Bum Deal

How to do charitable appeals on the radio.  Bob Monkhouse died of @ProstateUK Cancer in 2003. I was asked to help create the radio version of Bob's very clever posthumous appeal for funds for Prostate Research Foundation - Some of the audio was pucker Bob and some was a very good vocal impressionist.

I had the pleasure to work with Bob's wife - Jacqui who thought humour would be a very good way to broach the delicate subject of prostate cancer - something that 40,000 UK men get diagnosed with every year.

The appeal worked very well and gave us an accessible platform to discuss the subject.  Despite getting a good response there were some calls to the radio station saying they didn't want to hear about middle age men and their bums.  When I replied that we openly talk about breast cancer you would usually get the answer that talking about breast cancer was OK.

In 1969 my grandmother died of breast cancer.  She was ashamed when she found a lump in her breast and did not want to 'bother' the Doctor.  When the lump was finally diagnosed as cancer it was too late and my Nan died.

Now it's OK to talk about breast cancer - and thousands of women's lives have been saved by a change in attitude .  I hope we can soon say the same of men who have prostate cancer.