UK Edition
DJ David Hamilton: 'In the Seventies I was out-earning the prime minister'
Broadcaster David Hamilton started his radio and television career in the Sixties, presenting a variety of shows. He worked with Ken Dodd for two series of Doddy’s Music Box in 1967 and 1968 and hosted his own daily show on Radio 1 from 1973 to 1977.
He moved to Radio 2 until 1986, when he left to work for commercial radio. He was also a regular presenter on Top of the Pops.
Hamilton currently has his own daily show on The Wireless and works for BBC Radio Solent, Surrey and Sussex. He is married to his second wife, Dreena, and lives in Sussex. Between them they have five children and nine grandchildren.
How did your childhood affect your attitude to money?
I was an only child, born just before the Second World War. Before the war my parents had been doing well but the years of austerity meant that they had to live frugally. My parents divorced when I was nine.
My mother then lived in a flat in Fulham. The bath was in the kitchen and to use it we had to remove the tabletop and its contents. There were no holidays abroad. I learned early on that you had to live within your means.
The radio was my window to the world. At Christmas time I used to impersonate characters to entertain my family. All I ever wanted to do was to sit at a microphone and broadcast. I’ve always had a strong work ethic and in a fickle profession I’ve never had a week out of work.
I remember the words of my first agent: “Take anything that’s going – even if it’s a number 8 bus.”
Has there been a time in your life when you didn’t know how you were going to pay the bills?
My first wife and I divorced when I was 35 and my mother died around the same time. I gave my wife the family house in Oxshott and moved back into my mother’s flat. Divorce wipes you out financially. Everything I’d earned in the first 15 years of my life had gone and I had to start all over again.
What was your first wage packet?
When I was a schoolboy aged 16 I wrote a weekly column for a magazine called Soccer Star. That paid two guineas. I got my first job in broadcasting in 1960.
When I introduced The Beatles in concert in 1963 I was paid 10 guineas. I introduced the Rolling Stones a year later and my fee went up to 12 guineas.
What was the best-paid part of your career?
In the Seventies when I was a Radio 1 DJ and hosting Top of the Pops. I got around £400 a week for the radio work but only ever got paid £90 per Top of the Pops show. If I then went to do a gig I could get paid four times as much, which didn’t really seem right.
At least three nights a week I was doing disco shows in clubs. The radio and TV provided the shop window for the gigs. Several newspapers ran stories that we were earning more than the prime minister. The BBC didn’t pay the kind of money then that they now offer to people like Chris Evans. Things change.
Which brought a higher profile – radio or television?
Radio DJs were constantly in the newspapers. Publicity was part of the job. I was paid for interviews and my autobiography in 1986 was serialised in three papers. I also brought out some books – Beauty Tips for Women and Make Ends Meet, both of which sold very well.
What were your best and worst financial decisions?
My best buy was a house in Barnes, south-west London. I bought it for £200,000 and later sold it for more than £2m.
The worst? Probably leaving Radio 2 in 1986. I left on principle because a new controller had brought in a music policy I couldn’t agree with. I later moved to Capital Gold, a commercial radio station, after a tempting offer of more money, and stayed for six years.
I probably should have hung on at Radio 2. That controller was soon gone and the Radio 2 of today is what it should have been then.
Are you a saver or a spender?
When I was doing well I lived in the way that someone with a high profile thought they should. I had a few Rolls‑Royces. I spent a certain amount of money on clothes but you had to in order to keep up appearances.
Are you good with money?
I have an excellent financial adviser who has given me nothing but good advice. I’m naturally cautious and have turned down several offers of investments that would have turned out to be disastrous.
I was invited to become a member of Lloyd’s but decided against it when they said that if everything went wrong I could lose my house. It had run into difficulties within a year and a lot of people lost a great deal of money.
What would you change about the financial world?
Bank closures. In rural areas this has caused much inconvenience, especially for senior customers. In my local village all three banks have now closed. The nearest is seven miles away.
Do you bank online?
No, I don’t trust it. I like to go into a bank and talk to a human being. I used to have a bank manager who would take me out to lunch and give me advice. Try getting that now.
Does money make you happy?
It certainly helps, but good health is the most important thing. The old saying “money doesn’t make you happy but it enables you to be miserable in comfort” may be a bit hackneyed but it is true.