‘My hands are blue’: Colin Murray, Melanie Sykes and James O’Brien sell The Big Issue

On a freezing cold day in London, rain pelting down, three celebrity friends of The Big Issue took on the challenge of selling the magazine. Colin Murray, Melanie Sykes and James O’Brien had come out to mark National Vendor Week – a celebration of the men and women across the UK who sell the magazine every day – and to get a deeper understanding of the sellers’ work. This is the story of the day. It got pretty competitive…

“Right, tell me what I should do.” It’s Wednesday lunchtime and autism rights advocate and editor in chief of Frank magazine Melanie Sykes has joined Big Issue vendor Kelvin Gregory on his regular pitch near Somerset House in central London. As he takes her through a training crash course, she admits she’s nervous. “I’m a bit shy, really. So it feels very out of my comfort zone to just approach random strangers.”

“It’s not as easy as you think it might be. I feel all the charm in the world isn’t going to help on this particularly rainy day. It’s interesting, actually: people’s reactions to you even saying hello. People are very ‘head down’, aren’t they?”

Melanie Sykes

Persevering as the rain gets heavier, Melanie finally makes a sale. “It’s something that I think about all the time: don’t just walk past vendors. Please just pick up this magazine. I don’t really care about the weather, what’s important is spreading the word and getting people to engage with some proper literature about real issues.”

It’s all smiles as a sodden Melanie finishes her selling shift, and thanks Kelvin for his support. “I sold four, which sounds really lame. But it’s not easy.”

It’s an LBC vs BBC sell-off as we roll into the afternoon. Combative talk radio host James O’Brien is up against Radio 5 Live and Countdown star Colin Murray. And neither is backing down. Let’s do this…

James has played a blinder by using his hit radio show this morning to tell 1.3 million listeners he’s going to be out selling The Big Issue. When he arrives, there are already customers waiting to score a magazine and a selfie.

Within minutes, James is five sales up.

Colin Murray’s looking worried. “You couldn’t have picked a worse day, but in a way you couldn’t have picked a better day because [for Big Issue vendors] there’s no just luxury of not coming out when it rains. It was snowing last night. It’s pouring down today. The first job is just to keep this thing dry. And then try and sell as many as I can.”

As the initial rush of fans subsides, James too is getting more of a real sense of the struggle involved in selling the magazine. “You put this thing on,” he says, pointing to his red Big Issue tabard, “and it’s as if you suddenly become absolutely invisible to about 60 per cent of passers-by. I’m doing it because it’s important to know what it’s like. It’s like nothing else I’ve ever done, not just people not noticing you but people almost wilfully ignoring you.”

Competitive instinct kicking in, Colin resorts to dirty tactics. “Buy a magazine and I will donate £20! This is a one-time offer, you buy a magazine for £4 and £24 will go to support The Big Issue!”

It works! Colin’s acquired a gaggle of customers, and has roped regular Big Issue vendor Dave Martin (who has formerly also coached Prince William about how to sell) to help with the card transactions. Flushed with success, Colin interviews his new-found customers for his 5 Live show.

It’s time for the big reveal. Colin or James: who has won the sales battle? “15 all!” says Dave. It’s a draw! James and Colin are delighted, but it’s been a hard slog. “It’s been pouring down. My hands are blue,” says Colin. “I have a home. I have a car. I have a job. And it felt terrible when people ignored me. Imagine if I was doing this today in order to buy food tonight, it would feel 100 times worse. My final message of my day selling The Big Issue would be: when you see someone in the street doing it, just give them a smile.”

The Big Issue magazine exists to give homeless, long-term unemployed and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy! If you cannot reach your local vendor, you can still click HERE to subscribe to The Big Issue today or give a gift subscription to a friend or family member. You can also purchase one-off issues from The Big Issue Shop or The Big Issue app, available now from the App Store or Google Play.