In the second part of his exclusive interview with the ECHO, Billy spoke about his partnership with Wally Scott and the story behind their iconic radio show, Hold Your Plums
12:54, 09 Feb 2026Updated 14:15, 09 Feb 2026
Billy Butler and Wally Scott formed an iconic radio partnership after acrimonious beginnings(Image: Mirrorpix)
When Billy Butler first spotted Wally Scott having a pint at the Sir Walter Raleigh pub, he took an immediate disliking to him. Little could he have known then that the two would forge a legendary partnership and make local radio history in the process.
The iconic DJ spoke to the ECHO in an exclusive interview about his chemistry with the late, great Wally and the secret to their professional success. It was 1979 when Billy made the move from BBC Radio Merseyside to host a new show for its commercial rival, Radio City. Billy was excited for the next chapter in his blossoming DJ career, but was dismayed to find the flash lad he had brushed shoulders with at the pub had been appointed as his producer.
The 84-year-old said: “He always had his shirts open down the front. Usually had a medallion on, had his jackets rolled halfway up his sleeves. So when I went to City and they told me, ‘Wally was going to be my producer’, I couldn’t believe it.” Although the beginnings may have been acrimonious, Billy and Wally shared a passion for broadcasting and struck a fine balance in a collaborative process that led to radio gold.
He said: “We clicked. It just happened. Luckily, I’d find out that I’d throw an idea at him and he come back with one. A lot of today’s producers just answer the phone, but when he was my producer, he’d come up with ideas.
“If I put an idea to him, we’d work on it together to see if it worked, which we did, you know.” Their greatest idea and the one that has stood the test of time was the iconic radio phone in Hold Your Plums.
Billy explained the show derived from a popular format on Radio City called Heads and Tails. When he moved back to Radio Merseyside, Billy took the coin toss format with him, but this led to a dispute between the broadcasters.
Billy Butler spoke to the ECHO in an exclusive interview(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
He said: “Because it was so popular, Radio City decided to do it themselves with Norman Thomas. Now that didn’t annoy me, but it annoyed City that I was doing it and they said they’re going to put an injunction on me and all that.
“The boss [at the BBC] called me up and said, ‘Billy, we’re behind you, but we don’t want all this trouble between the two stations.’ He said, ‘Can you come up with another idea?'”
Billy set about coming up with another format and was inspired by the slot machines at the arcade on London Road to come up with what would eventually become Hold Your Plums. The concept was simple as listeners could phone in and get a chance to win a prize on the fruit machine if they answered Billy’s question. To win the star prize, they needed to get a line of plums.
However, the magic of the show was the way it relied on the Scouse sense of humour as Billy said no other city could have provided the responses they got on the weekly game.
He told the ECHO: “You couldn’t do that show anywhere else and get the listeners we got. You could guarantee they would come up with funny answers.
“But the amazing thing and the thing I’m most grateful for, is [Hold Your Plums] is still funny.”[It went off the air 26 years ago but] Even after all that time, it’s still funny.”
In his chat with the ECHO, Billy can recall some of his favourite responses.
‘Who was born in a stable and is loved by millions?’ Red Rum. ‘What was the name of the first woman on earth.’ Billy was probed for a clue and said, ‘Think of an apple’ in reference to the Adam and Eve story. The listener shot back, ‘Granny Smith.’
Billy Butler and his wife Lesley Butler(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
Such moments are part and parcel why the show was so fondly remembered and Billy said him and Wally were always keen to protect the spontaneous nature of Hold Your Plums. He told the ECHO: “The way it worked was Wally was in the phone booth.
“He’s taking the calls. He comes in, says, ‘It’s Mary on line four and he put the question down’, so I’d not seen the question at all. I had no time to prepare clues or answers. I had to do it off the top of my head.”
Billy plays edited clips from Hold Your Plums on his new radio show on In Demand, the broadcasting station he moved to in December. While he is proud that his and Wally’s legacy lives on, Billy said he only realised how much people loved Hold Your Plums when the show actually went off the air.
He said: “I always thought my morning show was better because that was five mornings a week that me and Wally worked on, but it is Hold Your Plums that everybody still talks about.” And it’s not just in Liverpool where people remember that show as Billy recalled a shout he received while on holiday.
Billy added: “I was in Amsterdam recently and somebody shouted over, ‘Hold your Plums, Billy.” Although Billy’s first impression of Wally was a negative one, they went on to create radio history and received half a million listeners at the height of their popularity.
Billy said: “One of the bosses only told me [the listening figures] recently.” He quipped: “He kept it quiet at the time in case I asked for more money.”
Billy Butler and Wally Scott made radio history during their time on air (Image: Mirrorpix)
Billy sadly lost his long-time friend and collaborator in 2024 when Wally died after a long illness. However, Billy has a lifetime of memories that he continues to treasure and recalls the time he made Wally’s simple dream come true with a cameo appearance on his BBC show Butler At Large.
He said: “He had this incredible ambition to appear on telly. I was doing this show on the BBC called Butler at Large and he kept on going on, ‘Is there any chance of me being in it as an extra?’
“We were doing this show at the Empire Theatre. I said, ‘What we’ll do Wally, we’ll be in the crowd and you can be peeking around the corner to see what it’s like.’ He did that. That’s all he had, but he was over the moon.” He added: “He loved success and he was a fantastic person.”
Billy turned 84 last month and he is still enjoying his life in the limelight as he will be appearing in a new musical Under the Mersey Moon at the New Brighton Floral Pavilion this weekend. The iconic DJ only ever set out to be an accountant when he left school but he is now part of the fabric of the city and will forever be known as the voice of Liverpool.
However, 60 years into his career hasn’t diminished any of his love for the business and he is looking forward to being on stage at the weekend and continuing to do something he has done for six decades: entertain.
He said: “He said: “[Last year’s show at the Floral Pavilion] is the best standing applause I’ve ever had. I found out to my surprise that I could actually still do He added: “I’ve got one eye, I’ve lost one knee and [my wife] Lesley says if I get something wrong with my arm I can be a pirate. She’s all sympathetic like that. So that’s the only problem. If I go on stage now I can’t stand up for very long.”
You can read the first part of the ECHO’s exclusive interview with Billy Butler here