24 Facts About Simon Dee

Cyril Nicholas Henty-Dodd, better known by his stage name Simon Dee, was a British television interviewer and radio disc jockey who hosted a twice-weekly BBC TV chat show, Dee Time, in the late 1960s.

Simon Dee was educated at Shrewsbury School, from which he was expelled, and thereafter at Brighton College.

Simon Dee served his compulsory national service in a Royal Air Force photo-reconnaissance unit, taking aerial photographs of the combat zone during the 1956 Suez Crisis, and being wounded in the face by a sniper in Cyprus.

In 1964, Dee joined Radio Caroline, a pirate radio station broadcasting pop music from a ship moored outside UK territorial waters.

Simon Dee witnessed the station's construction at the Irish port of Greenore, and sailed with the ship to its anchorage off the coast of Essex.

Simon Dee transferred to the former Atlanta ship when the original ship sailed to an anchorage off the Isle of Man to become Radio Caroline North.

Simon Dee left in 1965 to go freelance, but had fallen out with directors of the station beforehand, having refused to play certain records and another occasion when he disobeyed the ship captain's orders.

In 1965, Simon Dee was given a job on the BBC Light Programme, firstly introducing the station's 'Swing into Summer' slot and 'Stay Late' show on a Sunday evening, before taking over a late-night show on Saturdays.

Simon Dee told a reporter at the time that he left Caroline "while the going was good".

Simon Dee joined the team presenting Top of the Pops in 1966, replacing David Jacobs, and the following year introduced the Monday edition of Midday Spin on the Light Programme and then Radio 1 from September 1967.

Simon Dee fell into early disfavour on Radio 1 after twice playing Scott Walker's recording of Jacques Brel's song "Jackie", which had been banned by the BBC.

Simon Dee quit Radio 1 in December 1967 to concentrate on his TV career.

In 1967, Simon Dee began his early evening chat show Simon Dee Time on BBC1.

Only two complete editions of Simon Dee Time survive in the BBC Archives; the programmes were transmitted live and the BBC seldom retained recordings at the time.

Simon Dee had cameo roles in films, including The Italian Job and Doctor in Trouble.

Simon Dee fell out with the station management and after only a few months on the air his contract was terminated.

Simon Dee's programme was broadcast immediately following Frost's; both were talk shows, and Frost thought that some of Simon Dee's items would make the shows too similar.

In June 1970, Simon Dee joined his former Radio Caroline boss, Ronan O'Rahilly, to campaign for pirate radio and against the Labour government's Marine Broadcasting Offences Act 1967, issuing a poster of Prime Minister Harold Wilson dressed as Chinese dictator Mao Tse-tung.

Simon Dee later claimed that there was an "Establishment plot" against him because of his open opposition to Wilson: government files were later released showing that he was being monitored by the Security Service.

Simon Dee believed that his phone had been tapped because of his opposition to Britain's mooted membership of the Common Market.

Simon Dee officially opened the Northside Shopping Centre in Dublin, Ireland on 1 October 1970.

Simon Dee signed on for unemployment benefit at the Fulham labour exchange, giving rise to considerable press coverage.

Simon Dee's success led him to host the show on a permanent basis in September the same year, but this engagement came to an end in March 1989 amid disputes with the BBC about the show's location in Bristol and his wish for it to be transmitted live.

On 29 August 2009, Simon Dee died of bone cancer in Winchester, Hampshire, aged 74.