Heart FM DJ Toby Anstis has recalled his most iconic and bizarre celebrity encounters during his 25 years on air.
The Broom Cupboard host, 55, landed a radio show in 2001, and in a chat with the Daily Mail, he recalled: ‘My agent had been asking them for a while, but they kept pushing back saying ‘Toby’s too much of a TV person!’
‘It was always my dream to be a DJ on the radio, not to be on TV, and 25 years on, I still love it more than ever!
‘I still have the same passion and still pinch myself that I get to do this for a living. From being a London and Birmingham only station, to the UK’s biggest radio brand with 12.8 million listeners, it’s a thrill to be part of Heart.
‘After 17 years on mid mornings, and we got it up to a record 4.3 million listeners, I was asked if I wanted to launch Heart Dance in 2019. I’m a total dance head, so it was a no brainer.
‘To launch a new national radio station and do the Breakfast Show was and still is a privilege.
‘That and Club Classics on a Friday night on Heart, getting out DJ’ing all over the UK and in Ibiza this summer at the world famous Cafe Mambo, these are the things you dream about doing and I’m eternally grateful.’
During his quarter of a century on the airwaves, Toby has also had the chance to interview some of the world’s biggest stars. Now he tells the Daily Mail his top 10.
Heart FM DJ Toby Anstis has recalled his most iconic and bizarre celebrity encounters as he celebrates 25 years on air. He currently hosts Heart Dance Breakfast and Heart’s Club Classics
‘Emma Bunton is my favourite Spice Girl. In all the years I’ve known her and worked with her, she’s never changed. Still the loveliest and kindest and coolest music star!’
Emma Bunton
‘I’d say my favourite Spice Girl. In all the years I’ve known her and worked with her, she’s never changed. Still the loveliest and kindest and coolest music star!
‘Soon after I’d started working at Heart they offered me a Saturday morning show, and asked Emma if she’d like to co-host with me for a few weeks.
‘I can think of worse ways to spend a Saturday morning!
‘My mum had always said, ‘You need find someone like Emma Bunton, she comes across as such a lovely person.’ Thanks mum, no pressure, set the standards high!
‘She is that girl next door, never a hint of diva! And a big shout to her hubbie Jade, they’re a gorgeous couple!’
Robbie Williams
‘I’ve Known Robbie Williams for a long time. Not like close pals, we’ve never gone down All Bar One for a pint but we’ve bumped into each other a lot over the years’
‘I’ve known Robbie for a long time. Not like close pals, we’ve never gone down All Bar One for a pint but we’ve bumped into each other a lot over the years, starting with Take That’s first TV interview on the O Zone back in the day.
‘He was always the cheeky classmate, effortlessly funny and charming at the same time.
‘Then one morning when I was hosting mid mornings on Heart he was in the building at Global, it wasn’t planned that he’d be on the show, but as he walked past the studio window, he saw me, waved and just wandered in as I was doing a live link to the nation!
”Ok, let’s stop that record, Robbie Williams has just rocked up!’ Totally unannounced, came in, sat down and started chatting. We got chatting about relationships!
‘He was so happy to have met and married Ayda, and I was single at that time. And he was like ‘Tobe, meeting someone special is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Now we need to find you someone.’
‘I was then saying, ‘ Rob it’s not about me it’s about you! He said, ‘No Tobe let’s chat about this…!’ After a full on Robbie relationship therapy session, on air, we did finally get to some Robbie music stuff!’
Bruno Mars
‘We did a run of Up Close and Personal live shows with Heart, and Bruno Mars was one of our special guests. ‘He absolutely smashed the gig! I got to chat to him ahead of his performance’
‘We did a run of Up Close and Personal live shows with Heart, and Bruno Mars was one of our special guests.
‘He absolutely smashed the gig! I got to chat to him ahead of his performance. Him and his Hooligans had just finished a huge tour the night before but still wanted to do our show. And yes Wet Wipes are on his rider!
‘I know I’m pretty full of energy but Bruno is a whole other level! Still down to earth, and just loves performing.
‘Remember that arm wrestling sketch that went viral with Bruno ripping someone’s arm off! Obviously I had to challenge him to a wrestle. I won’t again!’
Lady Gaga
‘Lady Gaga was wearing a veil over her face so you couldn’t see her very well. Plus she decided to spin round on the studio chair for the entire seven minutes of the interview!’
‘This was an interesting one. Gaga came into Global with a huge entourage and not a lot of time to spare.
‘You often only get six or seven minutes for the whole interview. And believe me they shut the interview down if you go a second over!
‘So we had that pressure. And also she was wearing a veil over her face so you couldn’t see her very well. Plus she decided to spin round on the studio chair for the entire seven minutes!
‘So I only really saw her for half the time! But it was a fun three and a half minutes, and she was super cool and friendly. She just wanted to spin that day!’
Lionel Richie
‘How many people does he meet and do selfies with every day of his life? Yet Lionel Ritchie still remembered my name from another interview we’d done for telly a couple of years before’
‘So here’s a guy that’s been there, done it, got the Legends T-shirt at Glastonbury!
‘How many people does he meet and do selfies with every day of his life? Yet he still remembered my name from another interview we’d done for telly a couple of years before.
‘He came into the Heart studio with the biggest smile and said: ”Toby! Great to see you!” That felt good!
‘I’ve always found the real stars who’ve grafted for years and consistently come up with the goods musically, have all the chart and streaming stats to prove it are the nicest ones in the business.
‘Quite often the ”celebs” who’ve been around for two minutes can be precocious entitled nightmares!
‘Not Lionel Richie. Charmed us with his stories, and managed to say ”Hello” in 5 different languages! (is it me you’re looking for….)’
Craig David
‘Craig David came across as very spiritual and present, and in control. Those songs, 7 Days, Fill Me In and Re-Rewind will live on forever!”
‘Rewind to 2015, Craig had been away in Miami for years. There was definitely unfinished business for him in the UK, after the huge success of, Born To Do It.
‘The fanbase had never gone away. He’d kind of left the party in the UK on a high, a bit like Take That had when they spilt and we all saw the appetite their fans had when they made that comeback.
‘Same for Craig, the affection for him and his songs was clear. But the humility and surprise and excitement in his face was amazing! As humble as they get.
‘He talked about all that Bo Selecta nonsense, which had hurt him. But not affected the love the UK has for him.
‘He came across as very spiritual and present, and in control. Those songs, 7 Days, Fill Me In and Re-Rewind will live on forever!’
Carl Cox
‘I mean as DJ’s go, Carl Cox is right up there! A legend. I’d seen him play at Space in Ibiza where he had the island’s biggest night for over a decade! He is ‘house music’s final boss”
‘I mean as DJ’s go, he’s right up there! A legend. I’d seen him play at Space in Ibiza where he had the island’s biggest night for over a decade! He is ‘house music’s final boss’.
‘To get to chat to him recently was a joy. He’d grown up in Carshalton (Surrey) and played records for his mum and dad’s parties when he was nine! Now he plays at Ibiza’s biggest club UNIVRS every Sunday night, and is killing it all over again!
‘He’s just turned 64 but has the youthfulness of a 21 year old. (i think we’re all a bit like that!) He simply loves playing records and making people dance.
‘He’s got all the swagger, his entrance to a gig in France this summer at Chateau Chantilly went viral. His right shoulder is now more famous than him!
‘A bit like the original supermodels, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, the likes of Carl, David Guetta and Fatboy Slim are still blazing a trail for everyone else to follow!
‘Still the main players, the original superstar DJ’s hogging the giant billboards all over Ibiza!’
Fatboy Slim
‘What a top bloke Fatboy Slim is! Another groundbreaking style-making superstar DJ!’
‘What a top bloke! Another groundbreaking style-making superstar DJ!
‘We got chatting about his book, It Ain’t Over Til The Fatboy Sings!, Genius! And a brilliant read plus a load of era defining photos and clubbing reference points.
‘Can’t remember exactly how his former wife Zoe came up, but he mentioned her very fondly. Anyway, I then said I worked with her on Children’s BBC and the O Zone, and that she was half an hour late on her first day when we were live on BBC1.
‘Fatboy then jumped in and said ‘Oops that would possibly have been my fault. We’d probably been up all night!’ The crazy Nineties!’
Take That
‘I go back a long way with Take That. Smash Hits Parties, Fast Forward covers, almost sinking in a boat off the Isle of Wight, switching on the Oxford Street Christmas lights, we’ve done a lot’
‘We go back a long way! Smash Hits Poll Winners Parties, Fast Forward covers, almost sinking in a boat off the Isle of Wight, switching on the Oxford Street Christmas lights, we’ve done a lot together.
‘We all got started in the Nineties. Nicky Chapman brought a cassette of It only takes a minute into the Ozone office at the BBC to see if we could give it a slot on the TV show. If it didn’t go Top 20 they were going to be dropped from their label.
‘We did a short interview, and played a bit of that video in a boxing ring and gym, and it went to number eight I think, definitely top 20, and they stayed at RCA.
‘I last interviewed them for Heart earlier this year. We always hug it out like old friends whenever we see each other.
‘Gary always says very humbly in his laid back Manchester lilt, ‘Hey Tobe, look at us, we’re still going!’
‘Gaz, you’re more than going!! That’s how they’ve always been. Down to earth lads from Manchester, living the dream, still selling out stadiums, and trying to not fall off unicycles! ( if you know you know!)’
Kylie Minogue
‘When I interviewed Kylie Minogue she answered the door, and said ‘come in!’ First thing she said was, ‘Dannii says hi!’ That put me at ease’
‘I was actually quite nervous about meeting Kylie. I hosted a TV show on BBC1 with her sister Dannii back in the day, Fan TC, and she’s lovely. Then I’d briefly met Kylie when she came to the set for one of the episodes.
‘When I interviewed her for Heart at a very cool bougie hotel in Kensington, I was just told to go up to her suite.
‘She answered the door, and said ‘come in!’ First thing she said was, ‘Dannii says hi!’ That put me at ease.
‘But she was so genuine and lovely and somehow vulnerable? Just in how she spoke about everything. Without doubt a very savvy business woman, but also incredibly ‘normal.”
Toby Anstis hosts Heart Dance Breakfast on weekdays from 7AM to 10AM and presents Heart’s Club Classics on Friday from 7PM to 11PM across the Heart network
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