David Hamilton Pilditch, known as David Hamilton, is an English radio and television presenter. Since his broadcasting career began in 1959, Hamilton has hosted over 12,000 radio shows and more than 1,000 TV shows. He is usually known as 'Diddy David Hamilton' which was a name given to him by the English comedian Ken Dodd.
Early life
He attended Glastonbury Road Grammar School at St Helier in Surrey, until aged 17. While at school he became a columnist on the weekly national magazine Soccer Star.
TV career
On leaving school Hamilton became a script-writer for the TV series Portrait of a Star. In 1960 he became an in-vision television announcer for ABC TV based in Didsbury, Manchester and appeared with 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 ITV's hangman-style game showAll 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. In February 2012 at the age of 73 he danced to the 1988 hit "Push It" with fellow DJ Tony Blackburn as contestants on the charity show Let's Dance for Sport Relief
Radio career
BBC Radio
Hamilton made his broadcasting debut with the British Forces Network in Germany in 1959. His first UK broadcast was as the host of The Beat Show from the Playhouse Theatre, Manchester, in 1962. He hosted the show on the BBC Light Programme until 1965. He presented the final edition of Housewives' Choice in 1967 and was first heard on Radio 1 in November 1967, presenting Family Choice. By the late '60s Hamilton was presenting many shows for BBC radio, including Music Through Midnight, Roundabout, Pop Inn, Radio 1 Club and shows featuring the music of Frank Chacksfield. In 1970 he joined the team of Late Night Extra and in 1973 was offered his own daily show on Radio 1 every weekday afternoon from 2pm to 5pm. A regular feature was his "Tea at Three" slot which used as its jingle based on the 1961 version of Jack Buchanan's 1935 hit "Everything Stops For Tea" recorded for the show by Mud. In 1975 the show was simultaneously broadcast on Radio 1 and Radio 2, giving it the biggest audience of the day. In December 1977, the show moved to Radio 2 and remained there until the end of 1986 when Hamilton quit the station, complaining of its 'geriatric' music policy.
Commercial radio
Since January 1987, Hamilton has been heard on many commercial stations in the UK. He joined Reading's Radio 210 initially to present a mid-morning show from 9am to 12 noon although the show was quickly brought forward an hour, starting at 8am. He then joined Capital Gold in November 1988 to present its daily 10am to 1pm show. In addition to that, he also presented a weekly oldies show which was heard on various ILR stations around the UK. This was usually heard on a Sunday afternoon. In late 1994, Hamilton presented the Breakfast show on Melody FM for four years before moving to London's Liberty Radio to present an afternoon show. He also did a show on the Classic Gold Network on a Sunday. In 2000 he joined PrimeTime Radio, presenting the weekday mid-morning show, where he remained until its demise in 2006. In October 2001 he left Classic Gold and presented the breakfast show on Birmingham's Saga 105.7 FM before moving to Nottingham's Saga 106.6 FM in early 2003. From 2004 to 2006, he was heard on various radio stations around the UK, presenting his Million Sellers show, which would usually go out on a Saturday lunchtime, and was repeated at midnight. Around this time he also had a sojourn at Big L 1395. In April 2012, Hamilton was one of the launch presenters on The Wireless, an Internet-based radio station operated byAge UK and aimed at older people throughout the UK.
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 BBC1's Match of the Day and BSkyB's Football First as he was the matchday compère at Fulham F.C.
Books
Hamilton is the author of four books: The Music Game 1986, A Fulhamish Tale, 2012, The Golden Days of Radio One, 2017 and Commercial Radio Daze 2020.
Current work
By 2015 Hamilton was hosting daily four hour shows for The Wireless, and The Million Sellers for Decades Radio. He also presents a weekly Sunday show on 45 radio, an up-beat over 45s station. He is heard regularly on BBC Sussex and BBC Surrey. His programme, The Million Sellers, is heard on several radio stations in the UK and abroad. In 2019 Hamilton celebrated 60 years in broadcasting, and today is in demand as lunch/dinner speaker, talking about his experiences and many of the celebrities he has worked with.
