He was the announcer for the concert celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee on 4 June 2012. A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Doubleday in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! **

There has been plenty to celebrate in the interim. He adores being on Drivetime at Greatest Hits, is drawing a young fanbase with Kermode on their Sony podcast, and was awarded a MBE last year. Mayo has presented across three BBC stations for extended periods. From 1986 to 2001 he worked for Radio 1, including a five-year stint on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show. From 2001 he presented on BBC Radio 5 Live: from his debut until 2009 on a daily afternoon programme, and since then until 2022 with Kermode and Mayo's Film Review on Fridays. Between January 2010 to December 2018 he was the presenter of Simon Mayo Drivetime on BBC Radio 2, for the final six months with co-host Jo Whiley. Since March 2021, Simon Mayo Drivetime has returned on Greatest Hits Radio.

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Traits and personalities shone through as the stress and tensions multiplied. Even Rose became less despicable as the book wore on, although her naivety was a constant bugbear. Mayo took over the station's mid morning slot on 25 October 1993, where he remained until February 2001. In addition to this, in May 1994, he presented Simon Mayo's Classic Years, where he played two hours of classic pop tunes. The show originally went out on a Sunday lunchtime from noon till 2pm, but in November 1994 went out from 10 am till noon on Sundays. This lasted until October 1995. In addition to his daily programme on BBC Radio 5 Live, from October 2001 to April 2007, Mayo hosted the Album Chart show each week for BBC Radio 2. Alongside this, on 2 January 2006, he presented The Ultimate Music Year for the station, where listeners got the chance to vote for their favourite year for music. He has also presented many Sold on Song projects, presented the Top 100 Albums and provided holiday cover for Johnnie Walker on Sundays. From April 2007 to April 2008 Mayo took over the Radio 2 Music Club every Monday night from 11:30 pm to 12:30 am.

The novel tells the story of a different kind of pandemic through the eyes of three people at the heart of the storm. Itch is currently being turned into an opera, commissioned by Opera Holland Park and written by composer Jonathan Dove and librettist Alasdair Middleton. It will premiere this year. It's not a typical route for a children’s novel, but the drama, adventure and subject matter has a great appeal and Itch has also been made into a TV series. So does Simon picture his books for the screen, or stage, as he writes? I think you only had to listen to the endings of the various programmes I was doing to know it’s a very personal affair and when things are changed and ended in the style that happened to me, that certainly has an effect on you. A well written and researched book that covered just about every aspect and all the espionage of the Skripal poisoning affair.

a b Gerard, Jasper (9 January 2010). "Simon Mayo on the move to Radio 2 and his new Telegraph column". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2010 . Retrieved 10 January 2010. He takes a lead from his longtime broadcasting partner. “As Mark Kermode says,” he adds, “film critics don’t make any difference to the success or otherwise of a movie, and it’s the same with books. If a book critic in one of the big papers doesn’t like my book, it doesn’t make any difference. Word-of-mouth, book festivals – those are the kinds of things that matter.”

But their investigation throws up more questions than answers until they realise the mystery behind the illness is even bigger than they could have imagined... Starting in 1999 he was the original presenter of National Lottery game show Winning Lines on BBC1 until 2000 when he was replaced by Phillip Schofield in 2001. Harvey, Chris (5 March 2021). "Simon Mayo interview: 'We all get told our time is up, but not always with respect and decency' ". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235 . Retrieved 24 August 2022.

Sherwin, Adam (26 February 2019). "Simon Mayo: Why I had to quit Radio 2 for new classical station Scala". inews.co.uk . Retrieved 24 August 2022. This is the first book that I have read by the author, Simon Mayo, and it will definitely not be the last. I have to admit that I hadn't realised the guy had turned his hand to writing, so I will have to play catch-up on his previous work after this brilliant novel. If you’re going to write a book about a new global pandemic with unusual, unheard of symptoms I highly recommend you don’t open with a scene where the virus is in full swing, and everyone is in the know – except the reader – who has no idea what is going on in what turned into a very long scene with people acting crazy with no explanation given. I shouldn’t have to read the synopsis for a book to make sense. My opinion – only a really short teaser scene would’ve worked here. So Simon will keep writing, managing to find time between radio commitments and at weekends and holidays, particularly when he enjoys time in Suffolk where he finds a quiet corner. Coffee and a comfortable chair are his requirements, he says, so the radio is turned off. On 4 March 2019 at 10am, Mayo presented the launch of a new classical music digital radio station, Scala Radio, for which he was one of the lead presenters. [26] He presented a daily mid-morning show for two years, until starting work for Greatest Hits Radio; he continued to present his Essential Albums show for Scala on Saturdays until May 2023. [27] Mayo then moved to Sunday mornings.