If I had not met Sir Terry Wogan I wouldn’t be a DJ ...he told me to go for it and so I did
BGT STAR ON CHASING MUSIC DREAM AGED 66
They’ve probably had a few lemonades and it’s dark in clubs CHRISTINE TEW ON BEING CHATTED UP BY CLUBBERS
Being a massive Terry Wogan fan, Christine Tew was already thrilled to have found herself sitting next to him. But that day at the annual convention of his followers, the TOGs – Terry’s Old Geezers and Gals – the late, great Radio 2 DJ changed her life for ever.
The grandmother was taking her first steps into DJing at the age of 60 after developing a love of house and drum and bass music. And her idol gave her some crucial words of encouragement.
Christine says: “He said, ‘My dear, I think this is wonderful. Just you be yourself, don’t worry, don’t be nervous, just enjoy it’. They were just a few words but he was the one who really gave me confidence. For the first time, I thought, ‘I can do this’. If it weren’t for that moment, I don’t think I’d be where I am today.”
Now aged 66, Christine has carved out a new life as DJ Dizzy Twilight – and won a place in tonight’s Britain’s Got Talent semi-final. However, she wonders what Sir Terry – who died of cancer in January last year, aged 77 – would say.
“He might be holding his head in his hands thinking, ‘What is she doing?!’,” she says, laughing. “But other TOGs have told me, ‘Terry would have been so proud of you’. And I hope, if he’s looking down, that he is proud of me.”
Sir Terry’s blessing is important to Christine, who was born and raised near Middlesbrough and now lives in Wiltshire. Her GP dad, John Sullivan, died when she was three so Sir Terry became a replacement source of inspiration.
“Because of that absence of a father figure, you look for male role models and you look to people like him for that lovely fathering feeling,” she says. “There was a very paternal feeling around Terry – he was very caring and nurturing.
“There’s an Irish connection as well. My father was from Cork. Of course, when people pass away who are in the media you feel sad. But with Terry it was like losing a part of the family.”
Christine, a former nurse and births, deaths and marriages registrar, started
attending TOGs conventions in 2008. Sir Terry attended many and she got to know him well.
“He was the kind, genuine person you heard on the radio,” she says. “If you met him, he genuinely cared about everyone and had time for them all. I remember in 2015 he’d missed the last convention and I met him at a book signing.
“He said, ‘I’m sorry I missed you all but I’ll be back’. We had no idea how ill he was. When his death was announced it was a shock for everyone but particularly devastating for TOGs.”
However, Sir Terry’s death, which meant the TOGs held their final convention last year, spurred Christine on to create her new life.
She has been married to former RAF Squadron Leader Malcolm, 69, for 44 years. They have sons Michael, 42, William, 36, Nick, 34, and Alex, 32, and grandson Nate, seven, who lives in Perth, Australia, with dad Nick. Christine laughs: “Nate said, ‘I don’t believe granny is a DJ... but then I saw BGT and I do now!’.”
Christine reveals it was the music her boys played and their own forays into DJing that inspired her to hit the decks. She would pay them extra pocket money if they took her to clubs. Some have even DJed alongside her.
Christine has clubbed in hotspots including Majorca and Ibiza, occasionally taking Malcolm along. Like their sons, he backs her all the way.
She even took a course with Ministry of Sound and hired a tutor. She is now playing at parties and events – and gets chatted up by 20-something lads while working the decks. “Occasionally, they might say, ‘I want to take you home’ or ‘can I take you for a drink’,” she says.
“But they’ve probably had a few lemonades and it’s dark in the clubs. I usually say, ‘That’s kind of you but could I play something for you instead?’ or I might say, ‘I’m old enough to be your mum’ and I play that Abba track, Does Your Mother Know? It does a lot for your confidence. It’s great to think, ‘I’m not quite invisible yet’.”
Christine is not the only phenomenon in the family – Alex is the technology whizz behind the Million Dollar Homepage. He hit on the idea in 2005, aged 21, selling advertising space on a screen at one dollar a pixel. It was intended to pay his way through Nottingham University but made so much he quit to pursue a tech career.
He now creates apps in San Francisco but has flown home to support his mum tonight.
Christine is not surprised by his success, saying: “All the boys have been into technology but Alex was always quite entrepreneurial.”
But unlike Alex, Christine does not view her new career as a business and her BGT appearance is not just about becoming famous.
“I wanted to show people you can still have fun, no matter what age you are,” she says.
“And I hope it shows that, regardless of what stage of life you’re at, if you have a dream, don’t let it go. If you’re really passionate about something, then just try, because it’s never too late.”