You can thank your lucky stars for Brian
Last updated 09:30, Saturday, 18 October 2008
ANOTHER veteran from the music world is British broadcaster Brian Matthew, who became well known in the Sixties.
Born in Coventry in 1928, Brian has recently celebrated his 80th birthday and for the last 18 years, has been presenting the Sounds of the 60s on the radio for the BBC, still employing the same vocabulary and the same measured delivery he used in previous decades.
He started broadcasting in 1948 in Germany, and trained as an actor at RADA before joining the BBC in 1954.
He became popular in the days of the BBC Light Programme, hosting the Saturday Skiffle Club in 1957 which changed to its more familiar name Saturday Club in 1958. In 1960 when there was little pop music on the radio Easy Beat started. The shows attracted audiences into the millions.
All the big stars of the era, including The Beatles appeared on the shows. It went into decline due to offshore radio and when Radio 1 was launched in 1967, Easy Beat was axed.
In 1973 Brian, with his deep soft voice, fronted a new radio series entitled My Top 12 which lasted for an hour on weekend afternoons. My Top 12 was arguably BBC Radio 1's equivalent to Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.
Later, Brian Matthew returned to prominence as the host of BBC Radio 2's arts magazine Round Midnight, from 1978 to 1990.
On television, Brian is probably best remembered as the presenter of Thank Your Lucky Stars (ITV 1961-66). Over those years he not only introduced some of the best British acts but some of the best from the USA too, including The Ronettes, Brenda Lee, and The Supremes.
Brian won, quite deservedly, a Sony Gold Award in 2008 to celebrate an impressive 50 year lifetime career of national and international radio broadcasting.
