At the press launch of Classic FM in September 1992 Michael Bukht, one of its founders and its first Director of Programmes, spoke with characteristic exuberance of the limitless prospects for a commercial station playing constant classical music in a less snooty way than the BBC's Radio 3. Yet like most of the worldly-wise media commentators present, I came away from Classic's modest new studio in Camden, north London, convinced that the enterprise would not be long for this world.

Listeners to BBC Radio 2 are to sample the ganja-scented atmosphere of the reggae dancehall for the first time when the station launches a late-night, weekly "spliff hour".

The insurer that used to be called Norwich Union?

Always the last man out

Isn't he rather young to be running such a large company?

Stephen Thomas, the former chief executive of the UK's biggest nightclub group, Luminar, is to relaunch the Chicago Pizza Pie Factory restaurant chain in the UK.

Over the last four decades, the radio presenter, author and music publisher Charlie Gillett was one of the most influential people in the British music industry, a feat he achieved without a national media profile and no trace of an ego. He typically downplayed the excellence of The Sound Of The City – The Rise of Rock'n'Roll – the authoritative book he first published in 1970, and one which has sold 250,000 copies and has remained in print ever since, a rare feat in a market littered with cash-ins and remaindered titles. He made light of the part he played in the careers of Ian Dury, Graham Parker, Elvis Costello, Darts, and most famously Dire Straits, whose demo of "Sultans Of Swing" he aired on his legendary Honky Tonk show on BBC Radio London in July 1977, the first step on their way to a record deal with Phonogram and worldwide success.

Pioneering DJ Charlie Gillett has died aged 68 after battling a long illness, it emerged today.

Even though John Lydon is flogging butter on the telly, his Public Image is above criticism

Richard Park, the mastermind of Britain’s biggest commercial radio group, tells Ian Burrell why he is furious with the BBC and why he is taking the Heart and Galaxy networks national to fight the corporation

Work: Presents ‘World on 3’ on BBC Radio 3 and ‘World of Music’ on the BBC World Service

Life: Married with three children and two grandchildren

Balance: Will be appearing at the Womad world music festival on 24-26 July. Co-founder of Oval Records

Charlie Gillett’s Sound Of The World: Otro Mundo compilation is out now on Warner Classics & Jazz

She's pop's newest princess and the paparazzi's latest plaything. But it is Lady Gaga who is calling the shots

Getting up at 5am is no big deal for the Capital Radio presenter, but Chelsea's painful defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League definitely is

'We've tried doing other stuff, like going to the theatre, but we always end up getting wrecked'