Stuart Maconie

Early life Maconie was born in Whiston, Lancashire. He was raised in Wigan, Lancashire. He was educated at St John Rigby College, Orrell and Edge Hill College (now Edge Hill University), in Ormskirk. The stories first appeared as blatant jokes in a spoof NMEs Believe It or Not feature, but have since been repeated elsewhere as factual. Maconie later said, "I'm sure someone must have used the expression before me about the Hollies, or the Beatles, back in the '60s. But I was the first person to use it about bands like Oasis and Blur".

Publications Maconie's books include: 3862 Days: The Official History of Blur James – Folklore: The Official History Cider with Roadies Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North Adventures on the High Teas: In Search of Middle England Short Stories for Short Breaks Never Mind the Quantocks The Pie at Night: In Search of the North at Play Long Road from Jarrow: A journey through Britain then and now The Nanny State Made Me: A Story of Britain and How to Save it The Full English: A Journey in Search of a Country and its People

Broadcasting As a broadcaster, Maconie has appeared on television and radio.

Radio 1 Maconie was a music reporter for Mark Goodier's Evening Session on BBC Radio 1, alongside Andrew Collins. Also on Radio 1, from 1995 to 1997, Maconie presented a music review with Collins called Collins and Maconie's Hit Parade, which was originally broadcast on Mondays from 9pm to 10pm and then on Sundays from 3pm to 4pm. In addition to this, between October 1996 and late 1997, Maconie hosted a weekly album show on Radio 1 on Sunday nights.

Radio 2 Maconie joined BBC Radio 2 in 1998, presenting shows such as All Singing, All Dancing, All Night, a Northern soul music show, and, for several years, Stuart Maconie's Critical List on Saturday evenings. He also presents documentaries and deputised for Johnnie Walker on the Drivetime programme.

From April 2006 to 29 March 2008, Maconie presented the Saturday afternoon show previously presented by Chris Evans.

In addition to his Saturday show, on 16 April 2007, Maconie joined forces with Mark Radcliffe to present a new show on Radio 2 which was broadcast between Monday and Wednesday (Monday to Thursday up to April 2010) from 8pm to 10pm. In spring 2011, this show was transferred to Radio 6 Music, 14pm weekdays, later moving to weekends from 8am to 10am. In 2012, Maconie began presenting The People's Songs, a "story of modern Britain in 50 records". Described as "music as social history", 50 programmes in the series examine periods in Britain, the events that were occurring and how a particular song was the soundtrack of that period.

Radio 5 Live From 1994 to 2001, Maconie presented the satirical news review The Treatment on BBC Radio 5 Live.

BBC Radio 6 Music Maconie also joined BBC Radio 6 Music at its launch in 2002, where he presents The Freak Zone radio show. Since 2016 he has appeared on the North of England team on Radio 4's Round Britain Quiz.

Other projects Maconie was President of The Ramblers from 2017 to 2023 and is a keen fellwalker. On 20 June 2009, he completed all 214 Wainwrights in Cumbria and is an honorary member of the Wainwright Society, having given their Memorial Lecture in 2006. In late 2009, Experience Northwest released a series of short stories he wrote about the hidden gems in England's Northwest.

Personal life Maconie is a supporter of Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors. In December 2009, Maconie was awarded an honorary Master's degree by Edge Hill University, Ormskirk. The university has a hall of residence called Maconie in his honour.

In July 2011, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) from the University of Bolton.

In January 2016 he became a patron of Warley Woods after a number of years being actively involved.

Politics Maconie is politically left of centre and joined the Labour Party at the age of 17. He has commented on Marxism: "In these days of identity politics and what you might call 'the selfie-fication' of political thought, Marxism remains refreshingly bracing in its view of the world."