Those six words have been embedded in my head for the past month…no… in fact the past 3 years, during which I have visited nearly every place in the North West. There is a reason behind this, and that reason is to find the most elusive man in the North West, the “Real Radio Renegade”.
I was driving to the bank in West Kirby when I heard my first fix of the RRR, “Play it again, Mac” gave away that he was in Fleetwood on that occasion, I waited for him to come to the Wirral, but I never heard it happen, and so I never went hunting during the first season.
When the second season came along it was a whole different story, I would drive to Lymm services for 8am and await the clue, only the first time I went I shot off for a 4pm bounty period, as soon as I found out the RRR was in Leyland I was off like a shot up the M6, in to Leyland, out at the Asda, and asking the first bloke that I saw “Are you the real radio renegade?”
This guy was a pretty tall figure, wearing a baseball cap, and unfortunately he wasn’t the RRR, and neither was his friend, but who this guy was originally went by the name of “Wigan Dean”.
The next week or so saw a lot more attempts to find him, up and down the motorways, in and out of Lymm, and in to and out of town centres, sometimes the wrong ones! It also wasn’t the only time that Dean was the first person I asked on hunts, when wrongly turning up in St Helens instead of Skelmersdale he was the first I saw then, and again the first I asked! The rest of the second season saw some fun hunts, visiting some great little places that I never would have imagined going to in normal circumstances, Clitheroe, Knutsford & Lymm to name just three. It was unsuccessful, but great fun, and I was saddened when it was all over, but nevertheless the final day was brilliant, listening to the RRR tell the presenters when and how he had met them as he bid them all farewell, and that was that.
I never thought he would return after that, hearing him every bounty period say “I’m at the Liver Building” and “Are You Readeeeeh?” was never going to return, but I was wrong, and I had myself a week off for the third season, the first place I went to was Chorley, and the first person I asked again was Dean, I had the fever and I was determined to find him. Again a nice trip to Burnley left me with a smile on my face, but disaster struck when I managed to break my car the same week, and I didn’t get to hunt again for the season, it was also a time when Dean won, finding him on a Saturday afternoon in Bury.
It had been over a year and I once again lost all hope that he would ever return, but last month he came back once more, starting with “a run” down at the Albert Docks, and for the last month it has been crazy, I have seen Dean countless times again, I finally managed to pick Steven Beaver Brown out from the bunch and saw the same woman (some of you might recognise her) asking anything that moved in Burnley, Bury, Knutsford & Salford Quays again to name just a few places, by a far distance she is my favourite hunter, and how she hasn’t found the RRR is anyone’s guess!
This time around we were told that he wasn’t going to be back, that this was it, and so after another unsuccessful attempt to find him in Knutsford I was saddened when 2pm struck and the bounty period was over, which for me was my last ever chance to catch him.
Now en route to the RRR reveal party I finally get to see the face of the man who has eluded me all this time, I have met some great people, been swore at a lot, even been kicked off on in Skelmersdale, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way! It has been the best competition ever, working out clues which have been simple, (“Set fire to Mr Evans” for Burnley), those which have involved looking up famous people from places, and those which just didn’t work at all! How to screw up best was shown by a poor clue regarding Daniel Craig and Chester two nights ago.
It’s all going to be done after tonight and I hope that everyone has had fun, that nobody has been seriously hurt during the whole time, and that shop keepers didn’t mind everyone tearing apart their stores to find calling cards. Congratulations to all the winners, thank you to Real Radio and also to the Presenters for making all of this a truly brilliant experience and always remember, “Are You The Real Radio Renegade?”