‘I am the UK’s oldest DJ...and I love hip hop’ MARY, 91, ADORES GEORGE EZRA TOO!
SWEET MUSIC: Mary on her wedding day with late hubby Des. Below, with some of her records
A FUNKY 91-year-old who loves George Ezra and hip hop reckons she is Britain’s oldest DJ.
Music-loving Mary Sandall spins records from her house and hosts a weekly slot on a show for Hospital Radio.
The pensioner says the radio is her lifeline after becoming housebound following a collision with a runaway shopping trolley in the
1980s.
Widower Mary said: “Music is my first love. It’s kept me in touch with the world outside.
“I’ve always got music on all the time – I was always dancing during the war and anything from since the
1900s I’ll listen to and love.
“I don’t like the telly and all those cooking programmes.
“I heard George Ezra recently and thought, ‘I like that’. I’ve seen his picture and thought he seems like a nice lad, not showoffy at all.
“I like a bit of a story in my songs and he’s got that. I’ve taken a bit of a fancy to him. “If I hear hip hop on the radio I’ll listen to it too, but I do prefer the smoochy music.
“I also like Rod Stewart because he sings all the oldies. He plays all the songs that I love.”
Mary has a show of her own called Mary’s Favourites, which she hopes will become a regular fixture on the station, BHBN Hospital Radio, based at Edgbaston’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
The pensioner, who has been largely housebound since her accident, has daily visits from carers and struggles with her mobility. And she has an eclectic musical taste which she inherited from her mum, who was a keen piano player. Mary, from Birmingham, said while she will listen to anything she prefers the old classics including Al Bowlly and Glenn Miller because they remind her of her youth during the Second World War. She added: “I had a very busy life up until the accident.
“Back in the war, we had quite a few dance partners, but the fellas were few and far between.
“The GIs were all a bit full of themselves so I preferred to dance with our boys.
“We just wanted to have a good time. That’s why I like Glenn Miller, as it takes me back to the war.
“But now I’m on a zimmer frame. The distance from my kitchen to the living room is 32 steps and that’s about as much as I can do without falling down.”
Mary is mad for all things high-tech. She owns an iPad and is a keen Spotify user with dozens of playlists.
She said she owes her health and happiness to the songs she loves.
Mary said: “When I got my iPad five years ago, the whole world changed.
“I found out I could save all the tunes I liked – I’ve got a list of about 500 on there.
“When I go to bed at night I take my iPad and put Spotify songs on shuffle and put it by the bedside and read.
“I don’t take any medicine – music is my medicine.”