Octogenarians are new British radio stars

A top award at Britain's "radio Oscars" has gone to the country's latest up-and-coming entertainment talents: two ladies aged 86 and 90. Beryl Renwick, 86, and Betty Smith, 90, earned a standing ovation Monday night as they were handed the Sony Academy award for best entertainment show after being helped to the stage by presenters to collect their prize. Their weekly easy listening show on local BBC Radio Humberside in northeast England features banter on topics from World War II rationing to their shared lust for Canadian crooner Michael Buble. The award, which they won along with producer and co-presenter David Reeves, has previously gone to loose-cannon comedian Russell Brand and Ferrari-driving presenter Chris Evans. Renwick puts the success of the six-year-old programme, Beryl and Betty, down to the fact that "there's nothing else like it on the radio, anywhere: two ladies, talking," she told the Guardian newspaper. "And we do talk about everything. We do vary the show, too; even children love to hear us," she said. Judges said they were "a joyous, entertaining double act, having fun with the medium and unconstrained by any ingrained ideas of what works and what doesn't. "They give a voice to a sector of society unrepresented on radio, and do it with a joy that puts many of their fellow broadcasters to shame," they added. The pair play a range of music including Madonna and their favourite, Buble, but Renwick has previously disclosed she believes "a lot of this new music" is "absolute piffle".