User:DJesseB/sandbox

Jesse Ellis Billington (born 9th October 1997) is a Radio DJ on Junction 11 Radio at the University of Reading.

Childhood
Jesse was born to parents Alison and Ian at Bedford Hospital on the 9th of October 1997. He grew up in Flitwick with his sister. His father ran the family business and his mother was a "full-time housewife". Jesse started his education at Saint Francis Kindergarten and moved on to Waverly Preparatory School up until it's closure. He sat the entrance test to Bedford School a year early and was accepted in, despite being one year behind the rest of his cohort.

Bedford School
Jesse began at Bedford School in the September of 2004 just before his 7th birthday. He repeated Year Three the following year to continue his career at the school with peers his age. Jesse made his way through the school from start to finish, leaving after completing his A-Levels in the summer of 2016 aged 18. At school he was never much of what the school saw as a traditional sportsman, playing in the lowest rugby teams possible and eventually electing to play minor sports through his career. For a short period of time, he coxed for the schools J14 A-Boat but soon tired of the training heavy regime. He grew to like Rugby Fives, representing the school on the odd occasion. Tennis was another sport that he developed a taste for, despite being in his own words "frankly useless". One sport he did show great interest in was horse-riding when offered as a sports option in the junior school. For three terms he learnt to ride and developed a deep love for equestrianism. He later campaigned for the sport to be offered as an option in the Upper School and was successful and rode twice a week, furthering his skill and love for the past time.

School Radio
Jesse flourished off the sports pitches more than on, proving an able student and "impressively average" musician learning the violin at school. His other major passion at school was also musical. His beloved radio station. Aquila radio was started after some older boys at the school won a competition to set it up with a grant left to the school by and Old Bedfordian. Sadly interest in the station dwindled and the studio was left sitting empty in its first location, above the medical centre on Burnaby Road. A new music teacher at the school sparked Jesse's interest in the station and together they rebooted the station, still under the broadcasting name of Aquila Radio. The station re-launched with Jesse's first show being broadcast the day after his 15th birthday.

The station ran for a year in its Burnaby Road broadcasting location, before being moved over to the music school, ironically taking over the former teaching room where Jesse had been learning violin. Here it was renamed Bedford School Radio, which Jesse deemed to be "much more logical, very 'Wickes'". On Bedford School Radio, Jesse continued to run his one-man show, "produced" by his father. The show still had no name, however, Jesse later justified this by saying; "with only one show on the station, I see no need for a hastily thought name to have to dissociate radio silence from myself". Jesse's fame grew slightly (only very slightly) in the 24 hours before the February half term while he was in Upper Sixth (2016) when he hosted a one man 24-hour radio show for charity. Starting at 4 in the afternoon on the Thursday until 4 pm on Friday. With help from a friend's father donating several match worn Arsenal shirts which were auctioned off to the highest bidder, resulting in him raising over £2000 for Alzheimer's UK.