Neil Gits Indigestion !

When I first started presenting “The Old Gits Soul Show” live on a Monday evening for Gateway back in 2010, I was not alone in the studio. For the first couple of years or so the station was based in office space a few floors up in a building adjoining Asda in the Eastgate Centre and at that time I was looking after my son pretty much full-time, so he came with me every week. He would have been about 6-8 years old then, in the early years of his days at Brightside primary school in Billericay, and often occupied himself by quietly playing on the studio floor with various toys – I seem to recall a number of ‘battles’ being staged between the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and various Marvel Superhero figures whilst I played old music for grown-ups from the desk above !!

By the time we moved to our current location in The Galleries, he was old enough to be left to responsibly watch videos and play games on the PC in Studio 2 whilst I did my funky thing in Studio 1, then around 2016, having started senior school, he was old enough to be left ‘home alone’ or stay over at his mum’s flat, which was much nearer to the school than my house. He must have been paying attention on his many visits to Gateway though, taking it all in, because in his first year at The University of Essex in Colchester he presented two weekly radio slots on the in-house radio station there, one being a sports chat show and the other a ‘Retro Show’ playing … you guessed it … only 70s 80s & 90s music, just like his old dad !

Now 22 years old and out in “The Big Wide World”, he has picked up some part-time work within easy walking distance of “Old Gits HQ” and regularly pops in for a chat and watch something on Netflix on his way home, sometimes bringing food such as a large pizza to share or a McDonalds meal. As you probably know, I NEVER turn down free food, so the last time I saw him, having left a pizza with me two days earlier, he brought in McDs Chicken Selects with fries, but I had already started re-heating the last couple of slices of pizza. As he is on a health & fitness kick at present, tying in with his football coaching career, he passed on the offer of pizza and left me to eat the whole lot myself !

As you get older, whether watching the pennies or not, you tend to eat much less, smaller portions being more common as your tummy can’t quite handle the ‘Big Piggy Feasts’ devoured when you were young ! Consequently when I got woken up in some discomfort at 5am in the morning, nearly four hours before I usually get out of bed, I rather regretted my gluttony the previous evening … well a little bit anyway !!

Also, as you get older, your musical tastes tend to become more refined, falling back more & more often on those all-time favourites and only accepting anything fresh to your ears made over 35 years ago or at least sounding very much like it could have been – which just happens to be a decent description of the tunes I play on my show each week. Here is the latest playlist so you can see for yourself or indeed hear at “Listen Again” :

The Tunes – Monday 2nd February 2026

Billy Paul – Only The Strong Survive
Jacksons – Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)
Shaun Escoffery – Days Like This
Shakatak – Nightbirds
Aurra – Checking You Out
Detroit Spinners – Mighty Love
LTD – We Both Deserve Each Others Love
The Jupiter Gallery ft Chloe Lupton – Your Sweetest Kiss
Second Image – Get Your Finger Out (Pinpoint The Feeling)
Odyssey – Going Back To My Roots
Soul II Soul – Back To Life (Club Mix)
Temptations -The Girl’s Alright With Me
Cornell C C Carter – Lift It Up
Sheila B Devotion – Spacer
Chic – Good Times
Diana Ross – Upside Down
Alison Limerick – You And I
Jarrod Lawson – Do Whatchu Gotta
Patti Labelle – I Can’t Forget You
Ty Juan – My name Is Ty
Thelma Houston – Ride To The Rainbow
Trammps – Disco Inferno
D’Jear – Every Move

Feel free to get in touch with your soulful request or just for a mention on the show – put a post on “The Old Gits Soul Show” page on Facebook, text (01268)833978 or message me via e-mail : [email protected].

The Old Gits Soul Show is broadcast LIVE from 7pm–9pm every Monday, repeated on Saturday evening from 5pm–7pm, on Gateway 97.8FM in Basildon & East Thurrock, across South Essex on DAB and available nationally via the Radio Player on your TV as well as online via www.gateway978.com You can listen on your smart speaker or your phone too … plus you can hear it again anytime you like via the “Listen Again” button on the Gateway website – just search “Cool Soul” !