Poptastic!

But the veteran radio DJ from Poole is revelling in a new lease of life after surviving more than 40 sensational years in the cut-throat world of broadcasting.

Local lad Tony Blackburn, the original voice of Radio One when it launched in 1967, returned to his roots yesterday to meet up with radio colleagues old and new during a conference at a Bournemouth hotel.

And the 62-year-old entertainer was delighted to be back in town.

"I love it down here in Bourne-mouth and Poole. It's such a beautiful place. I don't think local people always appreciate how lovely it is here - and how clean it is. I'd jump at the chance to live down here again if I could."

Tony grew up in Parkstone and visits the area regularly to see his mother Pauline and sister Jacqueline, who still live locally.

"I had a very happy childhood here. I used to sell ice cream along the seafront when I was young, and I did a diploma in business studies at Bournemouth College, not that it did me any good!"

But one of Tony's earliest ambitions was to be in a band.

"I really wanted to be a singer," he said. He had a two-year stint as a guitarist and vocalist with the Jan Ralfini Dance Orchestra at the Pavilion, before he climbed on board as a DJ with pirate radio station Radio Caroline in 1964 and began broadcasting on the high seas.

He soon became the station's top DJ, with his constant flow of cheesy gags proving a big hit with the teenage audience.

A couple of years on, he moved across to rival Radio London, and in 1967 became the first DJ on air as the BBC launched Radio One.

He later spent more than a decade at Capital Gold, but Tony's trademark corny style wore thin over the years, and he himself became a bit of a joke, lampooned as a dinosaur DJ by the Fast Show's Smashie and Nicey.

Yet he's had the last laugh, as the job offers began flooding in again after he triumphed to be crowned King of the Jungle on the reality TV show "I'm a Celebrity - Get Me out of Here!" in 2002.

"I was working six or seven days a week anyway before I decided to do I'm a Celebrity, but it certainly hasn't harmed my career," laughed Tony, who lives in Hertfordshire with his wife Debbie Thompson.

"The only reason I did the show in the first place was so I could go to Australia. I'd never been before.

"I thought I was doing quite well until I saw what was written about me in the national press."

Now, Tony juggles a host of radio shows, including a weekly broadcast from home to British ex-pats in Spain, and presents the daily breakfast programme on Classic Gold Digital, alongside fellow presenter Laura Pittson.

"I'm having more fun now than I did in the early days. We've been all over the place with the Classic Gold show, to Lapland, Hong Kong, and our next trip's going to be a Mediterranean cruise.

"I think I spend more time with Laura than I do with my wife!"

And Tony says he's not about to give broadcasting just yet.

"It's the best job in the world. I've never had to do anything else apart from talk nonsense.

"I've got no plans to retire. I'm going to go on until I turn up at a studio one day and wonder why I'm there."

First published: May 12