David Hamilton (born 10 September 1938) is an English radio and television presenter. Since his broadcasting career began in 1959, Hamilton has hosted over 12,000 radio shows and more than 1,000 TV shows. He is usually known as 'Diddy David Hamilton', a name given to him by the comedian Ken Dodd.

Early life

Hamilton attended Glastonbury Road Grammar School at

St Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; french: Saint-Hélier) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St Helier has a population of 35,822 – over one-third of the total population of Jersey – ...

in Surrey until the age of 17. While at school he became a columnist on the weekly national magazine ''Soccer Star''. He performed national service in the Royal Air Force from 1959.

TV career

On leaving school, Hamilton became a script-writer for the TV series ''Portrait of a Star''. Following his national service, he became an in-vision television announcer for ABC Weekend TV based in

Didsbury Didsbury is a suburban area of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there are ...

, Manchester, and appeared with close friend Ken Dodd in the TV series ''Doddy's Music Box'', acquiring the nickname 'Diddy'. Throughout the 1960s, he hosted shows for the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

franchises Tyne Tees, Anglia and Westward. He joined the then-new Thames Television as an announcer in 1968, subsequently hosting many shows for them including ''Miss TV Times'', ''TV Times Gala Awards'', ''The World Disco Dance Championships'', as well as many outside broadcasts, circus and sports shows. He appeared alongside comedians Benny Hill and

Tommy Cooper Thomas Frederick Cooper (19 March 1921 – 15 April 1984) was a Welsh prop comedian and magician. As an entertainer, his appearance was large and lumbering at , and he habitually wore a red fez when performing. He served in the British Army f ...

and hosted Thames TV's showcase weeks on television in New York City and Los Angeles. Later he hosted ATV's Saturday night series ''Up For the Cup'', and four series of TVS's hangman-style game show ''

All Clued Up ''All Clued Up'' was a British game show based on the American version entitled ''The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime''. It aired on ITV from 16 April 1988 to 30 August 1991 and was hosted by David Hamilton. Format Like the American shows, two ...

''. For BBC TV, he hosted '' Top of the Pops'' and '' Seaside Special'' and the '' Eurovision Song Contest Previews'' in 1986. For seven years, he was the main host of one of the earliest satellite TV stations, Lifestyle. Hamilton was one of the final people on the network when it closed on 24 January 1993, appearing on the final segment wishing viewers goodbye. In February 2012, he danced to the 1988

Salt-N-Pepa Salt-N-Pepa (also stylized as Salt 'N' Pepa or Salt 'N Pepa) is an American hip-hop group formed in New York City in 1985, that comprised Salt (Cheryl James), Pepa (Sandra Denton), and DJ Spinderella (Deidra Roper). Their debut album, ''Hot, C ...

hit " Push It" with fellow DJ and close friend

Tony Blackburn Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and TV presenter. He first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, on the BBC L ...

as contestants on the charity show ''

Let's Dance for Sport Relief ''Let's Sing and Dance'', formerly known as ''Let's Dance'', is a British television programme shown on BBC One, featuring celebrities performing famous dance routines to raise money for the charities Comic Relief and Sport Relief. The programme ...

''.

Radio career

BBC Radio

Hamilton made his broadcasting debut with the British Forces Network in Cologne in Germany during his national service in 1959. His first UK broadcast was as the host of ''The Beat Show'' from the Playhouse Theatre, Manchester, in 1962. He hosted the show on the BBC Light Programme until 1965. He presented the final edition of '' Housewives' Choice'' in 1967 and was first heard on BBC Radio 1 in November 1967, presenting ''Family Choice''. By the late 1960s, Hamilton was presenting many shows for BBC radio, including ''Music Through Midnight'', ''Roundabout'', ''Pop Inn'', ''Radio 1 Club'' and shows featuring the music of Frank Chacksfield. In 1970, he joined the team of ''Late Night Extra'' and in 1973 was offered his own daily show on Radio 1 every weekday afternoon from 2pm to 5pm. In 1975, the show was simultaneously broadcast on Radio 1 and Radio 2 (listeners being able to hear the show in stereophonic sound on Radio 2's

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

frequency), giving it the largest British audience of the day. In December 1977, the show moved to Radio 2 and remained there until the end of 1986 when Hamilton quit the station, complaining of its 'geriatric' music policy.

Commercial radio

Since January 1987, Hamilton has been heard on many commercial stations in the UK. He joined Reading's

Radio 210 Heart Berkshire (formerly 2-Ten FM) was an Independent Local Radio station, serving Berkshire and North Hampshire from studios in Reading. About Launched as Radio 210 (Two-One-Oh), the station commenced broadcasting in March 1976 on its mediu ...

initially to present a mid-morning show from 9am to 12 noon although the show was quickly brought forward an hour, starting at 8am. He then joined Capital Gold in November 1988 to present its daily 10am to 1pm show. In addition to that, he also presented a weekly oldies show which was heard on various ILR stations around the UK. This was usually heard on a Sunday afternoon. In late 1994, Hamilton presented the Breakfast show on Melody FM (now

Magic 105.4 Magic Radio is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer. The station is available on 105.4 FM in London and across the UK on Digital Radio, on the Magic Radio app, television and online. It had previously been a part of a ...

) for four years before moving to London's

Liberty Radio Liberty Radio is a UK radio broadcaster and company based in London, England that, , is transmitted free to air from the Astra 2F satellite at 28.2° East to most of Europe, and on the Internet, but not on analog or DAB terrestrial radio. . Li ...

to present an afternoon show. He also did a show on the Classic Gold Network on a Sunday. In 2000, he joined

PrimeTime Radio PrimeTime Radio was a national UK radio station. It was once part of Saga Radio Group although it became independent in 2004. It operated as a sister station to Saga Digital radio. The line up featured a variety of presenters including David ...

, presenting the weekday mid-morning show, where he remained until its demise in 2006. In October 2001, he left Classic Gold and presented the breakfast show on Birmingham's Saga 105.7 FM before moving to Nottingham's Saga 106.6 FM in early 2003. From 2004 to 2006, he was heard on radio stations around the UK, presenting his ''Million Sellers'' show, which would usually go out on a Saturday lunchtime, and was repeated at midnight. Around this time he also had a sojourn at

Big L 1395 Big L was the name of a short-lived broadcasting company registered by the British licensing authority Ofcom fro11 June 2002 to 10 June 2003for a satellite radio service known as Big L. The license stated that the station ''"… will provide an ...

. In April 2012, Hamilton was one of the launch presenters on ''The Wireless'', an Internet-based radio station operated by Age UK and aimed at older people throughout the UK. He was a founder director of Lite FM in Peterborough and Splash FM in Worthing, hosting the first programme with guest Leo Sayer in 2003. In February 2021 he started a daily lunchtime show with Boom Radio, the national DAB station aimed at the

baby boom A baby boom is a period marked by a significant increase of birth rate. This demographic phenomenon is usually ascribed within certain geographical bounds of defined national and cultural populations. People born during these periods are often ca ...

generation.

Stage

On stage Hamilton has compered shows by the Beatles, the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

, David Cassidy and many other pop acts. He has hosted shows at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

and the London Palladium, and headlined in four major pantomimes. In 2016 he embarked on a 40-theatre tour, David Hamilton's Rock 'n' Roll Back The Years, with band The Fugitives, and singers.

Sport

Hamilton was the compere for the Wembley Lions Speedway team in 1970 and 1971. During the 1970s Hamilton was also the match day presenter for the Reading Racers Speedway Club. Latterly he was seen frequently on BBC1's '' Match of the Day'' and BSkyB's ''Football First'' as he was the matchday compère at Fulham F.C.

Books

Hamilton is the author of four books: ''The Music Game'' (autobiography), 1986, ''A Fulhamish Tale'', 2012, ''The Golden Days of Radio One'', 2017 and ''Commercial Radio Daze'', 2020.

Current work

In 2019 Hamilton celebrated 60 years in broadcasting. By this time he was heard regularly on his local stations BBC Sussex and BBC Radio Surrey. His ''Million Sellers'' show continues to be aired on several stations in the UK and abroad. In 2021, at the age of 82, he became the oldest broadcaster to do a daily show on national radio with his lunchtime show on Boom Radio. The same year ''David Hamilton`s Million Sellers'' and ''David Hamilton`s Hotshots'' launched on the Now 70s music television channel and he was a guest on ''Britain`s Biggest 70s Hits'' on Channel 5. He was seen as a newspaper reviewer on

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

and in 2022 on GB News. He is very much in demand as a lunch/dinner speaker where he talks about 60 years in broadcasting.

Television

References

External links

David Hamilton's Official website

David Hamilton on Boom Radio

British Entertainment History Project. David Hamilton

Neil Sean Meets David Hamilton.

Tailor Made Radio: David Hamilton's Million Sellers.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, David 1938 births Living people 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel BBC Radio 1 presenters BBC Radio 2 presenters English game show hosts English radio DJs English television presenters Mass media people from Manchester Radio and television announcers Top of the Pops presenters