“It’s just a stick to beat the corporation with.”
Asked if he thinks the BBC gave him the recognition he deserved when he left, he says: “Well, I don’t want a fuss, so when I decided to go it was my decision. I wanted to do something else.
“I just wanted to do my job, finish and slip away quietly and start a new one. I’ve been able to do that.
“I wasn’t fazed by what went on, I was just surprised by the amount of attention.”
Bruce doesn’t like to look back, he says, but is happy to contemplate his broadcasting longevity and why he is still so popular.
“Something happens, people get used to you being around, that’s an important thing,” He said.
“I think the regularity is important.”
Speaking on the success of PopMaster, for which he owns the rights, he said: “When we started it back in 98, we thought it would run for a few months,” he said.
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“Any feature on a radio programme, you usually don’t expect it to run more than a few months, maybe a year, maybe two if you’re lucky.
“Everything has its sell-by date. PopMaster just kept going and gradually building and it just seems to have become part of the fabric of people’s day.”
Away from the studio, he lives in Oxfordshire with his third wife, Kerith Coldham, to whom he’s been married for 24 years.
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