Not so Golden Brown: DJ plays 24 hours from No. 2 at Lake District sewage protest | Lake area

If you’ve sat down and wondered why Britain’s streams, rivers and lakes are so dirty, you’re probably hoping for a champion to stop this scandalous discharge of sewage.

Step forward Lake District Radio DJ Lee Durrant, who will take to Radio Ga Ga with a 24-hour live broadcast marathon on Friday, playing songs that peaked at number two in the charts to highlight the lingering stench of a ‘number two’ that wasn’t quite gold.

If you were angry about the injustice of Cry Me a River or Born Slippy being snubbed from the top spot, you may be comforted by the pop classics being chosen to fight the injustice of illegal sewage spills, which threaten human health and kill wildlife in the Lake District, despite their status as a national park and World Heritage Site.

“What’s more shocking? A New York fairy tale never making it to Christmas No. 1, or United Utilities dumping sewage into Windermere and paying themselves a huge dividend?” said Durant, whose radio marathon begins at 8 a.m. on Nov. 14. “We’re based in the Lake District, so we’re excited about what’s happening to our lakes, but it’s becoming a broader problem across the country and around the world with sewage being dumped into what we assume are clean waterways.”

In between playing number two with riverine echoes from Take That’s The Flood to Dirty Cash by Adventures of Stevie V, Durrant will be joined at the community radio station by guests including campaigners from Save Windermere to Surfers Against Sewage, environmental experts and water company representatives.

High levels of bacteria at Windermere have been found in human faeces throughout this summer, according to a comprehensive analysis of the water quality of England’s largest lake. Only 14% of rivers and lakes in England meet good environmental standards.

“I’m kind of looking forward to it and kind of dreading it,” Durant said of his No. 2 marathon. “I expect the 3 a.m. witching hour is when I’ll struggle. I might need to play some heavy rock to get through it.”

The winds of change may well blow on the lakes.