As Margaret Thatcher swept to power on 4 May 1979, Wes Butters made a rather more low-key entrance in Salford. He studied film and television at Salford University but made a name for himself in radio as the ninth host of BBC Radio 1's Sunday chart show. He won numerous awards, including a Sony, for his breakfast show at Galaxy Manchester. In April 2008 Wes wrote and produced the two-part documentary The Pain of Laughter - The Last Days of Kenneth Williams for BBC Radio 4.
Born in Barmouth, Russell has a first-class degree in Modern Languages from St John's College Cambridge.
He was Caricaturist of the Times Literary Supplement and Film Critic of the Observer, later TV critic of the Observer and Sunday Times. He first chaired Brain of Britain in 2004. His books include biographies of the cartoonist Vicky and the graphic artist Ronald Searle, and he edited the Kenneth Williams Diaries. He is married with 3 sons, and has played jazz trombone and tuba since 1964.