If David ‘Diddy’ Hamilton had never done his National Service he might not have become a broadcaster. Hailing from a family of journalists, it was while working as a scriptwriter that he got called up in 1959.
“I joined the RAF and was posted to Cologne, the home of British Forces Network. I told the boss I was a scriptwriter and he gave me a job reading the football results,” he recalls. “The music they played on the station was Bing Crosby and Peggy Lee, rather than the Rock ’n’ Roll I knew young people wanted to listen to, so I persuaded the bosses to let me play some on the show. It was a great success – especially as it coincided with Elvis doing National Service in Germany at the same time.”
After his National Service, David returned to the UK. “I started work as a television announcer with ABC TV,” he continues. “I hosted TV and radio shows, as well as introducing acts such as The Rolling Stones and The Beatles on stage.”
He also worked with Ken Dodd for two years on the TV show Doddy’s Music Box.
“It was Ken who first called me Diddy,” chuckles David, who’s 5ft 6in, “although he did ask me if I minded first. I didn’t mind at all. The nickname has served me rather well.”
David started presenting shows on Radio 1 in 1967, landing a regular three-hour show in 1973.
Radio 1 and DJ 'Diddy'
From 1975 to 1977, DJ 'Diddy' David Hamilton enjoyed a massive audience with his Radio 1 afternoon show. Here's David in action on Radio 1 in 1977:
“Those early years at Radio 1 were a golden age for radio and I doubt we’ll see anything like it again,” he continues. “You’d find 18 million listeners tuning in. Everyone knew your show and DJs became household names.
“It was at the BBC where I met DJ and presenter Pete Murray, who became my inspiration and a lifelong friend. It was an exciting, very busy time. I hosted TV shows such as Top of the Pops and Seaside Special. I was also a DJ at discos and did club appearances and TV announcing. Radio-wise, I later switched to Radio 2 before moving to Capital Gold in 1986. Since then, I’ve worked for a number of commercial radio stations.”
But that’s not all. In 2016/17, he went on the road with a band named The Fugitives, compering the shows and telling stories about his life and the people he’s worked with. “We did 35 shows nationwide,” he reveals. “I was hoping to be on tour this year with [Sixties’ teen idol] Dave Berry, but Covid-19 put a stop to that.”
Not that he’s been idle during lockdown – David has written a book, Radio Daze. It’s a sequel to The Golden Age of Radio 1 – Hotshots, Big Shots and Potshots about his time at the radio station, which was published in 2017. He’s also been revisiting the early days of his broadcasting career at ABC TV in Manchester.
“I’m doing the continuity links for a new TV streaming service called Network on Air,” he says. “It’s like time-travel television. Viewers can see much-loved TV shows that screened on ABC, which broadcast at weekends in the North and the Midlands between 1956 and 1968.
“There are classics such as the Mike and Bernie Winters Show, Armchair Theatre and The David Nixon Show. ABC had a blockbuster schedule and people went to work on a Monday morning talking about the programmes they’d seen over the weekend. That doesn’t happen today. It was truly a golden era of television.”
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