BBC News presenter Ros Atkins, who previously hummed the beats as a drum 'n' bass DJ, prepares to spin some tunes at the legendary Stonebridge stage of Glastonbury this summer.
Atkins aims to add an exclusive touch of drum 'n' bass to the iconic music festival's dance stage, joining a stellar line-up that includes Batu B2B Bradley Zero, Sally C, Daphni, Groove Armada, and fellow BBC face Annie Mac.
"It's frankly incomprehensible that I'm tweeting this," he shared on his Twitter (X) last month, stepping in a new light: "but here's the line-up for Stonebridge at Glastonbury and, to my great excitement and astonishment, I'm on it."
Taking to Twitter once again on Monday morning, Atkins further elaborated on how he ended up on the line-up for one of the world's biggest festivals. "THREAD 1/15: As I may have mentioned a couple of times, in an unlikely development, I'm going to be doing a drum and bass set @Glastonbury," he began with his first tweet. "And, not at all unreasonably, quite a few people have asked me variations on ‘how did that happen?!’ Well, there's a bit of a story here."
Ros Atkins told the story via a 15 tweet thread on Twitter (X) (S Meddle/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)He continued: "In 2022, I was asked about my (very) amateur DJing days in an interview. Soon after, I got an email from Matt Tasker @BBC6Music asking if I’d like to do a set. At the time, I wrote this thread about it all which got shared a lot more than I expected.
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2022 saw Atkins diving into his past life as a drum 'n' bass DJ before shifting his gears to BBC News, now serving as Risk and Analysis Editor. His social media saw him splashing pics from the past, back when he was mixing up the beats, with some insights into his partying years.
"Back in the 90s, along with lots of teenagers in Cornwall, I started going to raves & listening to hardcore and drum 'n' bass," he drew his journey. Further down the year, Steve Lamacq from BBC Radio 6 co-opted Atkins on the debut episode of Summer Soundclash - stirring melodies together. Atkins contributed tracks from artists like DJ Zinc, High Contrast, and DJ Shadow for the showdown.
Continuing with his thread on Monday morning, Atkins went on: "If you look carefully in the comments below that thread, you'll see this exchange. I knew all about @thesocial. It's a brilliant venue that goes all the way back to the late 90s. As you can see, I replied straight away when they got in touch.
"There was a catch though. Most of my music was on vinyl and the only kit I had was my pair of indestructible Vestax turntables (still very much going strong...). Given most DJs had moved away from vinyl, this didn't seem like a plan. Help, though, was at hand. To my astonishment, some of my drum and bass heroes had also commented under the thread. One was @ANDYC_ram, another @therealLTJbukem @RAYKEITH1 too. And Ray sent me a message saying to let him know if I needed any help getting back into things."
The journalist/DJ went on to tell his followers: "In the summer of 2022, at Ray’s invitation, I got a train from Fenchurch Street station to Grays in Essex. After a short walk, I arrived at a car park and, just past this sign, was the home of Thames Delta Radio (@delta_thames). There was no missing the building. And through that door, I was about to get a lesson from Ray Keith. The same Ray Keith I’ve been listening to ever since Sixth Form. And the man behind one of the biggest tracks.
"For two hours, Ray ran me through everything from the kit, to mixing techniques, to tune selection. I soaked it all up, taking notes as we went along. In this shot, I’ve the look of a man who can’t quite believe what is happening. Which was very much the case. Over the next few weeks, Ray helped me work out what kit I needed to practise on at home (we settled on a Pioneer XDJ-XZ). It wasn’t, and still isn’t, entirely clear where this fits in our house, but my family was understanding enough to not let that stop me."
Atkins then shared a picture of a promotional poster for his set, writing: "At this point, things started to come together. The Social was still keen and, in another act of great generosity, Ray suggested we did a night together. We went for September ‘22 - and I called it a ‘pro-am’ - which is exactly what it was."
The BBC newsreader will be at the iconic festival later this month (AFP via Getty Images)Captaining a snap of himself DJing, he then tweeted: "I think I just about hung it together - with Ray watching on! And everyone seemed to have a good time. (If you read the thread I did two years ago, you may remember my friend Ollie in the photo at Helter Skelter in Milton Keynes in '97. He came to this night too…) I was up and running. I kept practising. And we did another night last year - this time with the brilliant Chinese Daughter too."
"Not long afterwards, Carl Gosling from The Social started mentioning the idea of me playing @ParkStonebridge at @glastonbury. ‘Really?!’ I replied. ‘Really’, he said. Before long, Carl messaged to say we were on - and I took a very deep breath," he continued as his thread drew to a close.
"Which leads us to this poster - and a 1530-1700 set on Saturday at this year’s festival. I haven’t remotely got used to the idea. I’m incredibly grateful for the invite - and to @BBC6Music, Ray Keith, The Social and others who’ve encouraged me along the way. I asked Carl to send a picture of what awaits me. He sent this over which has certainly focused the mind! Looks immersive... Hope to see some of you there."
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