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OT : The rise and fall of Swinging Simon

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FishFood

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Aug 30, 2009, 6:19:15 PM8/30/09
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The rise and fall of Swinging Simon

In the mid-1960s, Simon Dee, who has died at the age of 74, was
one of the biggest stars in the country. But just a few years
later, he suffered a sudden and spectacular fall from fame.

Simon Dee with the cast of the film Doctor In Trouble
Dee had cameos in the films The Italian Job and Doctor In Trouble

After Dee hit TV screens in 1967, he was a household name leading
a playboy life.

His Dee Time show was watched by 15 million people and his casual,
cocky, manner made him the embodiment of the Swinging Sixties.

In the process, his style paved the way for future chat show hosts
from Michael Parkinson to Chris Evans.

But by the start of the following decade, it was all over.
"Everything just disappeared," he later said.

Dee went to public school in Shrewsbury with John Peel, before
another schoolfriend decided to launch a radio station on a ship
in 1964.

Dee was the first recruit and the first voice on the first offshore
pirate radio station, Radio Caroline. Born Nicholas Henty-Dodd,
he had changed his name to sound less posh.


His popularity led the BBC to offer him a show on the Light
Programme - before the days of Radio 1 - making him the first
pirate DJ to move to the corporation.

He joined Radio 1 when it launched in 1967 and got his big break
on TV the same year.

He was spotted advertising crisps on TV by the mother of BBC
executive Bill Cotton, who recommended him to her son.

The resulting show, Dee Time, was a huge success, bringing a mix
of music and chat to tea time audiences.

Guests included John Lennon, Charlton Heston and Michael Caine,
and the show replaced the ailing Juke Box Jury in the prime
Saturday early evening slot.

"By the second year there's no doubt that he was one of the most
powerful people on television," Bill Cotton later said. "He had
great influence on the young."

He presented Top of the Pops, hosted Miss World and got small
roles in films including The Italian Job.

At his peak, he even started preaching his views on a range of
subjects, from racism and religion to showbiz, in a regular
newsletter to his fans.

But as the voice of youth, he was not a hit with all viewers.

Referring to Dee, a gentleman on the BBC's Talk Back programme in
1967 complained: "Our declining standards of morality are due to
the filth we see on television."

And in 1969, he was at the top of a blacklist drawn up by a society
aiming to stamp out the use of the phrase "yunno" on the airwaves.

Away from the studio, he did not shy away from tackling difficult
issues, whether giving a speech against Enoch Powell, criticising
Prime Minister Harold Wilson or campaigning against nuclear testing.

His downfall began when he came to renew his contract with the BBC
in 1969.

"It had got to the stage where his ideas of his own importance were
actually quite damaging," Cotton said.

Cotton did not want him to stay and reportedly offered him less
money than his previous contract, leading Dee to defect to London
Weekend Television.

But the show never hit the same heights and Dee's self-importance
bordered on self-delusion.

The end came after he conducted an incoherent interview with George
Lazenby, in which he named the US politicians he believed to be
responsible for President Kennedy's assassination.

The show was dropped six months into a two-year contract, to be
replaced by a variety show fronted by Cliff Richard.

Dee himself believed the decision had more to do with his rivalry
with fellow LWT host David Frost and his criticism of Harold Wilson.

His claims that his phone was tapped by security agencies seemed
far-fetched, but documents later released proved that his calls
were being monitored.

After going on the dole, he hit rock bottom just one year after his
last show. In 1971, he was fined �10 for attacking bailiffs sent to
make an inventory of his home in Chelsea.

He wept as he told the judge he had no money and was drawing �6.90
a week benefit to support his wife and three children.

"Everybody wants me back [on TV], except those in power," he claimed.

A job as a trainee bus driver, earning �50 a week, did not last long,
and he had regular run-ins with the law.

Dee spent time in Brixton prison, where fellow inmates shouted his
former show's catchphrase, "It's Siiiiimon Dee".

Appearing in court on the charge of stealing a potato peeler, the
presiding magistrate facing Dee was none other than Bill Cotton.

After Cotton fined him, a fellow magistrate commented on how
unpleasant the fellow was. "Not really," Cotton replied. "At one
time he paid my wages."

Brief mentions in the press at the end of the 1970s and the early
80s described how the "former disc jockey" was accused of insulting
behaviour outside 10 Downing Street and assaulting a policeman
outside Buckingham Palace.

Sporadic attempts at a comeback on TV or radio fell flat as Dee fell
out with successive employers.

There were occasional sightings on TV documentaries or in newspaper
interviews. Otherwise, as far as the public was concerned, that was
that.

But he will be remembered as someone whose star shone very bright
before burning out.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8229591.stm
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