Godfather of modern radio DJs
AT A BBC lunch in the 1980s Princess Margaret casually asked Brian Matthew, “You started all this DJ lark, didn’t you?” While the genial broadcaster himself dismissed the assertion, listeners to his radio shows such as Saturday Club and Easy Beat will no doubt agree that he played an influential role in post-war popular culture, introducing millions of youngsters to the likes of The Beatles, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent.
Many years later he offered these same listeners, by now entering grandparenthood, a trip down memory lane with his hugely successful Radio 2 show Sounds Of The 60s which he presented from 1990 to 2016.
The son of a band conductor and singer, Matthew was born in Coventry and educated at Bablake Grammar School. At the age of 18 he was conscripted and to his good fortune was posted to the British Forces Network in Hamburg where he worked as a radio presenter alongside Cliff Michelmore and Nigel Davenport who would later go on to become household names.
After being demobbed, Matthew joined Rada before becoming an assistant stage manager at the Old Vic where he met and married actress Pamela Wickington in 1951.
The couple wanted to work in the same touring companies but in 1952 Matthew was given a contract at Radio Nederland, which was based in Hilversum. Their son Christopher was born there two years later.
Not long after they welcomed their son, Pamela wanted to return to the UK so Matthew worked as a milkman before becoming a trainee BBC announcer, working on the Home and Light Programmes.
One of his early roles was as the announcer for the comedy programmes Take It From Here and Hancock’s Half Hour.
His career really took off after he started presenting Saturday Club in 1957 and Easy Beat three years later. These were the shows that brought rock’n’roll to the masses and had every major act of the day including Adam Faith, The Everly Brothers, The Who, Jerry Lee Lewis and Cliff Richard clamouring to appear.
After The Beatles first appeared in 1962 Matthew built up a good rapport with them and they returned to the show many times.
In 1964 he even covered their second American tour, staying in the same hotels and travelling on their plane. “We landed in Houston and there are some very funny little airfields in America,” he recalled. “Some are no more than dirt strips with a couple of buildings. There was a gang of kids to meet The Beatles and they not only surrounded the plane, they climbed on to it.
“They were on the wings, flicking cigarette butts around and it was terribly dangerous. We were locked in the plane and Ringo was standing at the door, making us laugh by saying ‘Beatles and children first’.”
After Saturday Club and Easy Beat were cancelled and the Light Programme was converted into Radio 1 and 2, Matthew continued broadcasting shows such as Album Time, My Top 12 and Round Midnight. But in a cruel move, which would be replicated years later, the BBC informed him in 1989 his services were no longer required. His army of loyal listeners were outraged and within six months he was back, presenting Sounds Of The 60s.
Last January history repeated itself when the BBC announced that the “voice of an era” was stepping down from the programme because of ill health. But Matthew always maintained that he wanted to go back, describing the BBC’s reason for his departure as “absolute balderdash”.
Among the many plaudits he received during his 60-year career were a Sony Gold Award in 2006 and a lifetime award “in recognition of a truly outstanding contribution to UK radio”.
His wife and son survive him.