Web Page  No 2290

19^th August 2016

New Drayton Book now available. £3.00 + £1.25 p&p

Next Meeting 6th October at noon in The George

Top Picture: The Juke Box Jury Days

Second Picture: With Ami Macdonald

Third Picture: Alan ‘Fluff’ Freeman

David Jacobs

It was quite a shock to the establishment when David Jacobs was picked by the BBC to host the new radio programme ‘Pick of the Pops’.  The last thing that was expected was a suave, sophisticated, well-dressed man with a cut glass accent, but it seemed to work. And work it did until he took over ‘Juke Box Jury’ on the TV and Alan ‘Fluff’ Freeman took over his radio show after his five year tenure.  

David Lewis Jacobs was born in May 1926 to a Jewish family, the youngest of three son of Jeanette and David Jacobs senior,^[in Streatham Hill, London,and educated at Belmont College and Strand School. In his early years the family was affluent, but his father, a Covent Garden fruit importer, was bankrupted in 1939 after suffering ill-health for a decade, and the family soon lost their home. This forced his youngest son to leave school at 14, and David took up various short-term jobs, before he served in the Royal Navy from 1944 to 1947 and whist in the service performed on the popular BBC General Forces Programme Navy Mixture in 1944.  He became an announcer with the British Forces Broadcasting Service and was chief announcer on Radio SEAC in Ceylon (1945–47) and later became assistant station director.

He became a BBC staff announcer in the early 1950s and his voice was heard in the titles for many of the 53 episodes of Journey Into Space, he also played 22 parts in the series. Another area of broadcasting was Radio Luxembourg. Between 1957 and 1966, he presented A Song for Europe and provided the UK commentary at Eurovision Song Contests.

In 1949 he married Patricia Bradlaw, with whom he had three daughters and a son, but their marriage collapsed in 1969, and the couple divorced in 1972. Their daughter is actress Emma Jacobs. His life was marked by several tragic events. Jeremy, his 19-year-old son, was killed in Israel during 1972 in a car accident while engaged in charity work. In 1975, he survived a car accident in Spain in which his second wife, Caroline, whom he had married earlier that year, and Caroline Marsh, wife of politician Richard Marsh, were killed. David’s wife was pregnant with their unborn child. In 1979 he married Lindsay Stuart-Hutcheson.

Most of us remember him Jacobs presenting  Juke Box Jury  between 1959 and 1967. Now who was in the audience in the Guildhall when it was broadcast from there twice? I was! First was 2nd December 1961 The week panel included: Jill Browne Harry Fowler Pete Murray June Thorburn and in the chair, David Jacobs and second 31st October 1964 and the Jury consisted of a very pregnant Marianne Faithful, Petula Clark, Stubby Kaye and Gene Pitney.  

1962 this programme attracted 12 million viewers weekly on Saturday nights. He was also one of the four original presenters of Top of the Pops when it began in 1964, but remained a presenter of the programme for only its first two years. "I became too square for the pop scene," he once commented.

In 1963 he published an autobiography, 'Jacobs' Ladder'.

Most of his career after the late 1960s was at Radio 2  and consisted of easy listening music and interviews with guests. From December 1967 until July 1984, he chaired the Radio 4 topical debate, Any Questions? 

In 1984, he received the Sony Gold Award for his outstanding contribution to radio over the years (and was subsequently admitted to the Sony Hall of Fame). He also achieved the Richard Martin Award for exceptional service in the cause of animal welfare. In the same year, he was appointed Representative Deputy Lieutenant for the Royal Borough of Kingston, a position he held over the following 17 years. On his retirement from this position he became High Steward of Kingston.

Between January 1985 and December 1991, he presented a daily lunchtime programme on Radio 2 of what he characterised as "our kind of music", and subsequently presented a weekly programme following a similar format, for a time on Saturday evening and later on Fridays, although the show finished airing in early 1999. He also presented Radio 2's long-running Sunday programme Melodies for You from 1974 to 1984.

By now one of the station's oldest presenters, he hosted a Sunday late-night easy listening show from 1998 until 2013. 

During the first half of 2012, while he was recovering from two major operations, he continued to be heard each Sunday on BBC Radio 2, which broadcast repeats of The David Jacobs Collection orininally presented  in 1998. He returned to his regular Sunday night slot with The David Jacobs Collection on 8 July 2012.

On 22 July 2013 he announced that he was stepping down as presenter of his Radio 2 show, citing ill health. His last show was broadcast on 4 August 2013. He said, "I will not stop collecting but my sadness will be that I cannot share them with all my loyal listeners. But rest assured, I will be back from time to time."

 He had been involved since its inception in Kingston's Rose Theatre, of which he was life president. He was vice-patron of the charity Advance Centre for the Scotson Technique, and patron of the Disabled Photographers' Society.he was also a lifelong friend of Dame Vera Lynn and was Vice President of her charity, The Dame Vera Lynn Trust for Children with Cerebral Palsy. He was also involved in the Celebrities Guild, "a kind of Jewish Variety Club", and regularly spoke at "ordinary suburban synagogues"

David Jacobs died at home at the age of 87 on 2nd September 2013, surrounded by his family. He had been suffering from Parkinson's disease and had also been treated for liver cancer since at least 2011.

Keep in touch

Peter

gsseditor@gmail.com

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On this day 19^th August 1960-1965

On this day 19^th August 1960-1965

The top rated TV show was Rawhide (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was 11 new independent African states created.

On 19/08/1961 the number one single was You Don't Know - Helen Shapiro and the number one album was Black & White Minstrel Show - George Mitchell Minstrels. The top rated TV show was Harpers West One (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Ipswich were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 19/08/1962 the number one single was I Remember You - Frank Ifield and the number one album was West Side Story Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 19/08/1963 the number one single was Sweets For My Sweet - Searchers and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 19/08/1964 the number one single was Do Wah Diddy Diddy - Manfred Mann and the number one album was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 19/08/1965 the number one single was Help - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was "Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69. Watts race riots in US and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Riviera Police (AR)".