It was actually his mum, who is really responsible for getting Nic into professional radio on a full time basis. She was an avid listener of Mark Seaman (now BBC Radio Wiltshire) & wrote asking if her son could come and have a look around the studio's of Radio West in Bristol. Mark kindly invited Nic, and gave him the opportunity to help around the station by making the coffee, putting away the DJ's records back in the record library etc. As he spent more time at the studio's, he was given more to do, such as becoming the station's senior technical operator by recording, producing and playing out of some of the pre-recorded output.

Nic progressed from being the "tea boy" & to working on some of the UK's best known Radio Stations in the UK such as BRMB FM, Merica FM, Galaxy FM, XTRA AM, The Pulse ( brand leader at breakfast), BUZZ FM, KIX 96, GWR FM, Wyvern FM, Telstar Satellite Network(Europe), Yorkshire Television, and launched 107 Oak FM with an impressive 16% reach in their first RAJAR audience return. Over the years, Nic has woken up millions and has been the voice behind many commercials & corporate films.

Nic pulled off one of the biggest radio April fool gags ever by calling Nelson Mandela at home in South Africa, pretending to be the former Prime Minister Tony Blair (April 98). Nic said "speaking to one of the worlds biggest icons was amazing. Throughout our chat, all he was interested in was other people & peace in Northern Ireland." After speaking to Nelson, I had various discussions with his state security office in South Africa, well... they had a chat with him. The head of state security for South Africa actually called Nic from the QE2, where they were having dinner with Her Majesty the Queen !

He also scored a goal against  David Seaman a day before England's first match in the 1998 World Cup (June 98). Early 1999, Nic was asked by the BBC to take part in a programme about the worlds greatest April fool's jokes hosted by Esther Rantzen. This programme also featured the famous "Alien autopsy ", however, What she did not know was that earlier that week, at the request of the producers, Nic had called her at 7am in the morning pretending to be a journalist from the states wanting to do an interview about her "sexy" legs.

In 1998 /1999, Nic was featured heavily in both local, national & worldwide media, and saw this as an opportunity (see in the press section below) to bow out while the going was good.  The Nelson Mandela & David Seaman tapes are on line, simply click on the link above, or by using the download button below. For broadcast or media use, please contact us by clicking here before broadcast. 

It's behind you !

He has also trod the boards and appeared on stage in two professional Pantomimes alongside people such as Lisa Riley (Emerdale), Rhino from Gladiators, Ben Freeman (Emerdale). Nic played a very short Emperor in Aladdin, & went on to play the Panto "Baddie" in Cinderella, both productions hosted by the Victoria Theatre in Halifax in Yorkshire.

It's goodnight from him

Nic left radio in 1999 after spending more than 20 years behind the microphone after getting bored with management who wanted rigid formats introduced, and having to spend time away from his family. His proudest moment he says was the four minutes he spent talking one to one with Nelson Mandela, albeit that Nelson thought he was speaking to Tony Blair !

Some of the original audio from his shows is now available for download   

                                (c)  nic tuff all rights reserved