AS the grandson of a cockney I grew up with Wotcha, which is the corresponding greeting meant by Wotcheor from the North-East.

Combining “What cheer?” and “How are you?”, it was adopted by the BBC as the title of a Forties radio show, Wot Cheor Geordie.

County Durham’s entertainment genius Jez Lowe decided to celebrate 20 years with his The Bad Pennies by creating his 16th collection of songs – 13 plus four little radio-inspired links and spoken credits.

The result is a toetapping triumph with lashings of Lowe’s observations on life.

■ The prolific Echo columnist also releases All Long The Wall on the same day, Monday, a CD featuring five songwriters and two poets in a Brampton Live Festival project celebrating Hadrian’s Wall.