| Annie Nightingale | |
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Presenting the Old Grey Whistle Test c. 1980 |
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| Born | 1 April 1942 [1] Osterley, London, England, UK |
| Show | Annie Nightingale |
| Station(s) | BBC Radio 1 |
| Time slot | Friday 02:00 - 04:00 |
| Style | Breaks |
| Country | UK |
| Website | BBC Radio 1 minisite |
Anne "Annie" Nightingale MBE (born 1 April 1942) is an English radio broadcaster. She is most commonly known by the more informal name of Annie. She was the first female presenter on BBC Radio 1 and, since the death of John Peel in October 2004, is its longest-serving presenter.
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After attending Lady Eleanor Holles School, Hampton, London and the Polytechnic of Central London School of Journalism Nightingale began her career as a journalist in Brighton. In the 1960s she wrote columns for the Daily Express, the Daily Sketch and Cosmopolitan magazine.
She started at Radio 1 on the 1st of January 1970 with a Sunday evening show. Later she then hosted the singles review show What's New in the early 1970s before graduating to a late-night progressive rock show, which was simulcast on the Radio 2 FM frequency.
In the late 1970s she presented a Sunday afternoon request show and by 1980 was presenting a Friday night show and the non-music-based Radio 1 Mailbag. In 1978 Nightingale began presenting the The Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC2; during her tenure the show moved away from its progressive rock bias and embraced more modern, popular styles such as punk rock and new wave.
In the late 1970s The Sunday Request Show began its run; originally broadcast on Sunday afternoons before moving in 1982 to a slot immediately after the Top 40. The show was one of the first on British radio to regularly play music from CDs. A gimmick was to allow the intro of the first song in the show to play uninterrupted before saying "Hi" in the very last second before the vocals started.
In 1994 Nightingale moved to a weekend overnight dance music show initially called The Chill Out Zone. She can still be heard in the early hours of Friday mornings on BBC Radio 1. On her current show she spins breaks, often featuring major breaks DJs such as Plump DJs, Freestylers, Noisia and Meat Katie. Nightingale regularly DJs live at clubs and festivals around the UK and Europe.
As a DJ Nightingale has travelled all over the world and made music-documentaries during visits to Russia, Romania, Iraq, Chile, The Philippines and Cuba. While in Havana in 1996 she was injured during a mugging, resulting in multiple injuries requiring an air-lift to a London hospital, since which she has worn the distinctive shades, now part of her image.
In 2002 Nightingale was awarded both the MBE for her services to radio broadcasting and The Caner Of The Year Award by Muzik Magazine. The award recognised her in depth coverage of the radio scene. In 2004 she was the first female DJ from Radio 1 to be inducted into the Radio Academy Hall Of Fame.
Nightingale has published two autobiographical books: Chase The Fade (1981) ISBN 0713711671 and Wicked Speed (1999) ISBN 0283061979. She has compiled two albums: Annie On One (1996, Heavenly Recordings) and her own installment of the Breaks DJ mix series Y4K (2007, Distinctive Records).
On 30 September 2007, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of BBC Radio 1 Annie co-hosted a special return of the Request Show with Annie Mac featuring contributions from musicians such as Paul McCartney and Chemical Ed, excerpts from the original show and Annie's recollections of regular contributors such as "Night Owl of Croydon". The show featured many classic tracks which had been requested over the years and closed with one of Annie's favourites, Cristina's version of "Is That All There Is?".
A version of The Smiths song Panic interpreted by Mancunian cult comedian Frank Sidebottom dedicates its choruses to "Anne the deejay" and asks "Anne Nightingale what's your blinking game".[2]
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