If there’s one thing that Terry Wogan has mastered after so many years of broadcasting, it’s the art of conversation. There’s a warmth and knowingness in his on-air style that made him the perfect person to host the UK’s annual Eurovision humiliation for years, or wake Radio 2’s TOGs up, host his BBC chat show, dole out Blankety Blank cheque books and pens, or get people to cough up for Children in Need; he’s more than earned his “national treasure” status. On the radio it’s the kind of delivery that lets you hear the twinkle in his eye; in person he’s easy company, a gent who holds the lift doors open.
As he says in the introduction to his new BBC2 show Terry and Mason’s Great Food Trip: “It’s taken 50 years in broadcasting, but I’ve finally cracked it – a chance to meander around the country, see the sights, meet the people and eat and drink.”
The format couldn’t be simpler. London cabbie turned presenter Mason McQueen (who you may have seen driving around Mumbai in A Cabbie Abroad) keeps his eyes on the road, while Wogan sits in the back as they retrace the journey taken by American expat writer Samuel Chamberlain for his 1963 book British Bouquet: An Epicurean Tour of Britain. Although Wogan claims “nobody was exactly beating a path to my door” before he accepted the series (“I’m a forgotten face, Terry no-mates!”), it’s a great fit, basically giving him free rein to reel off anecdotes, eat and have a good time. It’s like Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon’s freewheeling culinary sitcom The Trip, minus the swearing and the passive-aggressive Roger Moore impressions.
McQueen keeps up his end of the chat, lobbing back a stream of gags from the driving seat (“Look at this Tel, it’s like the south of France, hope you’ve got your Speedos”) as Wogan gently rips into Chamberlain’s overwrought descriptions (“He was a bit of a snob wasn’t he?”).
So what was it about the chance to eat their way around the country that first attracted them to the programme? “It just seemed a really interesting idea…” Wogan deadpans, “this was before I’d read the book of course. If I’d read the book first, I’d never have done it. It’s a terrible, really boring book! I’m waiting for a tirade of abuse from people saying, ‘Is this what I pay my licence fee for – to see Terry Wogan stuffing his face?!’”
It’s the meandering that Wogan does best, gently musing on his surroundings and dipping into his endless well of anecdotes. Mention their trip to Chester, for example, and he’s off: “I had a horse in Chester – Wogan’s Wager – he didn’t do all that well, but I’d gone up to Chester to see the bloody thing run, and as it came into the finishing straight the commentator said [fakes RP accent] “and last, at the moment, is Wagan’s Wo-ger…” But I was glad to get back to Chester and walk the walls…”
What would Chamberlain have made of the duo following in his food-prints? “He wouldn’t have made head nor tail of it,” reckons McQueen. “He was a traditional all-American guy and it was all roasts then.” He’d be surprised by the growth in fast food and variety on offer now, says Wogan.“We had a Japanese meal in Winchester, a Thai meal in Harrogate, pulled-pork sandwiches in Canterbury, we had sausages all over the place…”
“We’ve always got room for a sausage roll,” McQueen cuts in.
“I thought if I squeeze another sausage I’ll go mad…”
Although they’d never worked together before, McQueen and Wogan make an easygoing double act. “A lot of the programmes are about my trying to put him off jellied eels,” Wogan claims.
Did they ever think of switching places in the cab? McQueen puts his foot down. “Somebody had the bright idea that Terry should drive – I said no…” Wogan is not having it: “I’m a bloody good driver you know, no man can be accused of being a bad driver – it’s like being accused of not being any good in bed!”
Across the country they had a good reaction – except perhaps from the woman in Winchester who “burst into tears” at the sight of him. “In general people appeared to be pleased to see us except for a woman in Marlow who came up to me and said, ‘They had to tell me who you were.’”
Does Wogan still find it odd to be mobbed by strangers? “As long as it’s friendly you must cope with it – these are people who think they know you because you’ve been in their homes, in my case for years, you can’t reject that, you can’t turn round and say, ‘Oh clear off’ – even people who think you’re Tony Blackburn, you’ve still got to be nice to them.”
Given his long career at the corporation I wonder if Wogan is worried about the future of the BBC? “Since I wasn’t invited by the eclectic group who gave their opinion, I’m not prepared to give one,” he says. “No, no.” His voice drops to a whisper - the charm turned off just for a second. I feel like I’ve snapped one of his Blankety Blank microphones in half. “Not in view of what’s transpired, it’s all been a little too furious.” Not just the master of chat then, but also a master of knowing when not to talk.
• Terry and Mason’s Great Food Trip starts on 31 August on BBC2, at 6.30pm
