Greg James and Radio 1 say Up Yours Corona

BBC Radio 1 has launched a search to find one person from every country in the world to tell Coronavirus to do one.

Led by Greg James, the station will attempt to find one person from every country on earth to send a big ‘up yours’ to Coronavirus using a phrase with a similar meaning in their own country.

All Radio 1 shows across the week will be supporting Greg and calling on listeners around the world for help tracking people down to take part.

The station will aim to find 193 people from 193 countries to deliver their ‘up yours’ on Radio 1 in time for the end of the breakfast show (10am) on Wednesday 29 July.

The idea for the project came about earlier this week when listener Esther spoke to Greg James on Radio 1 Breakfast to vent her frustrations about how life has changed due to the virus, culminating in her giving Corona a big ‘up yours’ live on air.

Later, listener Sian phoned in from Germany to give Corona her own ‘up yours’ after the virus led to her holiday being cancelled. From there, with the knowledge that many people around the world share similar sentiments, ‘Up Yours Corona’ was born.

Greg James says: “The modern world has never faced anything like this before. Everyone has been affected by the same thing, and it’s been devastating and stressful and sad for many of us. As my old nan used to say, ‘If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry’ – so let’s take her advice and have a bit of light relief by bringing everyone together to treat this thing with the disdain it’s showing us.

“Radio 1 used to tell me off for saying ‘up yours’ on air but because there’s a pandemic on, there aren’t really any rules anymore. So, up yours!”

Radio 1 will attempt to find a contributor from each of the 193 countries with full membership of the United Nations.