Inside the life of ‘Diddy’ David Hamilton and how the TOTP TV host got his nickname
AFTER kicking off his broadcasting career in the late 50s, David Hamilton helped shape the airwaves as they are today.
Known for being part of the golden era of radio, ‘Diddy‘ was also part of team of Top of the Pops presenters which helped launch the show.
Born David Pilditch on September 10, 1938, David Hamilton was a wartime baby.
He took his mother’s maiden name Hamilton when he was told that radio audiences would struggle with Pilditch.
David’s childhood was spent on a farm, which he was evacuated to during World War II.
He started his broadcast career in Forces Radio during his National Service with the RAF.
One of David’s first ever interviews on the radio was with Cliff Richard, who was just 18 at the time.
Hitting the airwaves
By the mid-Seventies, David had cemented himself as a household name, with one magazine at the time calling him a “housewives superstar”.
He joined Radio 1 in the early seventies alongside other veteran DJs like Tony Blackburn and Noel Edmunds.
Speaking in his 2024 memoir David Hamilton’s Long and Winding Road, he talked about getting the job and wrote: “I was still in my twenties.
“I felt a little dated, you know, but I boded my time, and eventually, six years later, Radio One gave me my own show.”
In the 80s, David switched to commercial radio and he continues to broadcast to this day.
He is now a member of the presenting team on Boom Radio.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, he chuckled: “I’m the oldest person in Britain to be still doing a national daily radio show.”
Becoming ‘Diddy’
David is affectionately known as ‘Diddy’, a nickname he hasn’t always been happy with but decided in the end just to “go with it”.
Standing at 5ft 6in, the moniker was given to him by the late Ken Dodd because he simply thought it “was funny”.
Top of The Pops was probably the most high-profile time of my whole career, and I would say it was the most exciting time.”
David Hamilton
David, however, found it less hilarious, but told the Daily Mail he “accepted it on the basis that there were worse things to be called”, and the nickname stuck forever.
Top of the Pops fame
David hit the dizzy heights of TV fame in the late 70s, when he landed the coveted job of presenting Top of the Pops.
The BBC show was huge back in the day, and made stars out of it’s hosts.
David was on series from 1976 until 78, before returning in 1988.
Speaking in his memoir about landing the TOTP hosting gig he said that Radio 1 helped him get the job.
He wrote: “Radio 1 at that time was a huge network, and it had taken the place of the pirates; it also led me to do Top Of The Pops.
“So that was probably the most high-profile time of my whole career, and I would say it was the most exciting time.”
David talks about his life on TOPT on the Channel 5 documentary Top of The Pops: Secrets & Scandals, which airs September 27, 2024 at 9pm.
Married life
In 1962 and aged 24, David married his first wife Shelia who was a make-up artist at the time.
The couple went on to have two children, Jane and David Jr, before splitting up in 1970.
Reflecting on his marriage, he said: “I loved her very much.
“Although you may wonder from the book whether I fell in love a lot.”
David then met his second wife Dreena, an aerobics teacher, who he was set up with on a blind date.
They were married in 1993, and have been together ever since.
Reflecting on the early years of their relationship, Dreena told the Mail: “There was quite a brouhaha when we got together.
“My friends did say, ‘You can’t marry him. He is a womaniser’, but we’ve been together for 40 years now, married for 30.
“And there are no regrets there.”
Health battle
In 2022, David revealed he had been diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer called polycythaemia vera.
Since then he has undergone chemotherapy to stop it spreading.
One of the symptoms of the cancer is that it causes your face to appear tanned or reddish.
David told the Mail: “It’s one of the better cancers to have.
“They picked it up because my blood was too thick.
“I was too red-blooded!”