Crossed Wires Podcast Festival Day Two: On-stage audience proposal and Fully Monty stripping at Help I Sexted My Boss

At the second day of the Crossed Wires Podcast Festival on Saturday 5th July, headliner Help I Sexted My Boss raised the roof with an on-stage proposal. Organised between William Hanson and the doting proposer in the interval, Tristan knelt on one knee as his now-fiancé Shona jumped with delight, before recounting the day he confessed his feelings in Wetherspoons as Jordan North ran around the stage with uncontrollable excitement.

Taking an unexpected turn in the second half, Jordan and ‘producer Ben’ stripped into gold hot pants for a Full Monty parody before William ‘stripped’ into a custom made Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday hybrid kit. A crowd sing-along to I Will Survive had all hands in the air, exuding true Saturday night fever from over 2,000 people at the sold-out show. On Instagram, fans are calling it the ‘best night ever’.

Bestselling author David Nicholls (above, pic: @tom_sunderland) captivated listeners as he joined Sara Cox for BBC Radio 2’s Book Club to discuss his latest novel, You Are Here. In a candid conversation, Nicholls reflected on his writing journey, admitting with trademark humility: “I have very few ideas. I’ve been writing for 22 years and have published six novels — and they’re getting slower. I’m on a five-year cycle at the moment.”

He went on to describe You Are Here as “my most carefully written book”, adding that he now intends to embrace a slower, more deliberate creative process. Nicholls revealed he is currently juggling two exciting new script projects, following the success of his hit Netflix’s adaptation of One Day.

Phil Wang and Pierre Novellie’s beloved BudPod podcast (above, pic: @tom_sunderland) brought on The Teen Commandments hosts Sara Cox and Clare Hamilton. In a hilarious contrast of teenage experiences, Sara and Clare recalled their first drunken night as “sinking thunderbolts in Bolton McDonald’s” versus Wang’s at a sophisticated jazz festival…

Across in City Hall, a sold-out crowd got to live the teenage dream, glow sticks and all, for a 3pm rave, as Sara Coxand Clare Hamilton took to the decks at The Teen Commandments x Day Fever.

For the ravers left wanting more, BBC 6 Music’s Nathan Shepard and Emily Pilbeam continued the party with their Indie Forever DJ set in the Grade II listed Cole Brothers building following a one-night-only live podcast show of Radio 6’s Audio Lab.

Following Jarvis Cocker’s special recording for Crossed Wires to mark 100 years of The Shipping Forecast, a second Pulp member graced Sheffield for a somewhat different live show. Drummer Nick Banks joined Drunk Women Solving Crime hosts Hannah George and Taylor Glenn to don his detective hat and dissect a crime set in Sheffield over a century ago. The room was filled with plenty of laughs and audience participation as they tried to work out what happened between two famous rival gangs that led to public outrage.

Greg James dove deep into an array of audio gems from the BBC archives for his Rewinder podcast featuring surprise guest, Michael Palin. The room was filled with laughter as they looked at old letters from Michael to the BBC, enquiring payment of Five Guinea, for his work with Edinburgh international festival, whilst admitting he couldn’t remember if he ever received. This led to the Controller of BBC Radio 4, Mohit Bakaya, surprising Michael on stage with his fee to the audience’s delight.

Today’s finale brings the likes of Sir Jimmy Anderson, The Maccabees’ Felix White and Greg James forTailenders, Evil Genius with Russell Kane, Nish Kumar and Coco Khan’s Pod Save the UK, No Such Thing As A Fish and more cult favourites.