Cyril Nicholas Henty-Dodd (28 July 1935 – 29 August 2009), born
Cyril Nicholas Dodd but better known by his stage name
Simon Dee, was a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
interviewer and
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
disc jockeyA disc jockey is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, dis
k referred to phonograph records, while dis
c referred to the Compact Disc, and has become the more common spelling...
who hosted a twice-weekly
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
TV chat show,
Dee Time in the late 1960s. After moving from the BBC to
London Weekend TelevisionLondon Weekend Television is the ITV network franchise holder for London and the South East at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5:15pm. to Monday mornings at 5:59am....
(LWT) in 1970 he was dropped and his career
never recovered.
He succumbed to bone cancer at 11:50am on 29 August 2009, leaving three ex-wives, four children, and four grandchildren.
Early career
Born in
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
(although a
Radio CarolineRadio Caroline is the name of several broadcasting ventures situated in several countries and from ships in territorial or international waters. Its name originated with fashion and society magazine editor Beatrix Miller as early as December 1961, but the first attempt to use the name for radio...
biography incorrectly gave his birthplace as
OttawaOttawa is the capital of Canada and a municipality within the Province of Ontario. Located in the Ottawa Valley in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario, the city lies on the southern banks of the Ottawa River, a major waterway forming the local boundary between the Provinces of Ontario and...
,
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
), the only child of Cyril Edwin P. Dodd, later Henty-Dodd, (1906-1980) and his second wife Gwen, formerly Pilling née ap Simon , he was educated at
Brighton CollegeBrighton College is an organisation which splits down into the Senior School known simply as Brighton College, the Prep School and the Pre-Prep School. All of these schools are independent co-educational public schools in Brighton, England sited immediately next to one another. The Senior School...
and
Shrewsbury SchoolShrewsbury School is a public school located in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It is one of the Clarendon Schools, the original nine great English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868, and is now a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. Shrewsbury School...
. He served his compulsory
military serviceNational service is a common name for mandatory or voluntary government service programs . National service was common in the 20th century, and many young people spent one or more years in such programs...
in the
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
photo-reconnaissance unit, taking aerial photographs of the combat zone during the 1956
Suez CrisisThe Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, was a military attack on Egypt by Britain, France, and Israel beginning on 29 October 1956....
, and being wounded in the face by a sniper in
CyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country situated in the eastern Mediterranean, south of Turkey and west of Syria and Lebanon....
.
While stationed in
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
with RAF Intelligence , he auditioned for
British Forces RadioThe British Forces Broadcasting Service was established by the British War Office in 1943. Today it provides radio and television programmes for HM Forces, and their dependents, in Afghanistan, Belize, Bosnia, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Gibraltar, Kosovo, the Middle...
. Demobilised in 1958, his first civilian jobs reportedly included being a bouncer in a coffee bar, an actor, a builders' labourer, a leaf-sweeper in
Hyde ParkHyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, England and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
and a vacuum cleaner salesman.. During the 1960s, he changed his surname to Henty-Dodd.
Radio Caroline
In 1964 he joined
Radio CarolineRadio Caroline is the name of several broadcasting ventures situated in several countries and from ships in territorial or international waters. Its name originated with fashion and society magazine editor Beatrix Miller as early as December 1961, but the first attempt to use the name for radio...
, a
pirate radioPirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. Its etymology can be traced to the unlicensed nature of the transmission, but historically there has been occasional but notable use of sea vessels – fitting the most common perception of a pirate – as broadcasting bases...
ship broadcasting pop music from outside UK territorial waters. On Easter Day, 30 March, his was the first voice to be heard on the radio station, welcoming listeners and handing over to the only other DJ on the ship at the time,
Chris MooreChristopher Moore was a key figure in the British rock music radio revolution of the 1960's.Moore was the presenter of the first programme broadcast by the offshore pirate radio ship Radio Caroline on Easter Sunday, 1964. At its peak the station had 23 million listeners....
, for the opening programme.
BBC
In 1965 Dee was given a job on the
BBC Light ProgrammeThe Light Programme was a BBC radio station which broadcast mainstream light entertainment and music from 1945 until 1967. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the longwave frequency used before 1939 by the BBC National Programme....
, introducing a late-night show on Saturdays. He also worked on
Radio LuxembourgRadio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
. He told a reporter at the time that he left Caroline "while the going was good". After
BBC Radio 1BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the BBC which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock or interviews. It is aimed...
opened in 1967, he introduced the Monday edition of
Midday Spin and sometimes presented
Top of the PopsTop of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. It was traditionally shown every Thursday evening on BBC1, before being moved to Fridays in 1996, and then moved to Sundays on BBC...
on BBC television.
In 1967 Dee began his early evening chat show
Dee Time on BBC television. The show became very popular, with up to 18 million viewers.
Dee Time opened with sports presenter
Len MartinLen Martin was born in Australia. He was a famous voice in the UK for reading out the football results and associated football pools statistics on the BBC's Saturday afternoon sports programme, Grandstand. He performed this role from the programme's very first edition in 1958 until his death, aged...
announcing "It's Siiiiimon Dee!", imitating
The Johnny Carson showThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992....
, and closed with a shot of Dee driving off in an
E-type JaguarThe Jaguar E-Type or XK-E was a British automobile manufactured by Jaguar between 1961 and 1974. Its combination of good looks, high performance, and competitive pricing resulted in a great success for Jaguar, who sold more than 70,000 E-Types over its lifespan, and the E-Type became an icon of...
with blonde model
Lorna McDonaldLorna McDonald was a blonde fashion model from the Lucy Clayton agency who, in the 1960s, became famous, though anonymously, as the young woman who jumped into Simon Dee’s white open-top E-type Jaguar car at the end of each edition of BBC television's chat show, Dee Time .-Dee Time closing...
. Only two complete editions of
Dee Time survive in the BBC archives; the programme was transmitted live and the BBC rarely recorded live programmes they did not intend to repeat. He became very successful and adopted an extravagant lifestyle. In the 2004 Channel Four TV programme,
Dee Construction, fellow DJ
Tony BlackburnTony Blackburn is an English disc jockey, who broadcast on the "pirate" stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s and was the first presenter to appear on BBC Radio 1 in 1967. In 2002 he was the winner of the ITV reality TV programme I'm a Celebrity.....
recalled, "He used to drive up and down the
King's RoadKing's Road is a street in Chelsea, London, England.King's Road or Kings Road may also refer to:* King's Road * King's Road * King's Road *King's Road , part of Florida State Road 4...
in an Aston Martin driven by his secretary. To be honest, I thought that was a bit of a waste of money." He had cameo roles in films, including
The Italian JobThe Italian Job is a British caper film, written by Troy Kennedy Martin, produced by Michael Deeley and directed by Peter Collinson. It was released in 1969 and was popular in Britain; subsequent television showings and releases on video have established it as something of a national institution...
(1969) and
Doctor in TroubleDoctor in Trouble is a 1970 comedy film, part of the long-running 'Doctor Series'. Directed by Ralph Thomas it stars Leslie Phillips as a doctor who gets accidentally trapped on an outgoing cruise ship while it begins a round the world trip. The cast was rounded out by a number of British comedy...
(1970).
ITV
Following a disagreement between Dee and BBC bosses over Dee's huge salary demands, his contract was reviewed in 1969 and he left the channel. The BBC were paying him £250 a show (equivalent to £ today) and he claimed ITV were offering him £1000. It is said that the BBC's Head of Light Entertainment
Bill CottonSir William Frederick "Bill" Cotton, CBE was a British television producer and executive, and the son of big-band leader Billy Cotton....
not only refused the pay rise he demanded but said that he would cut Dee's wages by 20 per cent "to test his loyalty". He was offered £100,000 for a two-year contract with the independent channel LWT and commenced a series with them in January 1970.
Dee fell out with the LWT management as well and they terminated his contract after only a few months. There was friction between Dee and
David FrostSir David Paradine Frost, OBE is an British journalist, comedian, writer and media personality, best known as a pioneer of political satire on television and for his serious interviews with various political figures, the most notable being Richard Nixon. Since 2006, he has hosted the weekly...
, part-owner of LWT, after whose show Dee's was broadcast. Both were talk shows, and Frost thought that some of Dee's items would make the shows too similar. Dee felt that Frost was deliberately sabotaging his show. After a bizarre interview with actor
George LazenbyGeorge Robert Lazenby is an Australian actor and former model, best known for portraying James Bond in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.-Early life:...
, who had been smoking
cannabisCannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa L., Cannabis indica Lam., and Cannabis ruderalis Janisch. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for medicinal purposes, and as a...
and who outlined at length his theories about the assassination of
Robert F. KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician. He was a younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and acted as one of his advisers during his presidency. From 1961 to 1964, he was the U.S...
, the show was dropped.
Decline
In June 1970, Dee joined his former Radio Caroline boss,
Ronan O'RahillyRonan O'Rahilly was born 21 May 1940, at . His grandfather was an important figure in the quest for the independence of Ireland. The name of Ronan O'Rahilly has also become associated with the offshore pirate radio station Radio Caroline.-Background:Much of what has been written about Ronan...
, to campaign for pirate radio and against the Labour government's
Marine Broadcasting Offences ActThe Marine, Etc., Broadcasting Act 1967 c.41, shortened to Marine Broadcasting Offences Act, became law in the United Kingdom at 12 midnight on Monday, August 14, 1967...
, issuing a poster of
Prime MinisterA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician. In many systems, the prime minister selects and can dismiss other members of the cabinet, and...
Harold WilsonJames Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC was a British Labour Party politician; one of the most prominent British politicians of the latter half of the 20th century, he served two terms as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, firstly from 1964 to 1970, and again from 1974...
dressed as Chinese dictator
Mao ZedongMao Zedong was a Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and Communist leader. He led the People's Republic of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976...
. Pirate radio had become a political issue and, in the run up to the general election that summer, Radio Caroline International launched a campaign in support of the
Conservative PartyThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
, which supported commercial radio. Dee claimed that there was an Establishment plot against him because of his open opposition to Wilson, and recently released government files show that he had been monitored by the
Security ServiceThe Security Service commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of the intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service , Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence Staff...
.
Having alienated both the BBC and independent television, Dee disappeared from the airwaves. He signed on for
unemployment benefitIn the United Kingdom Jobseeker's Allowance , colloquially known as The Dole, is a form of unemployment benefit that is paid by the government to people who are unemployed and seeking work. It is part of the social security benefits system and is meant to cover the cost of living expenses in...
at the
FulhamFulham is an area of west London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, located south west of Charing Cross. It is situated in between Putney and Chelsea...
labour exchangeJobcentre Plus is the government-funded employment agency facility and the social security office for working-age people in Great Britain. The agency was formed when the Employment Service, which operated Jobcentres and existed alongside separate social security benefits offices, merged with the...
, giving rise to considerable press coverage. Unable to revive his show business career, he took a job as a
bus driverA bus driver or omnibus driver is a person who drives buses as their profession. Bus drivers typically drive their vehicles between bus stations or stops. They often drop off and pick up passengers on a predetermined route schedule. In British English a different term, coach drivers, is used for...
. He also had several court appearances and in 1974 he served 28 days in Pentonville prison for non-payment of
ratesCouncil Tax is the system of local taxation used in England, Scotland and Wales to part fund the services provided by local government in each country. It was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as a successor to the unpopular Community Charge...
on his former
ChelseaChelsea is an area of south-west London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe...
home. Every time he left his cell, the prisoners on his wing shouted, "It's Siiiiiimon Dee!" He was so shocked by prison that he swore he would never get into debt again. On a later occasion, the magistrate who jailed him for a misdemeanour was the BBC's Head of Light Entertainment and his ex-boss,
Bill CottonSir William Frederick "Bill" Cotton, CBE was a British television producer and executive, and the son of big-band leader Billy Cotton....
.
Later career
Dee found some brief broadcasting jobs since that time. In the late 1970s, he was signed to appear as holiday cover on the Reading-based
Radio 210Heart Berkshire is an Independent Local Radio station serving Berkshire and North Hampshire with studios in Reading. Originally launching as Radio 210 , it commenced broadcasting in March 1976 on its medium-wave frequency of 210 metres...
, but never made to air. In the late 1980s, Dee hosted
Sounds of the 60sSounds of the 60s is a long-running Saturday morning programme on BBC Radio 2 that features recordings of popular music made in the 1960s. It was first broadcast on 12 February 1983 and introduced by Keith Fordyce who had been the first presenter of the TV show Ready Steady Go! in 1963...
on
BBC Radio 2BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the UK. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
. In 2003,
Victor Lewis-SmithVictor Lewis-Smith is a British satirist, producer, critic and prankster. He is known for his sarcasm and biting criticism.-Radio and recordings:...
arranged for a one-off new live edition of
Dee Time to be broadcast on Channel Four, following
Dee Construction, which covered Dee's career.
Family
He was married and divorced three times:
- In 1959, to Beryl (Bunny) Cooper (div)
- In 1975, to Sara M. LeB Terry (div)
- In 1995, to Judith C. Wilson (div)
External links