The Knitting Circle: Popular Culture

Biography, performance, bibliography, press cuttings.

Australian-British disc jockey.

He worked as an announcer on the 3KZ station in Melbourne. He had wanted to be a singer but decided that his voice was not good enough. Nevertheless on his early 1950s radio shows he combined his roles of presenter, reader of commercials, and singer of various song selections.

He arrived in Britain in 1957 for a holiday, and stayed.

He started radio in Britain on Radio Luxembourg as a summer relief disc jockey. In 1961 he moved to the BBC Light Programme as presenter of Records Around Five show. This introduced his signature tune At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbal.

In September of 1961 he introduced Pick Of The Pops as part of a Saturday evening show, Trad Tavern. Pick Of The Pops became a permanent show in 1962, and Alan Freeman introduced it until 1972. He became known as Alan 'Fluff' Freeman.

In 1978 he resigned from BBC Radio 1 (as it had become), and within a year he transfered to Capital Radio in London where he hosted its Saturday morning show Pick Of The Pops Take Two.

He also made appearances on BBC 1 television's Top Of The Pops. He also had his own show All Systems Freeman.

He had several small roles in films and television shows often playing the part of a disc jockey.

In January 1989 he returned to BBC Radio 1 and broadcast Pick Of The Pops on Sunday afternoons until it ended in 1992. The BBC commemorated the end of 30 years of service with a special 'Fluff' day.

In March 1994 he revealed on Breakfast television that he had become celebate in 1981, but that he had previously been bisexual.

He moved to Virgin Radio in 1996.

He was honoured with the Music Industry Trusts award.

He May 2000 he received a Sony award conferred by the Radio Academy for his 40 years of service to broadcasting.

Performance

• Just for Fun, 1963, film acting role as a disc jockey.

• Top of the Pops, 1964 to 1968, occasional host of the television series.

• Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, 1965, film acting role as Bill Rogers. (Also called The Blood Suckers.)

• Sebastian, 1968, film acting role as a television disc jockey. (Starring Dirk Bogarde.)

• The Young Ones, 1984, guest television series acting role as 'God' in the episodes Summer Holiday and Cash.

• Absolute Beginners, 1986, film acting role as 'Call-Me-Cobber'.

• Passionata, 1992, television acting role as a doctor.

• Smashey and Nicey, the End of an Era, 1994, television role as himself.

• Mad Dogs and Englishmen, 1995, film acting role as a disc jockey. (Also called Shameless.)

Bibliography

• 30 Years of No 1s, with Phil Swern and Shaun Greenfield, 1990, published by Tiger Books, 144 pages, ISBN 0563360844 (paperback).

Press cuttings

• Freeman gets radio 'Oscar' for 40 years of broadcasting by Matt Wells and Linus Gregoriadis in The Guardian, 3rd. May, 2000, page 6. "The veteran DL Alan Freeman last night braved severe arthritis to collect a lifetime achievement award at the radio industry 'Oscars', Freeman, 72, struggled on to the stage at the Grosvenor House hotel in London, with the aid of a zimmer frame, to collect the Sony award in recognition of his 40 years in broadcasting."

• Lifetime achievement award given to Alan 'Fluff' Freeman - alright? by Cahal Milmo in The Independent, 3rd. May, 2000, page 7. "The veteran disc jockey Alan 'Fluff' Freeman was saluted with a lifetime achievement honour last night at the radio industry's biggest annual awards ceremony. Freeman, who has graced the airwaves for four decades, was given a standing ovation as he received the prize at the Sony Radio Awards in London."

  "Freeman, 72, was handed his prize by Dale Winton, the broadcaster who has taken over his long-running Pick Of The Pops show on BBC Radio 2. He said that Freeman was 'a man who has served, and is held in the highest affection by, quite literally, every sector of our industry'."

Biography, performance, bibliography, press cuttings.

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The Knitting Circle

First uploaded 23rd. August, 2000

Last altered 23rd. August, 2000