The BBC News analysis editor will be swapping his day job for a DJ set at the Worthy Farm festival in Somerset this weekend as he takes to the decks at Glastonbury
BBC News analysis editor, Ros Atkins, is set to spin a drum and bass remix of the BBC News theme during his debut DJ set at Glastonbury.
Swapping his usual day job for a stint at the iconic Worthy Farm festival in Somerset this weekend, Atkins revealed how the idea came about. After announcing his festival gig, he said a suggestion was made to remix the familiar BBC News soundtrack.
By “complete chance”, he found himself interviewing the composer of the track, David Lowe, on Radio 4’s The Media Show. “I messaged him a couple of days later, and I said ‘you can say no to this of course but would you be open to us looking at a remix of your theme’ and he just said straight away ‘yeah, that’s great’,” Atkins shared with BBC Radio 6 Music.
However, they quickly realised neither had any experience in creating drum and bass tunes. Atkins then approached DJ and producer Chrissy Chris, who also agreed to get involved. “So before I knew it, I was on a WhatsApp group with me, David Lowe, the composer of the BBC News theme, and Chrissy Chris, drum and bass heavyweight, and the three of us started plotting out what we could do.” Atkins will drop the tune during his Saturday set at the Stonebridge Bar stage, where he’ll be sharing the line-up with acts like Rudimental, Jamz Supernova and Idris Elba.
The BBC broadcaster recounted his whirlwind experience, saying he had a “slightly crazy 24 hours” before making it to Glastonbury, having covered the prime ministerial debate in Nottingham on Wednesday for the BBC News channel. He described his hectic schedule: “I was on between 5pm and 8pm and then got back into London late on Wednesday night, got up very early on Thursday morning, drove here (and) was into the park area where we’re staying at about 11am.”
Reflecting on the festival’s enormity, he shared, “My main impressions are, and I know I’m not the first to say it, the scale of it.” He expressed his awe, noting, “Until you see it, you can’t quite believe it, because when you’re watching it on the TV you pick up all the different artists and the different stages, but you perhaps don’t realise that there are also multiple other medium and smaller venues all at full tilt all of the time.” He concluded with a light-hearted comment on the festival’s layout: “So I’ve just been trying to take it in and also just try to not get lost.”
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