‘Golden oldies’ DJ with homely appeal
HE made his first radio broadcast more than 70 years ago but for the past 36 years Desmond Carrington was a much loved BBC Radio 2 DJ.
His weekly golden oldies Friday night show, The Music Goes Round, first aired on Radio 2 on Sunday October 4, 1981. Since 1997 the show, originally called All Time Greats, was broadcast live from a converted cowshed at his Perthshire home and still had record numbers tuning in right up to the last edition on October 28 last year.
Carrington, who had battled cancer and Alzheimer’s disease for several years, suffered heart failure on Christmas Day 2015. He was operated on within two hours and was back behind the microphone just 10 days later, with neither his Radio 2 managers nor his audience aware of what had happened.
His success was due to the eclectic mix of music on offer but also the homely atmosphere he generated. Each programme began with a hearty welcome to his loyal listeners and concluded with his trademark sign-off, “Bye just now”.
Together with his producer and partner Dave Aylott, Carrington wrote each show, which also featured mentions of Golden Paws, Carrington’s Abyssinian cat.
Carrington was first heard on BBC Radio in 1946 as a member of the BBC Drama Repertory Company but his first radio broadcast took place in 1945 while he was serving as an officer in the war. Happening to hear some programmes from a British Forces Broadcasting station based in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Carrington managed to get himself posted there following what he admitted were “barefaced lies” that he was “a fully experienced broadcaster”.
After the war, he produced shows for Radio Luxembourg and the BBC. During the early 1950s he appeared as an actor on the then new medium of television. The next decade was crammed with work in theatre, films, radio and television, culminating with his appearance for six years as Doctor Anderson on ITV’s Emergency Ward 10. He then spent four years presenting the Daz “Swap” TV advertisements and became a regular presenter of the request show Housewives’ Choice.
In 1991 he was voted British Radio Personality of the Year.