WHEN Mark Radcliffe begins a conversation he automatically starts to queue up a song in his head.

It is in-built. It comes from working on the radio for more than 35 years.

So the BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music presenter says he will be in his comfort zone when he goes out on tour with just a microphone and a guitar.

Mark’s show, Should You Be Interested, at the Pyramid on April 13 will be a look back on his life, career and his encounters with the stars along the way in story and song form.

“It started out with me singing some of the songs I’ve written about my life,” said the 58-year-old.

“But what happened was the introduction to the songs kept getting longer and longer.

“Then I did some tours with my mate Chris Lee who plays mandolin but he was having to sit there saying nothing for half of it.

“So I’ve now started doing it on my own and it’s been going really well.

“When I started off writing down what I might do I wrote down 16 songs then I cut that down to eight and then I cut that down to six and I’m still doing two hours.

“For me, I can do that because I’ve spent all my life on the radio talking between records so in my head it feels right to me that I know there’s a song coming.

“If I just went on to talk for two hours that wouldn’t feel right. I’m not a stand-up comedian.”

The original inspiration for the format of the show came from some of the people he admired when he was a kid like Mike Harding, Billy Connolly and Bob Williamson.

“They were kind of folk singers really but they had great stories leading into the songs,” added the dad-of-three.

“I always thought that was amazing. They were my role models not that I’m remotely putting myself in their class. I think Billy Connolly might be the greatest raconteur ever to come out of these islands.

“So there’s no way I’m putting myself in the league of these people but that was the longstanding inspiration.

“I like the simplicity of it. It’s just me and a guitar and microphone. There’s no band to fall back on. You’re on a bit of a tightrope really.”

In a way the tour will see Mark going back to his roots – he always wanted to be a rock star even though it did not quite work out that way.

He has been in numerous groups over the years, most notably the spoof band Shirehorses which originated from his old Radio 1 show, Mark and Lard.

These days he is the drummer in both Galleon Blast, the seven-piece pirate themed folk band, and Fine Lines, the latest project of David Boardman who was lead singer and songwriter in Darktown Jubilee.

“If I do anymore I’ll be getting divorced I think because I’ll never be home,” said Mark, who lives in Knutsford.

“I’m lucky really because music is not a great job. It’s hard work if it’s your way to earn a living. It’s one of those things where if you’re in the top half of one per cent you’ll earn £100million but everyone else is travelling the gridlocked motorways to try and come home with 50 quid.

“It’s the hardest way to make a living but it’s the best possible hobby. My band has been my gang since I was 14 and nothing’s changed really. I love the camaraderie and love waking up in the morning and thinking: ‘Oh good, gig today’.

“I’m not far off 60 and I suppose, like a lot of people, I thought I wouldn’t be doing it anymore. The idea when I was younger of doing it when I was 60 would have seemed absurd.

“Now when I’m more or less there it would feel absurd to stop.”

Of course, these days Mark is better known as a radio personality but originally his job on the airwaves was supposed to be a stopgap.

He added: “I loved it but I thought it was a good second choice if I wasn’t going to make it in a big band.

“But actually now I think it’s a lot better because I don’t have to travel the gridlocked motorway for £50.

“I absolutely love being on 6 Music and doing the folk show on Radio 2. It’s all a happy dream and I keep thinking I’ll start to see the end of the tunnel at some point

“I’ve been working full time since 1979. People must have had enough of me by now.”

Mark’s big break was when he got a job producing sessions for John Peel at Maida Vale Studios in 1983.

He said: “It was amazing because I’d just come from working at Piccadilly Radio and suddenly you felt very much like you were at the centre of things at Radio 1.

“It was a massive deal in those days. All the DJs were big stars and even by then John Peel was a legendary champion of alternative music.

“I remember I used to get given a BBC programme box which was like an attaché case.

“I used to pack it with tapes and 12in vinyl records and I would go across from a little office block called Egton House, which is demolished now, and I’d go through the front door at Broadcasting House.

“It’s possibly the most famous entrance to a broadcasting institution in the world and every time I expected them to say: ‘Don’t think so sonny, who are you?’ It felt like a dream.”

Now he does not have to travel far from his Knutsford home to work as his shows on both Radio 2 and 6 Music are broadcasted from MediaCity.

Mark reckons that has something to say about the north-south divide.

The Sony Radio Academy Award winner added: “For many years when I was working at Oxford Road you did feel like you were in a tiny little branch office – even when we were doing Mark and Lard.

“But we liked that. We liked feeling like we were outside of the mainstream management and that fed into the shows that we did.

“But now we’re at MediaCity you do feel like you’re part of something much bigger. It does feel like a landmark development.”

He particularly enjoys working on the 6 Music platform, the BBC’s most listened to digital-only station, with Stuart Maconie.

Mark said: “It’s a place where everybody’s really into their music and singing from the same hymn sheet. There is a playlist but that is not a problem because it’s things you’d want to play anyway. It is a joy and the more people that can hear it the better.

“Our show had an audience of 300,000 when we took it over and went it went to a million we all went out to dinner. I was so thrilled to get over that psychological barrier of having a million listeners.”

Mark also revealed that his favourite radio guest was the late David Bowie.

He added: “He was the popstar who meant the most to me. He was the one who seemed to be singing directly to me and when I bought Ziggy Stardust with my pocket money in Bolton in the early 70s the idea that I’d know him a little bit and I’d be able to email him and he’d answer, I’ll never get past that.”

Mark Radcliffe presents Should You Be Interested at the Pyramid on April 13. Visit pyramidparrhall.com or call 442345 for tickets.