Table for two with... Nick Grimshaw Seafood at Scott's with the radio host and soon-to-be set designer

Let’s get the big stuff out of the way immediately, shall we, so side a portion of the chargrilled squid with ‘bang bang sauce’ we can move on to the small talk and some of these sautéed (no idea either, but it works — at one point Nick even used clams I’ve heard so much about. Nick Grimshaw goes to bed the word “Mega”, which you don't hear enough around seafood at about 9.30pm and wakes up at 4.30-ish. There, now you these days). The presenter is as candid at lunch as he is on the know. “I get asked that question more than any other” Nick air, with a certain wry undercurrent and an off-kilter smile. says, which I’m especially embarrassed about because I told There's none of the vague caginess that a journalist sometimes myself in the bathroom mirror beforehand that I wasn’t going finds around an interviewee — no winding clarifications or to mention it (I also said some rather nice things about my calculated platitudes. He tells me that he prefers interviewing hair). But the first thing the radio host did when he sat down celebrities who are genuine, even slightly bad-tempered. was to order an iced coffee to lift his energy (before the food! “Some people come up to me all hugs and squeals and say ‘I’m What must the waiter think?). And one thing led to another so excited to be on your show!’” he says. “Of course you’re not and before I know it we’re on bedtimes and alarm clocks and — it’s 6 am on a Tuesday in November.” is the gold I fear I’m slightly losing the room. standard here, Nick says: “I am in awe of how cool and com- “People seem to think it’s the worst thing in the world” posed and understated she always is.” Nick tells me. “You just get used to it. This week though, Soon, Nick is midway through a terrifically good John Dory weirdly, it’s been really hard to get up.” I suspect that’s because fillet, while I am hunched protectively over some Lobster the end is in sight. After six years at the helm of Radio 1’s Thermidor (and don’t hold back on the thermidor, garcon.) Breakfast Show, Nick’s just announced that he’ll be moving There’s also some flinty Sancerre splashing around which I to the more forgiving afternoon drivetime slot. This is big suspect will pair neatly with a little Quarter Life Crisis, so I news. Nick has been a chirpy alarm clock to millions for as ask Nick how he imagines his career trajectory from this point long as most of his young audience can remember. On the on. His childhood dream was to host the Venn Diagram between morning person and people person, Show, after all, and he managed that at a precocious 27. Might Nick sits in a particularly sweet spot at the centre. I listen to it not be downhill all the way from here? “It doesn’t really his show on the morning of our lunch with renewed attention. matter, to be honest” he says. “This was the first time in my It's a tour de force. You hear the grin before you see it. Nick career where I’ve done something just because it was right cajoles and cavorts with his guests, jumping between songs for me. It didn’t matter at all what anybody else thought.” and asides and interviews like a sprightly Cheshire Cat. (There are plans afoot for his dotage, anyway: Nick tells me Much of this charm comes down to unvarnished honesty. how one of his unexplored passions is set design — for festivals “You can’t have some sort of on-air persona because you’ll and gigs, mainly — and that he’ll be starting a short course at never be able to keep it up. I can’t stand all those weird, over Central Saint Martins in the summer to that effect.) the top radio voices,’ he tells me. “If I’m in a bad mood, I’ll say Still, Nick’s first and true love is radio. “It’s much more it on air. And the second you say it, actually, it goes away.” intimate than television,” he says as we prepare to leave. (No “If we’re ever hungover, like after the Brits, we’ll tell you.” time for pudding, which is fine, honestly, I’m over it.)“ You Nick says. He is referencing the Straight-Through Crew, an have time and space for things to develop naturally. You’re accidental ritual that takes place on the morning after each talking for three hours, completely unscripted — the back- year’s , where Nick and a coterie of droppable ground to someone’s morning.” he says. “So you just say what’s names come into the studio straight from Nick’s after party. on your mind and try to be as open and honest as possible.” “Stormzy came in and ordered 20 pizzas because he just felt “The funny thing is, people come up to me in a supermar- like he needed the help.” Nick said. “Haim came charging in ket and say ‘that thing you said about tomatoes three weeks last time, definitely still drunk, and we had to really work hard ago — that really changed my life” he laughs. "And I have so they didn’t swear in the middle of the school run.” absolutely no idea what I said about tomatoes — It’s one hell We order spicy salmon tartare with avocado to start, along- of a responsibility!”

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