Veteran BBC broadcaster David Hamilton has opened up about his first marriage breakdown and subsequent relationship with a sex worker in a candid interview with Best magazine. The 87 year old radio legend, affectionately known as Diddy, revealed personal details about how parenthood affected his marriage and led to an affair that ended his first union.
Hamilton, who became a household name in the 1970s as a presenter on Radio 1 and Top of the Pops, married makeup artist Sheila Moore in 1962 when he was just 24. The couple had two children, Jane and David Jr., but Hamilton said the marriage changed after they became parents.
In the Best magazine interview, Hamilton made controversial comments suggesting that children can spoil a marriage. He explained that after becoming parents, the dynamic shifted and suddenly the man is taking a back seat. During this period, he met Roz, a woman he later discovered worked as a sex worker, and the two began an affair.
The broadcaster recalled meeting Roz at Liverpool Street station, describing how she was sitting on her suitcase wearing a borrowed fur coat. He said his wife eventually discovered the relationship because he talked about Roz frequently, admitting he was head over heels. Hamilton left his wife and children, and the couple lived together for four years.
During their relationship, Hamilton helped Roz establish a small business. The romance eventually ended, though Hamilton said they became very fond of each other. He acknowledged he was getting in too deep, suggesting the relationship’s intensity contributed to its conclusion.
Ten years after meeting on a blind date, Hamilton married his second wife, Dreena, an aerobics teacher, in 1993. The couple remain together more than three decades later. Dreena previously admitted that friends warned her about Hamilton’s reputation as a womaniser, but she proceeded with the relationship anyway.
Hamilton described Dreena as the wind beneath his wings, suggesting she’s provided crucial support throughout their marriage. The broadcaster’s longevity in the relationship contrasts sharply with his first marriage’s dissolution and the brief intense affair that followed.
The radio DJ was one of British broadcasting’s biggest voices during the 1970s and 1980s, hosting over 12,000 radio shows and more than 1,000 television programs throughout his career. His warm voice became familiar to several generations of listeners, and for a time he broadcast each afternoon on both BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 simultaneously.
In 2022, Hamilton revealed he’d been diagnosed with polycythaemia vera, a rare form of blood cancer causing overproduction of red blood cells. Speaking about his condition, he noted the irony that the illness gives him a rosy complexion, making him appear healthy despite battling cancer.
The broadcaster told media that people who see him comment on how well he looks, explaining that too many red blood cells create a very rosy complexion that resembles a suntan. The diagnosis hasn’t stopped Hamilton from remaining active in broadcasting and public life.
Hamilton’s candid revelations about his personal life offer an unusually frank glimpse into the pressures and temptations faced by celebrities during Britain’s entertainment industry heyday. His willingness to discuss past indiscretions and controversial views about marriage and parenthood reflects a different era’s attitudes.
The comments about children spoiling marriages have generated debate, with some viewing them as honest acknowledgment of how parenthood changes relationships while others find them insensitive. Hamilton’s perspective reflects challenges many couples face when transitioning from romantic partnership to parenting roles.
His career began in 1959 with Forces radio overseas before moving to the BBC Light Programme and eventually joining Radio 1 during its early days. He attended Glastonbury Road Grammar School in Surrey and performed national service in the Royal Air Force before entering broadcasting.
Throughout his lengthy career, Hamilton hosted beauty contests including Miss Thames, Miss London, and Miss TV Times, with one Miss TV Times show reaching number one in national TV ratings. He also presented Chipperfield’s Circus on ITV and hosted the World Disco Dance Championships in 1978 and 1979.
Source: newsghana.com.gh
