Still Whispering After All These Years by Bob Harris

Author:Bob Harris [Harris, Bob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Michael O'Mara Books

EIGHT

‘The World Ends on a Whisper’

A CHILL WIND OF CHANGE WAS BLASTING THROUGH RADIO 1. IT WAS becoming clear that Dave Lee Travis was right in his prediction of a major cull. The atmosphere at Egton House was very uncertain as rumours of who would stay and who would go gathered force. The national press was choreographing an increasingly vigorous campaign to see off the dinosaur DJs, with my name prominent in the published lists of potential casualties. Nevertheless, it came as a major shock when, in August 1993, DLT made his stand and resigned on air midway through his programme. Whatever else I thought about it, I had to admire the man’s principles. His ‘up with this I will not put’ speech was a classic.

‘As Dave Lee Travis packs his record box and prepares to leave Radio 1, he will leave behind a slight feeling of vulnerability among some of his 20 fellow disc jockeys’ wrote the Guardian a few days later, with droll understatement. ‘While Radio 1 claims its target audience is between the ages of 15 and 35, the average age of the disc jockeys is just over 35. Some have been criticized for being staid and out of touch as the station attempts to inject a fresher, lighter approach and move towards a younger audience.’

Despite assurances to the contrary, I realized that it was all adding up to the end of my Radio 1 career. Let’s face it, I’d been deemed unfashionable for the best part of the previous 17 years, ever since being castigated by the punks! In a funny sort of way it didn’t really bother me. If I lost the programmes ... well, I’d just have to rebuild again. The fact that I’d successfully recovered from setbacks a number of times in the past had given me some resilience and trained me in the methods of ‘moving on’. Of course, losing Radio 1 would be a massive blow, but it didn’t represent as big a threat to the very heart of my home life as did the increasingly bitter financial battle with Bruno Brookes.

What made it so difficult from our point of view was the fact that Bruno was pressing for full payment of his loan to us, no matter what. We were desperately trying to sell the flat, which had now lost £85,000 of its value in 12 months. Even at the knockdown price of £172,000 we hadn’t received one offer. With the equity on the flat mortgaged to the hilt we had no means of raising the lump sum of £130,000 we owed Bruno and we could no longer support the interest on the loan. I could understand him wanting his money, and never pretended anything other than liability, but the hostility was palpable as he increased the pressure on us. Several times he reduced Trudie to tears on the phone. At the end of March 1993 Bruno served us with a repossession order, giving us notice to quit the property by 5th July.

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