Former Radio 1 DJ Recalls Time with Roy of the Rovers

By John Freeman on July 11, 2012

On the day Chris Moyles has announced he is finally leaving Radio 1, another BBC DJ has recalled his time as a comic characters in Roy of the Rovers in 1990.

Den of Geek have interviewed Simon Mayo about his new book Itch and they also asked him what it was like being honorary vice-president of Roy’s team, Melchester Rovers.

Simon recalled: “They just wrote and said could we include you as vice-president of Melchester Rovers, and you will be included in the cartoon strips, and we’ll send you some of the original artwork. I said yes, and they published it. It bears no resemblance to me. I’ve got a square jaw and look quite masculine! But it’s up on the wall, I’ve still got it, it’s quite funny!”

The Roy of the Rovers comic, a spin-off from Tiger, was last published in 1993. Other celebrities to appear with Roy included Geoff Boycott, Emlyn Hughes and Bob Wilson.

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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.