Ed Stewart

Early life and career

Stewart was born Edward Stewart Mainwaring, the son of a Treasury solicitor, in Exmouth, Devon, on (1941-04-23)23 April 1941. He attended Eagle House School, Sandhurst, Berkshire and St Edward's School, Oxford, and his broadcasting career began in Hong Kong. While touring there as bass player with a jazz group, he gained a job on a local radio station as a sports commentator, then as an announcer and, finally, as a disc jockey. He remained at this station for four years. In July 1965 Stewart became a DJ on the offshore radio station Radio London (Big L) where he became a household name before the marine offences bill was passed, and was its chief DJ by the time it closed on 14 August 1967.

Career with BBC Radio and Television

In 1967, Stewart became one of the first DJs to join Radio 1, presenting Happening Sunday and What's New. In 1968, Stewart took over the weekend morning Junior Choice show, where he remained for a dozen years. The show was peppered with catch-phrase jingles such as "'Ello Darlin'", recorded by an unknown patient at a hospital in Billericay, and "Happy Birthday to You" sung by an eight-year-old boy, from a football club in Crosskeys, on the team coach after the match. In 1968 he recorded the charity single "I Like My Toys", a cover of The Idle Race song, as "Stewpot And Save The Children Fund Choir".

In 1972 he also presented Radio 1's Sunday Sport show. One week in early 1972, he stood in for Alan Freeman on Pick of the Pops, as well as sitting in for the likes of David Hamilton and Terry Wogan through the 1970s. On 10 September 1973 Stewart became the first presenter of Radio 1's Newsbeat programme.

Stewart became a regular presenter of the BBC television programme Top of the Pops in 1971. He also presented the children's programme Crackerjack from 1973 to 1979, and had a short-lived programme Ed and Zed.

In 1980 Stewart moved to Radio 2, presenting Family Favourites and the weekday afternoon programme from 2pm to 4pm. He was dropped from the line-up in October 1983. Stewart said he was "shocked and disappointed" by the decision of Radio 2 controller Bryant Marriott not to renew his contract.

Commercial radio

Stewart moved to the commercial radio station Radio Mercury (now Heart FM), for six years, presenting their mid-morning show.

Back to the BBC

Stewart rejoined Radio 2 in 1991, first presenting a series of shows and then a regular Saturday afternoon show throughout the summer. In 1992, he once again presented weekday afternoons. This time, the show was broadcast from 3.30pm to 5pm, before moving to 3pm to 5pm in the spring of 1996 and 2pm to 5pm in the spring of 1998. In 1995, Stewart made radio history when he broadcast his Radio 2 show live from the summits of Ben Nevis and Snowdon, in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. The senior guide on the ascent, Wayne Naylor, said at the time that Ed Stewart had carried his own equipment and was accompanied by his wife.

In the summer of 1999, Stewart was taken off the weekday afternoon slot, moving to his Sunday evening show from 5pm–7pm. At the time the official word was that Stewart had decided to go into semi-retirement, however he later revealed in his autobiography that he was removed from the afternoon programme by then controller Jim Moir.

His Sunday show was a blend of music and chat, plus listeners' letters and Where Are They Now?, a feature that attempts to re-unite old friends who have lost touch with each other. Stewart left Radio 2 in April 2006, not long after his autobiography was published in which he questioned the position of his colleagues Sarah Kennedy and Johnnie Walker on the network. Walker replaced him on Sunday afternoons.

Stewart was back for Radio 2's 40th birthday on Sunday 30 September 2007, hosting Junior Choice. He was also heard on the Ken Bruce show and Pop Master on Radio 2 on Tuesday 2 October 2007.

Stewart was heard on Radio 2 presenting Junior Choice on Christmas Eve in 2007. Stewart hosted further editions of Junior Choice on Christmas Day from 2008 to 2015. Stewart also hosted the afternoon show on Radio Bristol for two days in the run up to Christmas 2001.

Other radio work

In February 2005, Stewart took over the weekday afternoon show on Spectrum FM, an English-speaking radio station that broadcasts to Spain.

Stewart was heard on Big L 1395 covering for David Hamilton on 18 December 2006, and also in January 2007. He also covered for Mike Read there in March 2007. He presented special shows on Classic Gold on Christmas Day 2006, New Year's Day 2007 and also May Day Bank Holiday Monday 2007. He did a one-off Sunday morning show (10am-2pm) on KCFM in September 2008. He also stood in for Shaun Tilley on his programme "I Haven't Heard It For Ages" (2pm-4pm) on Sundays on KCFM 2008/9.

From February 2009 to September 2009 Stewart presented on Saturday and Sunday mornings between 9am and noon on Internet radio station Wight FM (this was voicetracked).

Stewart also stood in for Shaun Tilley on the networked show The Retro Chart Years for a week in August 2009 and again in 2010. He also appeared on another of Shaun Tilley's shows The Vintage Top 40 Show, which goes out on various BBC local stations on Sundays at 5pm.

In 2014, he took part in a Radio Legends week on BBC Sussex and BBC Surrey.

Look-in Magazine

For many years Stewart was the figurehead for children's magazine Look-in, the "Junior TV Times". Starting in 1971 with a feature on a day in his life, he was brought in as a regular with a feature called "'Stewpot's Look-out", which later became "'Stewpot's Newsdesk". They also used his name in other features such as "Stewpot's Starchart". Newsdesk ended in 1980, as did Stewart's association with the magazine.

Cameo

The voice saying "Excuse me, may I have the pleasure of this dance?" on the original 1973 single "Won't Somebody Dance with Me" by Lynsey de Paul was Ed Stewart's.

Personal life

Stewart's two main interests were playing golf (he often met listeners of his programme who volunteered to caddy for him) and football; he was a supporter of Everton F.C.

In 1975 Stewart was inducted into the exclusive entertainment fraternity, the Grand Order of Water Rats.

Stewart met his wife for the first time when she was 13 when he was working for her father Jimmy Henney. The couple married four years later in London on 2 July 1974, but split up in November 2003 and divorced in 2006. The couple had one daughter Francesca and a son Marco, two grandchildren,and one great grandchild.

Stewart met his partner Elly in 2004 up until his death and accompanied him on many of his appearances and was with him in the studio for his last Radio 2 live recording of his children's show Junior Choice.

He was a close friend of Max Bygraves. On Bygraves's death in 2012 he recalled him as a "unique talent" whose skills as a comedian, actor and singer "brought a lot of pleasure to a lot of people".

Stewart was also an advocate and supporter of Phab Ltd, a charity operating in England and Wales which promotes inclusion for children and adults with disabilities. Stewart attended annual events held to raise awareness of Phab's work.

From September 2008 Stewart was the presenter of the immensely successful Mantovani concerts, featuring the Magic of Mantovani Orchestra, which took place at the Lighthouse in Poole, and at the Pavilion Theatre in Bournemouth. On the first two of these, he was joined by co-presenter, Alexandra Bastedo. Also connected with those concerts are his contributions to the filmed documentary Mantovani, King of Strings (Odeon Entertainment) IMDb and on the Radio 2 programme Mantovani by Michael Freedland, broadcast on Wednesday 6 January 2016.

At the time of his death, Stewart was planning to do a Stewpot Music Quiz tour of the UK with UK quiz promoters Quiz Britain, with his last charity quiz appearance at Walhampton Arms on November 6 for a local Hampshire hospice.

Death

Stewart died at the age of 74 on 9 January 2016 in hospital in Bournemouth following a stroke.

On 10 February 2016 BBC Radio 2 broadcast an hour-long tribute to Stewart introduced by Anneka Rice.

Autobiography