkly waistcoat.

No? I didn't know that, so he's a big football fan. Yeah, he had a particular team, something like Maidstone or something like that. Yes, that sounds quite grantean. Mm. But yeah, he really knew it.

I know it's, as you say, You can't judge a... Amand by a sparkly waistcoat? No, you can't. He was very sweet, I thought. Okay. Well, he's still alive? Natural curly hair or perm?

It's quite an old question to ask. Well, you're a person who can look and tell. That's why I ask. I wouldn't know. You're right. I would say that's natural simply because it feels like that's... Because no one would ask for it. Yeah.

You said it, I'm afraid. Okay. It feels like a kind of crowd-controlled job, you know. It's control at that point. I don't think he's... I mean, I love the curls. It's a bit Leo Sayre, isn't it? Yeah, I saw something about him recently.

He's still... He was doing an interview on American television somewhere. He's still quite... You know, his first album, Leo Sayer, yeah. It's fantastic. Oh, it's great. But then he got bad-tempered on... And then he wrote...

I think he wrote Roger Daltry's first album as well. Did he? That's quite something. Sayer? Something. I remember it's my 50th birthday and I had a load of video messages, including one from Leo Sayer,

who I'd never met in my life. And they said, well, he was there in the studio, when he was doing blah, blah, and he said, I'll do one. Did it? Yeah. Lovely. I didn't want to be a naysayer.

Oh, that's quite, do you think he should call a book that? Yeah, he should call his horse that. Do you think he's got a horse now? Probably not. Got a lion, I guess. Go on, carry on. Well, I just wanted to share this.

Lee from Sevenoaks, was listening to a podcast, a very old podcast of ours. And I heard Frank say, I would kill a lion to be on Doctor Who. Right. Bearing in mind his subsequent appearance on said show, did this happen?

Can I apologise to Cecil? And what does Catman David Bedeer? think about this. Can we establish, is David Badell still Catman? Now the show's over. Do you know about Catman? Catman, yeah.

Do you? He'll always be Catman. He's a big Catman, isn't he? Well, somebody is a big cat man, but, I mean, I suppose he is, but he became Catman for the purposes of the show. I think he gets letters now addressed to Mr. C. Man. There isn't a superhero,

because there's Catwoman, isn't it, but not a Catman. There is now, Mr. Badell. Yeah, it's true. She's very independent, Catwoman. Yeah. is she? Although she does occasionally make quite a large pass of Batman. She does. I remember... Do you know what her toilet thing is immaculate though?

On the TV, I think maybe the Julie Numa version said, oh Batman, can't we just... I love you so much. Can't we just get married? And he says, you know, it would be difficult, catwoman. She said, no, but I'll change my ways. I promise I'll never do another wrong thing. I'll become that sweet, lovely person that you want me to be. and he said, well, what about Robin?

And she said, we could kill him. That's a great bit of dialogue. Is she the one in my favourite, in the original, was it 1960 series? Well, there was a few, see. But you know the one I mean? Arthur Kitt was one of them. Oh, yeah, she was. And I think in the film it was Lee Meriwether.

Okay. You know the old school Batman, Rob? Yeah, yeah. But Julie Newman. That's the best one, isn't it? Great. I think she was the pick of the cats. Yeah.

Just thinking if Batman did get married, Robin would be the best man, wouldn't he? Oh, he'd have to be. He'd be the third real. Imagine if Batman asked somebody else. Oh, my God. They're like Anten-Decke. It's a bit codependent the Batman Robin relationship, though, isn't it? I would think it's a fairly loose interpretation of the adoption process.

But anyway, I don't know dwell on it. So look, Rob, it's always great to see you, by the way. I'll be to see you, Rob. Thanks for me. The next episode of Frank Skinner's radio days is out on Wednesday. We're in 2013 now. This time we're talking about that, this is in capital block thing is, that Louis Suarez incident.

Do you remember that? Yes, I do. It evolved an ear, did it? No. He bids someone. Yeah, so check it out. It's a Frank Skinner podcast. A new when a change is blowing.

It's the Frank Skinner podcast. I'm not totally sure how it's going. Thanks for listening to the podcast. Make sure to like and follow so you never miss an episode. And if you want to get in touch, you can email the podcast via Frank Off the Radio at Avalonuk.com.