Dave Lee Travis
Dave Lee Travis | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 May 1945 |
| Occupation(s) | Radio and television presenter |
Dave Lee Travis (born 25 May 1945), also known professionally as DLT, is a British radio presenter, best known for his career on BBC Radio 1.
Early life
Born David Patrick Griffin in Buxton, Derbyshire, he attended grammar school in Manchester, and his first job was as a graphic designer.
Radio
Travis began his radio career at the offshore pirate station Radio Caroline South from the MV Mi Amigo off the Essex coast in September 1965, later moving onto Radio Caroline North from the MV Fredericia off the Isle Of Man until mid-August 1967. In 1967, offshore pirate radio was outlawed by the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act. Travis moved to Manchester and began working for BBC Radio 1.
1968-1993
Travis's Radio 1 career began in 1968, presenting the Pop North show from Manchester. In 1969, he took over a Sunday morning show from 10am-midday. In 1971, he was promoted to the weekday lunchtime show from 11am-1pm, moving back to Sunday mornings in 1973 and also presenting the Radio 1 Club on Thursdays from 5–7pm.
In the 1970s, he adopted the on-air nickname of "The Hairy Monster", but changed this to "The Hairy Cornflake" when he started presenting Radio 1's Breakfast Show.
On television, he provided the UK commentary for the Eurovision Song Contest 1971 in Dublin, Ireland, and in 1985 presented the Eurovision Song Contest Previews on BBC1.
In 1975, he took over the weekday teatime slot from 4.30-5.45pm (extended to run 4.30-7pm in 1977). He then took over the Breakfast Show from Noel Edmonds in May 1978 and continued in this slot until December 1980.
In 1976, an on-air parody of the US hit "Convoy" (by C. W. McCall) led to a release of the song "Convoy GB" as a single, recorded with fellow DJ Paul Burnett under the name Laurie Lingo and the Dipsticks. The song reached number four in the charts and Travis appeared as the song's narrator "Super Scouse" on Top Of The Pops.
The sound effect "quack quack oops" became a famous Radio 1 feature, and was resurrected for his current weekend morning show on the Magic Network.
January 1981 saw Travis move to weekday afternoons from 2.30–4.30pm. Later that year he moved back to the weekday lunchtime slot from 11.30am–2pm, before moving to a Saturday morning show in 1983 from 10am–1pm, then Sunday mornings from 10am–1pm in 1987, taking over both Saturday and Sunday in September 1988.
A Jolly Good Show
Travis spent twenty years presenting the BBC World Service music request programme A Jolly Good Show. In June 2011, Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said the programme had given her a lifeline. The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who had spent 15 years under house arrest from 1989, told the BBC A Jolly Good Show had made her "world much more complete". Travis, who presented the show from 1981 to 2001, said he was "touched" but "not surprised" that she had remembered it.[1]
On-air resignation
On 8 August 1993 Travis resigned on-air during his Sunday morning show, stating that he could not agree with changes that were being made to Radio 1. Travis told his audience that changes were afoot that he could not tolerate - "....and I really want to put the record straight at this point and I thought you ought to know - changes are being made here which go against my principles and I just cannot agree with them..."[2] It had been widely assumed from the time of new Controller Matthew Bannister's appointment that Travis would be one of the first victims of a cull.
1993-2007
On leaving Radio 1, Travis hosted a networked Sunday morning show (10am–1pm) across some of the UK's commercial radio stations. He also went to Classic Gold where he hosted the 10am–1pm morning show (later 9am–12pm), before moving to breakfast 7am–9am and then back to mornings 9am–11am.
In 2002, he left Classic Gold to work for the Army's Garrison Radio.
From March 2003 to March 2007, Travis returned to the BBC, and presented a Sunday morning show from 9am–12pm on BBC Three Counties Radio, his local BBC radio station.
In 2005 he was briefly heard on Spain's Spectrum FM, presenting a Saturday morning show, but that ended later the same year due to poor listening figures.
Present day
Since 8 July 2006, Travis has been on the Magic Network, a network of eight radio stations across the North of England on AM and DAB Digital Radio, where he hosts The DLT Show 10am–1pm on Saturdays and, since 4 February 2007, at the same time on Sundays as well with his co-host "Dangerous" Dan Black.
Television
DLT presented the German TV show Beat Club, where he introduced such acts as Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Steamhammer.
On BBC television, he presented editions of Top of the Pops in the 1970s and 1980s. He was also the presenter of The Golden Oldie Picture Show in the mid 1980s, an attempt by the BBC to create videos for classic pop songs that pre-dated the video age.
In 1993 he hosted children's television show "Go Getters". [3]
He was also the United Kingdom commentator for the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest.[4]
On 14 February 2000, Travis was the subject of the This Is Your Life programme on British TV.
Other TV appearances include The Weakest Link, Noel's House Party, Mrs. Merton, Stars Reunited, Kick Start, Go Getters and Today with Des and Mel.
Noel's House Party Gotcha
Travis was famously the victim of a practical joke (or Gotcha) by Noel Edmonds on his TV show Noel's House Party. His radio quiz was unknowingly hijacked by two fake pub quiz teams which gave absurd answers to every question. His 'reaction' at the reveal had to be recorded twice because his initial outburst was full of swearwords. He said to Noel 'Edmonds, you are a dead man! I don't want your gotcha!'
Travis had his "revenge" the following week when, by arrangement with the Noel's House Party production team, he hijacked Noel Edmonds's show live on air, culminating in Edmonds ending up in the Great House's infamous green gunge tank.
Trivia
Travis was named Pipe Smoker of the Year in 1982.
In 1987, he published a book of his own photographic efforts called A Bit Of A Star, which he dedicated to his late father.[5]
Travis appeared in the video for the Comic Relief version of the The Proclaimers song "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", performed by Peter Kay and Matt Lucas.
In the 1970s, Travis was a regular drag racer. [6]
External links
- Biography at Radio Rewind - including photos and audio clips from DLT's shows.
- Magic Network
- The DLT Show Facebook Page
- DLT to broadcast on the Magic Network in the UK
References
- ^ Suu Kyi Reveals DJ Travis Lifeline
- ^ "Profile: Dave Lee Travis". Aircheck Tracker. Archived from the original on 2009-10-22. Retrieved 13 November 2008.
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124943/
- ^ "The Eurovision Song Contest (1971) (TV)". IMDB. Retrieved 22 June 2008.
- ^ Travis, Dave Lee (1987). A Bit of a Star: Media Women..... Their fine-points and phobias as photographed by Dave Lee Travis. Kodak. ISBN 9780901023346.
- ^ "Crazy Horses, The History of UK Drag Racing". Retrieved 23 March 2011.