THE voice sounded like Chris Evans, but was it the real Chris Evans, the Warrington ginger wonder? The super-successful cheeky chappy DJ of radio and TV fame? The leader of the party animal pack and infamous mega-benders with regular partners in crme de menthe shandies, Danny Baker and Paul Gascoigne? The one branded by a High Court judge as being an immature prima-donna? The voice of youth culture, media mould-breaker and scourge of corporate media suits? Well, yes and no. Like a perfect photo-fit for a tabloid definition of schizophrenia, this Chris Evans brands his recent superlad past with disdain.
It is as if this is a younger wayward brother beyond help, trapped in a lost era.
Now he"s poised to step into the grown-up shoes of Wogan, soon to be replacing Sir Terry on Radio 2"s flagship breakfast show.
But then the young whippersnapper is now 43 - five years older than when Blessed Tel arrived at Radio 2. Evans has grown up late, but very suddenly. Aged 43 and married to wife number three, Natasha Shishmanian, he is besotted with being father to their baby, Noah.
He also has a daughter, Jade, now in her early 20s, who lives in his home town of Warrington, with her mother, Alison Ward.
His other wives were broadcaster Carol McGiffin and teenage pop star and actress Billie Piper.
By coincidence (possibly) he has published his autobiography, It"s Not What You Rolex Mid Size Watch Replica Think.
The title was a quotation from Michael Grade, about a Virgin Radio contract, which works on other levels of meaning, too.
Like any decent (or indecent) showbiz biography, it's packed with highly entertaining anecdotes and also considerable regret over his behaviour.
Evans has a photographic memory (in spite of all the boozing) and his recollections of childhood in a North West industrial town ring true.
Caught carving "Sir is a queer" into a desk during a physics lesson, his grammar school teacher punched him so hard in the chest he was sent sprawling.
Bulgari Replica WatchTo his classmates' disbelief, he was back on his feet and smashed a chair over the teacher's head, before striding out.
"The things in my head are innate and include the lack of fear of confrontation. I'm not brave or full of bravado, but there's definitely a certain freedom in there," he says.
"Being from the North West, I've got a grittiness. Middle-class southerners in the media are really scared of rowing at work.
"Danny Baker - who's from a similar working-class background - and I would have loud arguments, not regularly. I don't do it on a regular basis and you should be able to make it up."
There is a familiar pattern of suddenly falling out of love with once-promising situations (physics apart) and ruthlessly cutting himself free.
"I am an angry person. I don"t know why, particularly about injustices. I look back at an angry youngster and I am still angry," he says.
Not that he"s averse to criticism, he claims.
"If (the papers are) wrong, then they don"t know what they"re talking about. If they"re right, well, that's that.
"I"ve worked really hard and it was all there for the taking, barring severe illness and invasion of the country."
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