Samuel Gabriel Costa (17 June 1910 – 23 September 1981) was an English singer, entertainer and broadcaster. Initially a popular singer in the

dance band ''Dance Band'' is a 1935 British musical film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Charles "Buddy" Rogers, June Clyde and Steven Geray. It was shot at Welwyn Studios with sets designed by the art director David Rawnsley. Plot When dance band ...

era and a comic actor on the show ''

Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh ''Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh'' was a comedy show broadcast from 1944 to 1950 and 1951 to 1954 by BBC radio and in 1950–51 by Radio Luxembourg. It was written by and starred Richard Murdoch and Kenneth Horne as officers in a fictional RAF stati ...

'', he was later a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

for

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

and the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

Life and career

Costa was born in

Stoke Newington Stoke Newington is an area occupying the north-west part of the London Borough of Hackney in north-east London, England. It is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington the ancient parish. The ...

, London, the son of journalist Gabriel Costa and Annie (née Sawer), and was of

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

ancestry — ''Costa'' is a Jewish Portuguese surname. "Sam Costa", ''Jewish Lives Project''
Retrieved 16 March 2021 Sam Costa began his career as a pianist with

Bert Firman Bert Firman (born Herbert Feuerman; 3 February 1906 – 9 April 1999) was an English bandleader of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He was born in London. His mother was of Polish stock and his father was a professional musician who had settled ...

's band. He later became a popular British dance band singer in the 1930s making many records with bands such as Jack Jackson,

Lew Stone Louis Stone known professionally as Lew Stone (28 June 1898 – 13 February 1969) was a British bandleader and arranger of the British dance band era, and was well known in Britain during the 1930s. He was known as a skillful, innovative an ...

, Harry Leader,

Maurice Winnick Maurice Winnick (28 March 1902 – 26 May 1962) was an English musician and dance band leader of the British dance band era. Born in Manchester, Winnick studied violin at the Manchester College of Music, where he proved to be a "child prodigy". ...

and Jay Wilbur.

Denis Gifford Denis Gifford (26 December 1927 – 18 May 2000)Holland, Steve, Obituaries: Denis Gifford', ''The Guardian'', 26 May 2000. was a British writer, broadcaster, journalist, comic artist and historian of film, comics, television and radio. In h ...

, ''The Golden Age of Radio'', B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1985, , pp.59-60 After his crooning days, his

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

career began in 1939 with the ''

It's That Man Again ''It's That Man Again'' (commonly contracted to ''ITMA'') was a BBC radio comedy programme which ran for twelve series from 1939 to 1949. The shows featured Tommy Handley in the central role, a fast-talking figure, around whom the other cha ...

'' (ITMA) shows with

Tommy Handley Thomas Reginald Handley (17 January 1892 – 9 January 1949) was an English comedian, best known for the BBC radio programme ''It's That Man Again'' ("''ITMA''") which ran between 1939 and 1949. Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, Handley went o ...

, in which he took the part of Lemuel the office boy. He then worked with

Kenneth Horne Charles Kenneth Horne, generally known as Kenneth Horne, (27 February 1907 – 14 February 1969) was an English comedian and businessman. He is perhaps best remembered for his work on three BBC Radio series: ''Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh ...

Richard Murdoch Richard Bernard Murdoch (6 April 19079 October 1990) was an English actor and entertainer. After early professional experience in the chorus in musical comedy, Murdoch quickly moved on to increasingly prominent roles in musical comedy and rev ...

and

Maurice Denham William Maurice Denham OBE (23 December 1909 – 24 July 2002) was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 films and television programmes in his long career. Family Denham was born on 23 December 1909 in Beckenham, Kent, the son ...

in ''

''. In 1950, he started hosting ''Record Rendezvous'' on the BBC, and also hosted ''The Sam Costa Show'' on

. On Sundays he did both ''Breakfast Time'' and ''Glamorous Nights'' and he also presented ''

Housewives' Choice ''Housewives' Choice'' was a BBC Radio record request programme, broadcast every morning between 1946 and 1967 on the BBC Light Programme. It played a wide range of mostly popular music intended to appeal to housewives at home during the day. ...

'' and ''Midday Spin'', transitioning to

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

from 1967. On BBC Radio 2 he had various shows; morning, lunchtime, afternoon, early evening, and late night. Costa would sign off saying "Thank you for the pleasure of your company". On Radio Luxembourg in the early 1960s, he hosted an hour-long show sponsored by Guards Cigarettes. Along with Kenneth Horne, Costa also appeared in an episode of ''

The Men from the Ministry ''The Men from the Ministry'' is a British radio comedy series broadcast by the BBC between 1962 and 1977, starring Wilfrid Hyde-White, Richard Murdoch and, from 1966, when he replaced Hyde-White, Deryck Guyler. Written and produced by Edward ...

'' which co-starred Richard Murdoch. While he generally disliked TV work, Costa did appear on several ''

Juke Box Jury ''Juke Box Jury'' was a music panel show which ran on BBC Television between 1 June 1959 and 27 December 1967. The programme was based on the American show '' Jukebox Jury'', itself an offshoot of a long-running radio series. The American serie ...

'' shows. He was also a regular on

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ' ...

's ''Frost on Sunday'' in 1970. He married Esther Comer in 1938; they were married for over 40 years. Sam Costa died in London in 1981.

Filmography

* '' A Piece of Cake'' (1948) * ''

Trouble in the Air ''Trouble in the Air'' is a 1948 British comedy film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Freddie Frinton, Jimmy Edwards and Bill Owen.Chibnall & MacFarlane p. It was made at Highbury Studios as a second feature. The film's sets were desig ...

'' (1948) * ''

One Wild Oat ''One Wild Oat'' is a 1951 British comedy film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Stanley Holloway, Robertson Hare and Sam Costa with a notable appearance by a pre-stardom Audrey Hepburn as an extra. Plot Barrister Humphrey Proudfoot ...

'' (1951) * ''

The Pickwick Papers ''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was Charles Dickens's first novel. Because of his success with ''Sketches by Boz'' published in 1836, Dickens was asked by the publisher Chapman & Hall to s ...

'' (1952) * '' Just For You'' (1964)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Sam 1910 births 1981 deaths British male television actors British male radio actors British Sephardi Jews British people of Portuguese-Jewish descent British radio people 20th-century English male actors 20th-century British male singers BBC Radio 2 presenters

Life and career

Filmography

References

Further reading

External links