‘I loved him. He was talentless, out of his depth, a fantasist, truly the first person famous for being famous,’ she recalled. ‘But he was the luckiest man I’ve ever known – until his luck deserted him, and never came back. But he never stopped thinking like a star.’
Patricia Houlihan
Introduction
This is the story of a man who rose to fame and crashed into obscurity. In the Swinging Sixties, music, fashion and free love were all the rage, and Britain woke up to its true potential as a leading trendsetter. In the world of radio, a brave band of young and talented DJs decided to take the plunge in 1964 and broadcast from a boat in the North Sea from the pirate radio station Radio Caroline. The brainchild of a businessman, Ronan O’Rahily, the station would become a national gem, playing all the latest pop music and making names for DJs such as Tony Blackburn and a confident Simon Dee. After a spell in the RAF as a builder’s labourer, actor, leaf sweeper and vacuum cleaner salesman, Dee became the first voice listeners heard on Radio Caroline, welcoming listeners with the words ‘Your all-day music station’. His theme tune was On the Sunny Side of the Street, and he played a mix of Motown and current hits. He would go on to rub shoulders with The Beatles, presenting them with an award at the annual Radio Caroline Awards at Twickenham Film Studios in 1965. However, he parted company with the station after a dispute with the owner and turned freelance. He would go on to be snapped up by the BBC with a stint on Midday Spin and Simon‘s Scene on Radio Luxembourg. Bill Cotton invited him to become a presenter on Top of the Pops, and he appeared in several ITV adverts for Smith’s Crisps.
The Big Time
Yet it would be Bill Cotton again, who would offer Dee a three-year contract to become the first actual British chat show host on his own BBC programme, Dee Time. The half-hour show aired in a primetime Saturday night slot. The opening titles featured Dee arriving at the BBC Television Centre in an E-type Jaguar with a blonde companion. He became known for the catchphrase ‘It’s Si-i-i-i-mon Dee!’ Running from 1967 until 1969, it attracted up to 18 million viewers. It attracted guests such as Davis Jr., Zsa Zsa Gabor, Rod Taylor, Richard Harris, and John Lennon. A national treasure that appeared in cameo roles in The Italian Job and Doctor in Trouble. Once rumoured to be in talks to become James Bond, Simon always had the latest sports car, a beautiful woman next to him and sported the latest fashion in his celebrity lifestyle.
Yet every good thing must come to an end, and unbeknownst to Dee, this glittering career was beginning to unravel. Dee Time was moved to a less popular Monday time slot after becoming overbearing. He also started demanding a massive pay rise, with the final straw coming when he demanded a pay rise from £250 to £1000 in October 1969. Bill Cotton refused, offering him a pay cut, Simon Dee refused and parted company with the BBC. However, this man with a massive ego was not deterred by his sacking and approached LWT instead. He was offered £100,000 to host the Simon Dee Show, a chat show. However, the channel already had David Frost. Dee was given a late-night Sunday slot. Although he got the guests, the likes of Peter Cook, Barbara Cartland, and Sasha Distel, viewers stayed away from it, and it wasn’t long before the writing was on the wall. Dee felt undermined by the television channel and the looming presence of David Frost. LWT realised that they had made a mistake hiring him because not only drinking heavily and taking drugs but also could finish an interview in a constructed manner. A fault that the bookers tried to disguise by hiring Vincent Price all the time. A show where the lavish studio set would become silent after a bizarre interview with actor George Lazenby, who had been smoking cannabis and who outlined at length his theories about the assassination of Robert F Kennedy, the show was dropped in 1970 and Simon was given £9,000 compensation payment. Dee’s profile plummeted after he left LWT, although he made the headlines when he signed on for unemployment benefit at the Fulham labour exchange. He took a job as a bus driver but never qualified and was jailed in 1974 for non-payment of rates on his former Chelsea home. In the late 1980s, he hosted Sounds of the 60s on BBC Radio 2. In 2003, he hosted a one-off new live edition of Dee Time on Channel 4, following Dee Construction, which covered his career. He died of bone cancer on 29 August 2009, living a solitary life for 15 years.
