This mix of snippets from the DJ's programmes was an exuberant reminder of one of radio's true iconoclasts
Kenny Everett's Christmas Selection Box (Radio 2, Saturday) was a smart idea: a new mix of the DJ's shows from Pirate Radio London and the BBC, glued together with his favourite music. It was an exuberant reminder that Everett – who would have been 66 on Christmas Day – was a true radio iconoclast.
One thing jarred, though: the decision to include what presenter Paul Gambaccini described as "examples of recent music we think he would have liked". You get the idea, updating Everett and making sure the whole thing didn't sound too antique. But Coldplay? Would he have liked Coldplay? We don't know, and it seemed odd to try to guess.
That aside, this was a delicious kaleidoscope of elastic sound, with Everett stretching his voice as much as the technical "fiddly bits", and self-consciously deconstructing the art of radio at the same time as he performed it.
He regularly broke radio rules, playing classical music ("it's the stuff what souls are made of") alongside pop, as unheard of then as now. He relentlessly adopted silly accents, especially faux-posh and broad New York, and delivered every word and tune with a childlike glee. "You get a warm feeling deep within your doobry," he said of one track. You got that listening to this, too.