Gary Davies - The Bit in The Middle

In 1984 Davies was given the slot for which he became one of radio's biggest stars when he took over the Radio 1 lunchtime show. He called it The Bit In The Middle and it consisted of humorous features, such as The Day-To-Day Challenge, in which the same person would go on air each weekday to answer quiz questions and try to upgrade their prize, and Willy On The Plonker, which involved a crazed piano-playing of a well-known hit for listeners to identify.

The show was hugely important in the 1980s as, at this time the new UK Top 40 was announced on Tuesday afternoons.

The show always ended with the instrumental section of The Look of Love by ABC from the album The Lexicon of Love.

There was a marketability about Davies as he was arguably alone in being regarded by female listeners as a heart-throb. Though the station was young and trendy and a big favourite with pop-loving kids, the male DJs generally did not come into the "hunk" category and therefore Davies was projected as the eligible bachelor of the station, complete with catchphrase "Young, Free and Single" and saucy jingles which went "Wooh! Gary Davies".

Davies became popular on the Radio 1 roadshows throughout the 1980s but his own show rarely changed until it was rebranded in 1991 as Let's Do Lunch, with new features, including Spin & Win (a variation on Willy On The Plonker, with a cryptic clue replacing the frenetic piano work) and the Classic Track, which was the one time of the week Radio 1 played a piece of classical music. Previous feature The Sloppy Bit (a dedication followed by love song) was unchanged but renamed Lots Of Love. He also introduced The Non Stop Half Hour from after the 2.30pm news until 3pm, which was half an hour of non stop music.

With updated technology, the chart rundown was moved forward to Sundays from 4 October 1987 onwards. Instead, Davies did countdowns of the US chart and the UK album chart — although the US chart he featured was not the official Billboard one, but an airplay-only chart compiled by Radio and Records magazine.