Annie Nightingale: How Radio 1’s first female presenter and longest-serving broadcaster changed the industry forever
“Our disc jockeys are husband substitutes,” Annie Nightingale was told when she knocked on Radio 1’s door following it’s launch in 1967. So why on Earth, they said, would a woman would want to join the airwaves?
“They were bewildered,” Nightingale told Desert Island Disc’s presenter Lauren Laverne, during her appearance on the much-loved radio show in 2020.
The male bosses were bewildered, but Nightingale was determined. Not only was she the first woman to join the station, in 1970 – remaining the only female host until Janice Long’s arrival 12 years later – she was also its longest-serving broadcaster, male or female, still on air until late last year with Annie Nightingale presents…
Nightingale paved the way for the likes of Jo Whiley (left)
She was a friend of The Beatles and David Bowie, but more importantly supported waves of popular music genres including prog rock, German electronica, punk, acid house and grime. Now highlighted following her death at 83, her influence on the world of British music culture cannot be overstated.
Even into her 80s, she was a champion of new music. Look at her Desert Island Discs choices and you see a mix including John Lennon and Bowie, yes, but also Billie Eilish and Beyonce, interspersed with Ethel Merman and Sid Vicious.
While most of us turn to the music of our formative years and early adulthood when we think of the songs that have defined our lives, Nightingale was constantly soaking up the new, always with an ear for those artists who might become stars. “You want to hear something you’ve never heard before,” she told Laverne, quoting the late John Peel. “Something that surprises you.”
Nightingale was born in Osterley, now part of outer west London but then part of Middlesex, on 1 April 1940. She started her career as a journalist in Brighton and first broadcast on the BBC in 1963 as a panellist on the TV show Juke Box Jury.
Nightingale was friends with Paul McCartney and The Beatles
It was in Brighton where she first interviewed The Beatles, and she went on to become a frequent guest at the band’s Apple Studios in London during the 1960s – a front-row seat to one of the most creative periods in British popular music.
She knew about John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s relationship before it was made public, but did not report what she knew would be a headline-making story as she did not want to break her bond of trust with the band.
And Paul McCartney even proposed to her on one occasion, according to the BBC. “Well, sort of yes,” she said when asked about it in an interview. “But I don’t think he was serious!”
‘I hate the R word’
Nightingale said she had not really experienced sexism until she was “rebuffed” by Radio 1.
But in 1969, a new controller arrived who wanted a female DJ, and asked The Beatles’ publicist for a recommendation. Her first show was a disaster technically, she said, but it was the start of an incredible career.
As a DJ she travelled the world, telling The Independent in 2009 that she had been “mugged in Cuba, drugged in Baghdad and bugged in Russia”.
She was also the first woman to present music show The Old Grey Whistle Test, from 1978, which featured live performance from artists as diverse as Bob Marley, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Roxy Music and Randy Newman.
She would say in interviews how she had no plans to slow down. “I hate the ‘R’ word: retire,” she told This Is Money just six months ago. “I don’t want to watch daytime TV.”
Nightingale received an MBE in 2002 and a CBE for services to radio in 2020, which she described as the “coolest big-up ever”.
Her memoir Hey Hi Hello was released in 2020 and offered a look back at her five decades at the forefront of popular music culture in Britain, coming after previous autobiographical books Chase The Fade: Music Memoirs And Memorabilia in 1981, and Wicked Speed in 1999.
A ‘trailblazer’ and ‘legend’
In 2021, a scholarship for female and non-binary music DJs was launched by Radio 1 and named after Nightingale, aiming to “celebrate and elevate talented women and non-binary people in the electronic music scene”.
She kept going, a role model who rallied against not just sexism but ageism, too, a much-loved favourite and authoritative voice on music into her 80s, on a station whose target audience is 15-29 year olds.
“She kept going, her very existence as an older woman playing underground music on Radio 1 was subversive,” said Annie Mac in her tribute.
For Mac and the other female presenters who followed in Nightingale’s footsteps – the likes of Zoe Ball, Jo Whiley, Sara Cox, Fearne Cotton and Clara Amfo – she was a “trailblazer”, a “legend”, “the coolest woman who ever graced the airwaves”; a woman who broke down doors during a time when the industry was pervaded by sexism, and held them open to break the misogyny down, little by little, over more than 50 years.
“Thank you, Annie,” said Laverne, sharing a photo of her conversation with Nightingale. “For opening the door and for showing us all what to do when we got through it.”
US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel has had his programme pulled over “offensive and insensitive” comments about Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel used his show on Monday night to accuse Donald Trump and his allies of “doing their best to fan the flames” following the conservative influencer’s assassination last week.
Disney-owned ABC said it would be taken off-air indefinitely – and with immediate effect – after network operator Nexstar said it would stop broadcasting the programme.
Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, said it “strongly objects” to Kimmel’s comments.
“Mr Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse,” he said, with the show to go off-air to “let cooler heads prevail”.
What happened?
Kimmel called out what he believes is hypocrisy in how Republicans have responded to Mr Kirk’s death.
Mr Trump and Vice President JD Vance are among those to cite “left-wing extremism” as a factor in the killing.
Suspected gunman Tyler Robinson appeared in court for the first time on Tuesday night. Prosecutors said he had shared negative views about Kirk, an influential media figure in the MAGA movement.
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The killing of Charlie Kirk
On the Monday edition of his show, Kimmel drew attention to Capitol rioters who “wanted to hang” Mr Trump’s first term vice president, Mike Pence, for certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.
“Was that the liberal left? Or the toothless army who stormed the Capitol on January 6,” said Kimmel.
His remarks saw the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Trump backer Brendan Carr, threaten to “take action” against Disney and ABC.
Mr Trump himself had previously welcomed the prospect of Kimmel’s show being cancelled, describing him on his Truth Social platform as someone with “absolutely NO TALENT”.
A representative for Kimmel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kimmel follows in Colbert’s footsteps
The abrupt removal of Jimmy Kimmel Live comes after fellow late night host Stephen Colbert saw his programme cancelled, which fans claimed was a result of his criticism of Mr Trump.
Mr Trump presents himself as a staunch advocate of free speech, but regularly rails against media organisations which criticise him. This week he launched a lawsuit against The New York Times.
CBS announced in July it would end The Late Show when its current series ends next May.
In a statement, the network said the move was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
Mr Trump praised the move, saying “his talent was even worse than his ratings”.
Colbert’s Late Show won an Emmy for outstanding talk series for the first time at the weekend.
Entertainment
Robert Redford’s grandchildren pay tribute to Hollywood icon as they share family photos
Robert Redford’s grandchildren have paid tribute to the Hollywood icon with a series of never-before-seen family photos.
Redford died on Tuesday at the age of 89 in the mountains of Utah “surrounded by those he loved”, according to his representative Cindi Berger.
Now Conor Schlosser, the 33-year-old son of Redford’s eldest daughter Shauna Redford, 64, has posted five photos on Instagram with the movie star, including three throwback pictures from his childhood of the pair together.
In them, they are riding a horse, opening a present and playing golf.
Pic: conorschlosser/Instagram
Pic: conorschlosser/Instagram
Pic: conorschlosser/Instagram
Mr Schlosser, 33, also shared two more recent pictures with Redford, including one of them enjoying a meal and the other of him with his arm around his grandfather.
In a caption that accompanied the social media post, he wrote: “He was larger than life to the world, but to his family, he was simply that … family. “Rest in peace, Grandpa.🐎”.”
He added: “If anyone has a favorite story of him you’d like to share, please send it to me in a private message – I’d love to collect them.”
Pic: conorschlosser/Instagram
Pic: conorschlosser/Instagram
Read more:
Redford’s career in pictures
His cousin, Lena Hart Redford, the 29-year-old daughter of Redford’s late son, James Redford, also posted a number of pictures with the Hollywood star on Instagram.
Pic: lilredford/Instagram
Pic: lilredford/Instagram
There were photos of her on a horse with her grandfather and also with him on a film set. She also included a photo of her late father with Redford in the post, which she captioned with a red heart emoji.
Pic: lilredford/Instagram
Pic: lilredford/Instagram
Pic: lilredford/Instagram
And in a tribute on Instagram Stories, she shared a throwback image of her and Redford wearing Kangol-brand beanies. “Taught me so much. … Had us all in Kangol,” she wrote.
She also posted a picture of Redford and her father horseback riding. “Dad & grandpa, I feel like they are riding awesome horses in heaven,” she wrote.
Lena Redford’s brother, Dylan Redford, shared a picture with his grandfather on his Instagram Stories.
He wrote: “He was best grampa a grandson could ask for. He also made amazing things, helped others make amazing things, and tried to make the world a better place.”
Pic: dredford_/Instagram/AP
Redford fathered four children with his first wife Lola Van Wagenen – sons Scott and James and daughters Shauna and Amy.
Scott died in 1959 from sudden infant death syndrome aged only two months, while his younger son James died aged 58 of cancer in 2020.
Redford is survived by his wife Sibylle Szaggars Redford, daughters Shauna and Amy and seven grandchildren.
Bob Geldof has confirmed he will not be running for the Irish presidency – and says it’s partly because he’d “miss London”.
Speaking to Sky News at the Sky Arts Awards on Tuesday night, the 73-year-old musician and aid campaigner said: “My kids are here, my missus is here, my homes are here.
“I’d miss London. The band is here, I wouldn’t be able to play.”
In Ireland, any Irish citizen over 35 can run for president – but to get on the ballot, a candidate must be nominated by 20 members of parliament or four local authorities.
Geldof said: “I simply wouldn’t have had time.”
He said he had considered it, thinking it could be something “new, interesting and useful”, 50 years after finding fame in The Boomtown Rats, and 40 years after launching Band Aid.
Geldof said he’d briefly spoken to Prime Minister Micheal Martin, asking him: “‘What would you think about Bob Geldof being the candidate for the Fianna Fail Party?’ He said, ‘I think it’d be great, but I’ve already chosen someone’.
“I said, ‘That’s the end of the conversation Taoiseach, thanks very much,’ and that was it.”
Former football manager Jim Gavin was later announced as Fianna Fail’s official candidate.
Geldof performs during Live Aid at Wembley in July 1985. Pic: AP
Conor McGregor pulls out
Geldof admitted he was relieved former mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor was no longer in the running.
McGregor, who had promised to curb immigration in order to protect “Irish culture” and to give power “back to the people,” announced he was withdrawing from the race earlier this week.
Ex-Riverdance performer Michael Flatley, 67, has also expressed an interest in running for office.
This year’s ballot deadline is midday on 24 September, a month ahead of the election on 24 October. A largely ceremonial role, representing Ireland at home and abroad, it runs for a seven-year term.
Conor McGregor met Donald Trump at the White House on St Patrick’s Day. Pic: X/@WhiteHouse
‘Please stop,’ Geldof tells Israel
Geldof, who has Jewish heritage and is the Founding Patron of the British Holocaust Museums Aegis Trust for Genocide Studies, also spoke passionately about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Following a UN Commission report which found Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, Geldof said: “When you purposefully starve children as an instrument of war then you are a war criminal.”
He went on: “People simply don’t have the bandwidth to deal with the cost of living, the flag waving, the horror of Ukraine, the horrors of Gaza. They’re just tired, and they just want Israel to please stop it. And the UN has just confirmed that. Stop.”
The accusation of genocide has been made by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Israel’s foreign ministry said it “categorically rejects this distorted and false report” and called for the commission to be abolished.
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Is Israel committing genocide?
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Geldof was speaking at the prestigious Sky Arts event, where he was recognised for his influence as a musician and cultural figure over the last five decades with a lifetime achievement award.
Never afraid to be outspoken, he was one of the defining voices of the 1970s punk era before going on to co-create Band Aid and the historic Live Aid concerts, reshaping the relationship between music and global activism.
Geldof performed with his band, The Boomtown Rats, during the ceremony which took place at London’s Roundhouse, hosted by comedian Bill Bailey.
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