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The Hawksbee & Jacobs Q&A Interview
Exclusive to talkSPORT1089.co.uk

Paul Hawksbee and Andy Jacobs became friends in 1998 when Andy
invited Paul to join the team on ITV's Fantasy World Cup. Andy had
watched as much old football as was humanly possible during the
50-plus shows he'd produced for Skinner and Baddiel and thought
he could do with some much needed company.

Paul and Andy made their talkSPORT debut in the summer of 1999,
filling-in for Gary Newbon on 505. Remarkably they were asked back,
presenting regular shows for the station, including a cricket series,
before taking over the afternoon slot. Away from talkSPORT, both Paul &
Andy are passionate about their football clubs, Tottenham and Chelsea
respectively, but only one of them is virtually psychotic when they lose!

They also like to help those less fortunate than themselves and a couple
of years ago they took on the patronage of a young son of East Anglia,
full of lip but heavy of heart. Miraculously, their ward has flourished and
the fruits of their labour can be heard presenting every afternoon.

You started working for talkSPORT in 1999, initially standing-in on Saturday’s 505 show, but how did you and Andy originally meet each other?
We had spoken on the phone to each other a couple of times before when I was editing 90 Minutes and The Goal Magazines, but we didn’t actually meet each other until I started working on Fantasy World Cup in 1998 alongside Frank Skinner and David Baddiel.

What was it like to work on shows like Fantasy World Cup and The Harry Hill show? Do you feel proud of what you've achieved in you're TV careers?
It was great fun. Frank, Dave and Harry are good lads and you laugh at lot. I haven't done much in TV really. Andy's your man for TV, having co- devised and produced every edition of Fantasy Football. I'm proud of 90 Minutes though, which I created from scratch with another of our regular guests, Dan Goldstein.

How exactly did you get your role on talkSPORT and of the various timeslots you have hosted in your time a the station, which one has been your favourite?
We were working together in TV development and Andy wrote to the talkSPORT controller at the time looking to get back into radio just for fun having dabbled in his youth. When he was offered a try-out he asked me if I fancied having a go as well. We did a show on the internet station which talkSPORT had going at the time and they liked it. Five days after that first show we sat in for Tom Watt and Gary Newbon on 505. Then Friday night's came up and it took off from there with the Evening Kickabout.

We really like the current afternoon 1:00pm-4:00pm slot. They are civilised hours from a family point of view and we get to poke Patrick Kinghorn with sticks when he does the racing round-up around 1:30pm.

You seem to have a great on-air understanding, when did you realise that you worked so well together and did you click the first time you met?
We seemed to hit it off pretty quickly as we clearly share a sense of humour from the off. I remember laughing a lot in the office anyway, especially when Fred Trueman's Indoor League tapes arrived.

Jonathan Beales and Geoff Peters are regular contributors to the show, do you see much of them or each other outside of talkSPORT?
Not really as we see enough of each other at work. As for Geoff and Beasley, we only see them once a year at the talkSPORT Christmas Party, when we attempt to make up for lost time.

Having worked at talkSPORT for a number of years, would you say you have any friends from the station and do you socialise with them outside of the studios?
I don’t think we would say we have any friends at the station exactly. They are a really good bunch and I enjoy the company of them all on the odd occasions when we do socialise such as the Christmas Party, but they're more colleagues than friends.

When you started doing the weekly Friday Night Kickabout show on talkSPORT, did you expect it to become so successful as it has been?
We were working full-time on other things so we never gave it much thought. We started to enjoy doing the shows more and more and when the chance came to go full-time we were really up for it. We hoped it would become successful, obviously, and now having presented Drivetime for a while we now do Afternoons.

Do you plan your shows out fully or is a lot of it improvised?
The introductions are written and we do a lot of preparation in reading the papers, books for guests etc. But a fair bit is off the top of our heads.

You regularly play the Birthday Spread, Sport or Nought and For Pete’s/Neal’s Sake on the show. Who came up with the ideas for the games?
Andy and myself used to play the Birthday Spread every morning in our TV development office just for fun and thought it might work in the show. For Neil's formerly Pete's Sake came out of the Peter Stewart and Neal Veglio era and probably just evolved. I came up with Sport or Nought and we felt we needed another bit in the show that allowed us to interact with the listeners. We were also able to get Beeky into the show everyday.

You have had a number of big name guests over the years as well as some regulars. Who has been your favourite guest on the show and why?
Cooking steaks live in the studio with George Foreman took some beating and Ian Botham was a lovely bloke, as was Gary Sobers and the great Brian Clough. It's great to meet your heroes. We have some great regulars as well, including Phil Tuffnell, Martin Kelner, Lord Bunbury, Gareth A. Davies and Ally Ross from The Sun. It is always a pleasure to see the regulars as they provide some great talking points.

With Paul being a Tottenham fan and Andy being a Chelsea fan, you mist have been to some great sporting occasions over the years. What has been the best sporting event you have been to and why?
I went to the 1994 World Cup Final in Los Angeles. It was not a great game but it was pretty mind-blowing to think that you were among the 120,000 people in the stadium with close on a Billion watching on television around the world. For Andy, it was Chelsea winning the FA Cup at Wembley in 1997 beating Middlesbrough 1-0. Roberto Di Matteo scored the fastest goal in FA Cup Final History after only a few seconds.

Who is your favourite sports person of all time?
Mohammed Alii, and Pele, but not so much for his footballing ability but his World Cup Murder Mystery,

Who were your idols when you were children?
For me it was Tottenham striker Martin Chivers in the 1970's, wrestler 'Cry Baby' Jim Brakes, and Junior Showtime presenter Bobby Bennett and Opportunity Knocks' Hughie Green

Is there an autobiography planned for either of you and what would you call it?
A press is yet to be invented that could cope with such a small print run. But if we did I'd want to call it 'A Few Dogs Around the Gut Area'.

Thanks for Paul Hawksbee and Andy Jacobs for the chance to interview them for the website. We would also like to thank Paul and Andy's producer Liam Fisher and talkSPORT's Assistant Programme Director.

The Hawksbee and Jacobs Q&A Interview
Hawksbee and Jacobs
May 2003