Tributes paid to Ed ‘Stewpot’ Stewart
Colleagues and family speak of sadness as former Radio 1 DJ and television presenter dies aged 74
HE WAS one of the most enduring voices of BBC radio and one of the best known faces on children’s television. Ed “Stewpot” Stewart, whose career in light entertainment spanned five decades, died yesterday at the age of 74.
He had been one of the founding disc jockeys on the BBC’s Radio 1 music station and went on to achieve household familiarity through a long-running stint as presenter of the madcap BBC children’s show Crackerjack, which he hosted between 1973 and 1979.
It was a job that he would still be famous for more than 30 years after he stopped presenting.
“I still can’t walk into a pub without someone shouting, ‘It’s Friday, it’s five to five … it’s Crackerjack!’” Stewart said in a newspaper interview in 2014.
For 12 years, he presented BBC Radio’s Junior Choice, reinforcing his status as a household favourite.
His family announced his death yesterday on Twitter. He had suffered a stroke a few days earlier and died in hospital in Bournemouth.
Adriano Henney, his former brotherin-law, posted: “Sad to report sudden passing of my former brother-in-law Ed Stewart after short illness. Fun guy. Huge loss.”
Bob Shennan, director of BBC Music, said in tribute: “Everyone at Radio 2 is extremely saddened to hear of the passing of Ed ‘Stewpot’ Stewart.
“Ed has been a stalwart of popular music broadcasting for many years and over the past few Christmases, he brought back Junior Choice, to the delight of millions of loyal listeners.
“We are thinking of Ed’s friends and family at this difficult time.”
David Hamilton, a fellow disc jockey, hailed his colleague’s versatility.
“Like all of us, radio was his first love,” said Hamilton. “But also, he did very well on television.
“He was a really good guy, Ed, and I really will miss him”.
Stewart was born Edward Stewart Mainwaring, the son of a Treasury solicitor, who had escaped to Devon during the Blitz. He began his career in radio with Radio Hong Kong in 1961, returning to Britain four years later to take up a job on the offshore pirate radio station Radio London.
He was poached by the BBC to help it launch its popular music station Radio 1 in 1967, with the likes of Tony Blackburn. In the 1970s, Stewart enjoyed careers on both television and radio, becoming a regular on Top of the
Pops. In 1973, he took over presenting duties on Crackerjack, the hugely popular BBC children’s show. He carried on with Crackerjack until 1979 and a year later moved on to Radio 2, presenting Family Favourites and the weekday afternoon programme from 2pm to 4pm.
Stewart was removed from the Radio 2 line-up in 1983, forcing him back into commercial radio. In 1990, Radio Mercury fired him because it could no longer afford his salary and Stewart returned to the BBC, presenting a Saturday afternoon Radio 2 show before being reinstated on weekday afternoons.
In 1995 he would make radio history when he broadcast shows live from the summits of Ben Nevis and Snowdon. His later also broadcast from the volcano of Vesuvius in Southern Italy, as well as from the Falkland Islands.
After eight successful years, he was sacked once more, this time on the grounds that he was old-fashioned and out-of-date. But in 2000, he was back again at the BBC, presenting the Christmas edition of Junior Choice.