Virgin Radio host Chris Evans, 54, announced the release of his new 500 words pop-up project in aid of the Black Lives Matter movement two weeks ago and has featured a number of guests on his radio show who have encouraged children aged from five to 13 to get involved. The scheme will be the last ever one after BBC revealed they were axing the children’s competition after a decade on-air, despite its enormous success across the nation.
Chris’ new scheme will see children’s TV presenters come-husband-and-wife team Angellica Bell and Michael Underwood, front the contest which has seen over a million submissions from children all over the UK, from stories covering important issues such as technology and climate change.
On Friday’s show, ITV’s Dr Ranj Singh appeared via phone-in to talk about why it’s such an important subject for children to write about.
He also gave some pointers for Michael, who shocked the nation last week when he revealed he has stepped back from TV presenting and gone back to the world of teaching, to use in his own classroom to really encourage his kids to get the most out of the contest.
“Start with a discussion and say ‘This is the topic we’re going to talk about, first of all explore some of their ideas together in a safe place and a safe way, non judgementally – just have a chat with them,” Dr Ranj advised.
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He appeared on the ITV breakfast show to talk about the 500 Words spin-off and he left viewers reeling when they realised he was sat in his own classroom, in front of his own class.
“Phillip Schofield was particular taken with the fact he couldn’t get his head round you are an actual teacher as well as a TV host,” Chris chuckled.
Michael replied: “I think he thought I was doing some kind of live insert into the show where I was pretending and just had a fake class set up, so I think he was genuinely taken aback, it was brilliant!”
But he noted the more attention his new job was getting, the more it directed at his new venture alongside Angellica and Chris.