David Hamilton

Born David Pilditch in Manchester on 10 September 1938, David Hamilton started his career with the British Forces Broadcasting Service in Germany after being conscripted into the RAF and posted to Cologne.

As a teenage DJ, he hosted a Sunday afternoon pop show called Hey There! and became a television announcer in the North-East. His brief interjections between programmes were so well received by viewers that they voted him ‘Personality of the Year’.

Following a few years in Manchester as an announcer, he was chosen as Ken Dodd‘s straight man in the Doddy’s Music Box series in 1967 and 1968, where he became known as “Diddy” David Hamilton (due to his small stature) – a nickname that stayed with him for the rest of his career. He later starred with Ken in a 1972 ATV series called Funny You Should Say That.

During the 1970s, he hosted various television game shows and entertainment programs, including Seaside Special and All Clued Up.

Hamilton joined BBC Radio 1 in 1967 and was given his own daily weekday afternoon show in 1973. By 1975, his afternoon show was simultaneously broadcast across both Radio 1 and Radio 2, drawing the largest listening audience of the day and earning him a reputation as “the housewives’ favourite”.

He later moved to Radio 2 but quit in 1986, publicly criticising the network’s music direction as too “geriatric” and saying, “There’s only so much Vera Lynn and Max Bygraves you can play.”

He immediately transitioned to commercial radio, becoming a cornerstone voice for major stations like Capital Gold and Magic.