David Hamilton (broadcaster)

Hamilton attended Glastonbury Road Grammar School at St Helier in Surrey until the age of 17. While at school he became a columnist on the weekly national magazine Soccer Star. He performed national service in the Royal Air Force from 1959.[1]

On leaving school, Hamilton became a script-writer for the TV series Portrait of a Star.

Following his national service, he became an in-vision television announcer for ABC Weekend TV based in Didsbury, Manchester, and appeared with close friend Ken Dodd in the TV series Doddy's Music Box, acquiring the nickname 'Diddy'. Throughout the 1960s, he hosted shows for the ITV franchises Tyne Tees, Anglia and Westward.

He joined the then-new Thames Television as an announcer in 1968, subsequently hosting many shows for them including Miss TV Times, TV Times Gala Awards, The World Disco Dance Championships, as well as many outside broadcasts, circus and sports shows. He appeared alongside comedians Benny Hill and Tommy Cooper and hosted Thames TV's showcase weeks on television in New York City and Los Angeles. Later he hosted ATV's Saturday night series Up For the Cup, and four series of TVS's hangman-style game show All Clued Up.

For BBC TV, he hosted Top of the Pops and Seaside Special and the Eurovision Song Contest Previews in 1986. For seven years, he was the main host of one of the earliest satellite TV stations, Lifestyle. Hamilton was one of the final people on the network when it closed on 24 January 1993, appearing on the final segment wishing viewers goodbye.[2]

In February 2012, he danced to the 1988 Salt-N-Pepa hit "Push It" with fellow DJ and close friend Tony Blackburn as contestants on the charity show Let's Dance for Sport Relief.

On stage Hamilton has compered shows by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, David Cassidy and many other pop acts. He has hosted shows at the Royal Albert Hall and the London Palladium, and headlined in four major pantomimes.

In 2016, he embarked on a 40-theatre tour, David Hamilton's Rock 'n' Roll Back The Years, with band The Fugitives, and singers.

Hamilton was the compere for the Wembley Lions Speedway team in 1970 and 1971. During the 1970s, Hamilton was also the match day presenter for the Reading Racers Speedway Club. Latterly he was seen frequently on BBC One's Match of the Day and BSkyB's Football First as he was the matchday compère at Fulham F.C.[8]

Hamilton is the author of five books: David Hamilton's Beauty Tips for Women,[9] 1974, The Music Game (autobiography), 1986, A Fulhamish Tale, 2012, The Golden Days of Radio One, 2017 and Commercial Radio Daze, 2020.

In 2019, Hamilton celebrated 60 years in broadcasting. By this time he was heard regularly on his local stations BBC Radio Sussex and BBC Radio Surrey. His Million Sellers show continues to be aired on several stations in the UK and abroad.[10]

In 2021, at the age of 82, he became the oldest broadcaster to do a daily show on national radio with his lunchtime show on Boom Radio.[11] The same year David Hamilton`s Million Sellers and David Hamilton`s Hotshots launched on the Now 70s music television channel and he was a guest on Britain`s Biggest 70s Hits on Channel 5. He was seen as a newspaper reviewer on Sky News and in 2022 on GB News.

He is very much in demand as a lunch/dinner speaker where he talks about 60 years in broadcasting.

• David Hamilton's Official website
• David Hamilton on Boom Radio
• British Entertainment History Project. David Hamilton
• Neil Sean Meets David Hamilton.
• Tailor Made Radio: David Hamilton's Million Sellers.