Hey Hi Hello: Five Decades Of Pop Culture From Britain’s First Female DJ

Annie Nightingale WHITE RABBIT

Broadcasting icon delivers priceless insight.

The veteran DJ’s third memoir is as chatty as its title suggests, but without once resorting to the academic dryness hinted at in its subtitle.

Annie Nightingale CBE (currently celebrating an unequalled half-century tenure at Radio 1) forged a career in journalism and broadcasting simply by deploying an unquenchable desire to share new music. While working as pop columnist for the Daily Sketch, Nightingale – who enjoyed an enduring easy rapport with The Beatles – was originally inspired to become a DJ by the off-shore pirates. When the BBC launched Radio 1 in 1967 it featured an all-male line-up. So she campaigned against their blatant bias until (in 1970) the corporation finally relented and offered her a slot. She’s been there ever since. A prestigious solo gig presenting an appropriately revamped The Old Grey Whistle Test (Exit Harris. Enter punk) followed.

Hey Hi Hello is packed with excellent anecdotes; relaxed, revealing interviews with Marc Bolan (“I’ve become a teenybop idol and I enjoy that”), Keith Moon (“I knocked out my front teeth and slipped on a piece of marzipan”) and Bob Marley (“I was in America and I had a vision of Haile Selassie”); dispatches from LA riots, Scream central and Ian Dury’s Catshit Mansions. It’s a pacy, engaging, funny and illuminating joy from cover to cover. A bit like going down the pub with the most interesting person you’re ever likely to meet. And who wouldn’t want that? ■■■■■■■■■■