Two of Bolton’s most famous sons flew the flag for the town’s homegrown talents on prime-time TV.
The broadcaster and new Mastermind presenter Clive Myrie appeared on the Graham Norton Show with renowned actor and Bolton School alumnus Sir Ian McKellen.
Up first, Clive spoke about his wide-ranging experiences as a BBC correspondent turned quiz show presenter, beginning with his days reporting from America earlier in his career.
He said: “It was my second posting as a foreign correspondent, I was Los Angeles correspondent and I did three golden globe awards, I did the Oscars, the Emmys.
“It was a fantastic time.”
He then turned to a new 15 part series he will be presenting about Italy.
Clive said: “It’s a place that I’ve been going to for many, many years for work and play.
“And the BBC said ‘hey lets do a travel series’ and we go from the heel to the top of the boot and I take part in tiramisu making championships!
“The results you will find out!”
He added: “Get this the pitstops are not for gas, they’re for prosecco!”
But the BBC journalist also touched on the more serious side of his livelihood, discussing his experiences reporting from Ukraine.
He said: “You have a whole team of security who are there and they are your eyes and ears out there while you’re trying to work.”
He added: “I wanted to stay, I wanted to try and tell the truth of this story, there’s been a lot of lies, a lot of propaganda and I wanted to try to tell the truth of what was going on.”
The guests and their host were joined by Bolton’s own Sir Ian McKellen later in the show to talk about his new pantomime production of Mother Goose, set to take to the stage in Brighton.
The accalaimed 83-year-old actor said: “I went to the management and I said before I finish I want to play the dame once more.
“I’d already played Widow Twankey and as the saying goes once they’ve seen your Twankey can a goose be far behind?”
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The Bolton duo were joined by James Bond star Daniel Craig, singer-songwriter Fleur East, actor and comedian John Bishop and musician Charlie Puth.
To catch up on their appearance, search for Friday November 25’s episode of the Graham Norton show on BBCiplayer.
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