Twenty years ago, British broadcaster Steve Penk famously wound-up Tony Blair on air.
Penk (known to Australian audiences on Channel 7’s TV Nightmares and TVs Naughtiest Blunders), said:
‘I had been presenting the mid morning show on Capital FM (London) Europe’s number 1 Commercial Radio Station for just over a year, with my trademark Wind-Up phone calls being the highest rated part of the show.’
With London’s reputation as one of the most competitive and creative radio markets in the world, broadcasters have to keep connecting with audiences and coming up with the goods.
On Tuesday 20th January 1998, Penk (pictured left) had the idea to call Tony Blair at Downing Street, but needed a fresh approach, having called a few years earlier to speak to then Prime Minister, John Major.
Penk had phoned in as a member of the public complaining about the price of onions at the local supermarket, and insisted on speaking to Major, but never got any further than the switchboard, where he was told the British Prime Minister ‘has more important things to worry about that the price of a pound of onions.’
‘I had recently met an impressionist who at that time had told me he was finding it difficult to find work, he was struggling to get noticed in London and was thinking of moving back home to the north, his name was Jon Culshaw,’ said Penk.
‘I asked him if he could do an impression of then opposition leader William Hague, he did it for me down the phone and it sounded perfect.
‘My daily show on Capital FM started at 10am, so I knew I had limited time to try and record the wind up, edit it, have my daily pre-show meeting with the Programme Director and get ready for the show, said Penk.
At 8:20am, Penk went into the studio to make the call to 10 Downing Street, rang the switchboard, and at this point Jon launched into the voice of William Hague asking to speak to Tony.
‘I’ll put you through to Number 10, just a moment,’ said the voice down the line. The call was immediately picked up by Tony Blair’s PA.
‘Who’s calling?’
‘It’s William Hague.’
‘… just trying to find him for you. You didn’t sound like him, I’m sorry … we do get quite a few imposters, you see! You’re better now, you sound normal.’
‘Hello?’ said Blair.
‘Just phone up for a chat, see how you’re getting on, that sort of thing,’ said imposter Hague.
Blair (laughing) ‘That’s quite a good imitation.’
‘ … see how you’re keeping.’
‘I’m trying to work out who it is. You’ve done very well to get through the network.’ said Blair, clearly impressed.
Imposter Hague continued, ‘I was talking to John Prescott the other day, you know that Cher exercise video you were interested in having … we’ve managed to find it!’
‘I think that would be very helpful, just hand it over at Prime Minister’s Questions. I think it’ll be a better exchange than usual,’ said Blair.
The call ended at 8:25am, at which point Penk was due for his 6th floor meeting with Programme Director Richard Park.
‘Richard Park was a tough man to work for, almost brutal at times if your work wasn’t to the highest standards. As I entered the lift, alone, on my journey from the 3rd floor of Capital Radio HQ in Leicester Square to the 6th floor (30 seconds) my whole life went into slow motion.
‘The decision I was about to make could destroy everything overnight. The dilemma was, when Richard asked me what I had on today’s show, did I tell him I had just wound up the British Prime Minister? Or did I say nothing and just run the call without telling anyone?’
Penk didn’t tell him about the call, and the what happened next took the Blair wind-up to new heights.
That afternoon during Prime Minister’s Questions, Blair mentioned that he’d received a wind-up call from Steve Penk at Capital Radio, and announced that it had made more sense to him than anything William Hague had said that day in the House of Commons.
The story went into overdrive.
‘It was the craziest 24 hours of my professional life, it made Capital Radio even bigger, it took the heat off Tony Blair who at the time was under intense political pressure, it made Jon Culshaw famous and gave him that big break he was looking for, and it made me into troublemaker number one and for a moment, the most famous radio presenter in the world … everyone was a winner,‘ said Penk.
‘The following morning as I started my show and every single newspaper was full of the wind up story, the door flung open and Richard Park stood in the frame of the studio door, said nothing and simply stood and applauded me, he knew the enormous professional risk I’d taken, he knew exactly what I’d done.
‘We’ve never spoken about it, from that day to this.’