Simon Dee

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Simon Dee in the film, Doctor in Trouble (1970)
Simon Dee in the film, Doctor in Trouble (1970)

Cyril Nicholas Henty-Dodd[1] (born July 28, 1935, Ottawa, Canada) is better known by his stage name Simon Dee. He was a British television interviewer and radio disc jockey who hosted a twice-weekly chat show Dee Time, but after moving from the BBC to London Weekend Television he was dropped and his career never recovered.

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[edit] Background and radio career

He was educated at Brighton College and Shrewsbury School. At first working as an actor, on Easter Day, 30 March 1964 his was the first voice to be heard on Radio Caroline, one of the 'radio pirates' broadcasting popular music from ships outside UK territorial waters, and became so famous that he was offered a job on the BBC Light Programme in 1965, introduding a late-night show on Saturdays. He also worked on Radio Luxembourg. He told a reporter at the time that he left Caroline "while the going was good" [2]. For a short while after BBC Radio 1 opened in 1967 he introduced the Monday edition of Midday Spin and sometimes presented Top of the Pops on BBC television.

[edit] Dee Time

In 1967 Dee began his chat show on BBC television, which opened with the announcer, Len Martin (hotfoot from reading the football results on Grandstand), emulating Ed McMahon's introduction to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ('It's Siiiiimon Dee!') and closed with Dee driving off in a Jaguar E-type with a blonde model named Lorna McDonald. Actress Elizabeth Hurley has claimed that he was the model for Austin Powers in the spoof 1960s films of 1997-2002 [3]. Dee himself cameo roles in some films, including The Italian Job (1969) and Doctor in Trouble (1970). He was first imprisoned for debt in March 1968, in Brixton prison where he suffered the fate that every time he left his cell, the wing would resound to the cry of 'It's Siiiiiimon Dee' from all the other prisoners. On this first internment he was so shocked that, while in the reception area waiting to be affected to a cell, he swore that he would never get into debt again!

[edit] Move to ITV

Due to a disagreement with BBC bosses about the show, Dee decided to take up an offer to move to the independent channel London Weekend Television for £100,000 for two years from January 1970. However, he continued to fall out with that station's management, especially David Frost, who would not have approved his being hired if he had known about it. Dee's show was scheduled immediately after Frost's, which was another talk show, and Frost vetoed some items and guests which he felt would make the two shows too similar. Dee felt that Frost was deliberately sabotaging the show.

[edit] Decline

After a bizarre interview with George Lazenby (who had been smoking cannabis and outlined his theories on the assassination of John F. Kennedy at length), the show was not recommissioned. No alternative format for Dee was tried and he disappeared from the airwaves; when he signed on for unemployment benefit at Fulham labour exchange, there was considerable press coverage. Unable to revive his show business career, he eventually took a job as a bus driver; he also had several court appearances and some short jail terms in the 1970s over more unpaid debts.

[edit] Later career

Dee has found some brief broadcasting jobs since that time, such as in the late 1980s when he hosted Sounds of the 60s on BBC Radio 2. In 2003, Victor Lewis-Smith arranged for a one-off new live edition of Dee Time to be broadcast on Channel Four; it followed a documentary called Deeconstruction covering Dee's meteoric career. Only two complete editions of Dee Time survive in the BBC archives; the programme was transmitted live and, in those days, live programmes which were not due to be repeated were not normally recorded.

[edit] Spoofs

The British comedian Benny Hill once spoofed Dee in his show. The character 'Tommy Tupper' and his chat show "Tupper Time" were blatantly based on Dee. In the sketch, Tupper's guests are a man who drops dead, another one who doesn't say anything, a priest who strolls in with his trousers unzipped and a very drunk actress.

The show was imitated also on Round the Horne, the BBC radio comedy show of the late 1960s. The words, "Siiiiiimon Dee", would be followed by Kenneth Horne's deadpan addition of a suffix such as "-pressed" or "-praved".

Monty Python's Flying Circus also mentions Simon Dee, in the The North Minehead By-election sketch, where Mr Hilter (sic), Bimmler (sic) and Ron Ribbentrop are hiding out in a guesthouse. One of the other guests thinks he recognises them: "Haven't I seen you on the television?" "Nicht. Nein. No." "Simon Dee show, or was it Frosty" "Nein. No."

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Some references give his first name as Carl.
  2. ^ Quoted in Jackpot, July 1966
  3. ^ Tim Teeman, The Times, 11 November 2006

[edit] External links

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