Soon after his final chart rundown on 30 January 2005 the press announced the launch of podshows.com, a joint venture by Butters and fellow broadcaster Daryl Denham.

It was the world's first professional podcasting company, using presenters such as Tony Blackburn, Paul Gambaccini, Gary Davies and Terry Christian to record tailor-made programmes for MP3 players.

At the end of July 2008 Wes enjoyed another stint on breakfast, this time sitting in for Shaun Keaveny on BBC 6 Music.

[5] A forthright style when interviewing politicians led to national news coverage, as in the case of Labour MP George Mudie who admitted he would vote for an independent Scotland despite his party being part of the Better Together campaign.

He also appeared as himself announcing Billy Mack - the character played by Bill Nighy - as the Christmas number one in Richard Curtis' 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually.

Butters has written for a number of newspapers (including The Guardian), while his debut book, a biography of Carry On actor Kenneth Williams, came out in October 2008.

[10] He also wrote the two-part documentary The Pain of Laughter – The Last Days of Kenneth Williams for BBC Radio 4, broadcast in April 2008, which is available on his website.