Ali Pugh was catapulted unknowingly into the lost provinces of the mighty Norwich in 1979. A dreamy youth spent in the bleak lowlands of East Anglia, he skewered most days by escaping into the backwoods and writing messages in the soil to people he knew wouldn’t be walking by any time soon. In time he moved indoors, found John Peel on the dial and fell in love with the frazzling ‘Hot Wire My Heart’ by a band called Sonic Youth. An unhealthy obsession with music was born and the trouser pocket emptied of beans. Ali graduated from the BA in Communication at Bournemouth University in 2000 and went to live and work in Minnesota for five months. On return he pursued a career in publishing in London before deciding it was a can of worms that should be left alone to wriggle. He now looks to the MA in Radio Production to develop his enthusiasm for music, writing, drama, literature and a story with some teeth – genre isn’t particularly important, he hopes to produce programmes that grapple with the imagination and raise questions for the listener. Enthusiasms that will fire Ali up include The Velvet Underground, new music radio, 12 Angry Men, Graham Swift, fun in the snow and a few jars of Bombay Sapphire. Current favourite thought: “The first word you think of is usually a pale imitation of the meaning you’ll charm from the second word you think of.”
