Born in Manchester, TV and radio presenter Nick Grimshaw hosted his first radio show at the University of Liverpool. He joined MTV as an intern in 2006, and by the following year was presenting Freshly Squeezed on Channel 4 with Alexa Chung. He has also worked on E4 and the BBC, and in 2012 made a cameo appearance in Disney film Wreck-It Ralph. Grimshaw replaced Chris Moyles as host of Radio 1’s breakfast show in the same year, and since April 2013 has hosted the BBC3 comedy panel show Sweat the Small Stuff. The Nixtape, a compilation album he has put together, is released on 29 September.
Banks is one of those artists who I feel hasn’t been rammed down my throat. She has naturally found her voice: it’s not an album that’s been rushed, and it just really sounds like what I wanted it to sound like. Sometimes electronic music can sound impersonal, so I think she’s managed the level just right: her vocals are really raw but the production sounds incredible. It was pretty much all I listened to yesterday – I know I like an album when it’s the first thing I want to listen to in the morning.
I think it’s the most important gig that I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been to a lot of gigs in my life. But this was like nothing I’ve ever seen. It’s hard to describe, because it was completely batshit crazy: at one point there was a massive helicopter, then the next song is just four backing dancers with torches, then she has a wooden boy puppet that follows her around the stage. It felt like she was inviting you into her world, and you were allowed to feel and imagine how Kate Bush imagines for three hours. It was life-affirming. I cried three times.
Exhibition: Royal Academy summer exhibition
This is one of my favourite exhibitions. It always feels like summer when it starts, and like winter when it ends. It’s an exhibition you can go to a few times because you want to show people round. I don’t like a specific type of art, so I like that there’s such a varied amount of talent on offer: sculptures, architectural work, photographs, modern art, really dark stuff, silly stuff – it’s a whole eclectic range. I bought two pictures there: one is a Tracey Emin sketch and the other is a beautiful etching on Japanese paper by Pauline Emond.
Book: Beth Ditto – Coal to Diamonds: A Memoir
I brought this on holiday by mistake. I had already read it at Christmas, and was planning to read a book about transcendental meditation – my friend said it would help my brain not be full of hip-hop bullshit – but I just read Beth’s book again. I love everything about her: her vibe, her attitude. She’s up there with Joan Rivers for me. I thought she was just a ball of fun, a good-time Sally, but actually she has had the most insane life. The book is really personal, and quite shocking when she talks about what she went through and the things she overcame.
Restaurant: Lemonia, north London
This is a restaurant I go to all the time. It’s a Greek place in Primrose Hill that does really simple but delicious food. It’s one of the first restaurants I went to when I moved to London nine years ago, and I still go multiple times a week. The best thing they do are the starters: get all of them and share them. It’s just a great family-run restaurant: really noisy, families everywhere, but you can always get a table and the food’s always good. It makes me feel like I’m at home. I’m going there for my tea tonight.
I like The X Factor because it’s something that unifies everyone: me, my mum, my best friend, the listeners to the radio. It’s rare that I’ll stay in to watch TV, but it’s the only thing that will make me stay in on a Saturday night, because I know if I don’t watch The X Factor, when I go to work on Monday I won’t know what anyone in the office is talking about. I like it that everyone has a view on it: people will hate it, people will love it, they’ll hate Simon, they’ll hate Cheryl. And when it comes on it reminds me that Christmas is on the way.
