On Monday, it was announced that radio presenter Scott Mills had been sacked by the BBC following allegations relating to his personal conduct.
Mills, 53, joined Radio 1 in 1998. In 2022, he moved to Radio 2, taking over Steve Wright’s slot, before stepping into Zoe Ball’s flagship breakfast slot last year — a move which increased his salary from £315,000 a year to between £355,000 and £359,000.
Alongside his six-figure BBC salary, Mills also owns a house in Hertfordshire. Here’s your guide to where the radio presenter and DJ has lived.
Rickmansworth
Mills shares a new-build, five-bedroom house near Rickmansworth with his husband, Sam Vaughan, and their dog, Teddy.
The couple bought the property for £1,425,000 in 2020, according to Land Registry records, and are reported to have moved in around 2022, post-pandemic.
The decision to move out of London to commuter-ville was partly dictated by Wales-born Vaughan, Mills told The Telegraph.
“He likes London, but he doesn’t want to live there. So we moved out to commutable Hertfordshire, because I obviously have to still be in town five days a week. It’s half an hour on the train, but it feels completely different from London and I love it.”
Located on a cul-de-sac, the house has an open-plan kitchen, dining area and reception space — recently featured on Mills’ Instagram as the trial-spot for Vaughan’s new Heelys — front and rear gardens, a garage and a driveway with space for several cars.
The house is suburban, neutrally decorated and, truth be told, pretty ordinary. No grand pianos, no artwork, no grand décor.
“I’m not flash or extravagant,” Mills told The Times last year. “I’m happy being low-key, although I have graduated from buying the cheapest black ash furniture from Argos to stuff that actually lasts.
“I can now see the point of buying Le Creuset pans with handles that don’t fall off after two days. All I have on my walls are family photos, photos of our wedding and photos of us with our cavapoo, Teddy.”
Mills described his interiors as “very modern and pared-back”, with scent being high on the list of priorities for the house. “Hygge is the goal, so there are candles galore.”
Finsbury Park
Before moving out to Hertfordshire, Mills owned a house in Finsbury Park.
Here, he held an annual, star-studded Halloween party, inviting the likes of Nick Grimshaw, Caroline Flack, Susanna Reid and Rita Ora — who he once caught singing karaoke to her own songs at 2am, per The Times.
Kentish Town
Like Ken Loach, Bill Nighy and Matt Smith, Mills also owned a property in Kentish Town. He bought a doer-upper in the noughties, enlisting his brother, a timber framer, to help with the building work.
“As he’s a perfectionist he spent about six months doing the place up. He virtually had to rebuild the top floor and he did an incredible job,” Mills wrote in his autobiography, Love You Bye. “I’d go round every night and we’d talk for hours…We became extremely close.”
In 2019, the finished property featured on an episode of ITV’s Through the Keyhole, which revealed a living room with purple walls (and matching plug sockets), a giant projector screen and a popcorn maker.
Mills also showed his neatly organised walk-in wardrobe, open plan kitchen and living area with a prominent radio system and a garden with a barbecue area and hammock.
Mills sold the house to buy in Finsbury Park, and made around £100,000 on the sale, according to The Telegraph.
Previous homes
Mills’ first property purchase was a one-bedroom flat in Islington, which he bought after securing his job at Radio 1.
“I was thrilled to actually own somewhere, to be able to paint the walls whatever colours I wanted and put nails in them without worrying about losing my deposit, which had happened to me several times over the years,” he wrote.
“I only stayed in Islington for a year, but it got me on the ladder and gave me a bit of stability.”
Mills’ next home was a loft conversion in Clapton which was “a real bargain”.
“My excitement soon turned to terror when, a few days later, I found out that the road I had moved to was affectionately named Murder Mile due to its high crime rate and the number of shootings that go on around there,” he said.
“Since I moved out, my old area is one of the top five coolest places to live. Typical.”
In London, Mills has also lived in Shepherd’s Bush and Crouch End — often with his long-term friend and flatmate, Fraser.
Before moving to London, Mills lived in a three-bedroom house in Worsley, near Manchester. He grew up in Southampton.
