Paul Gambaccini | |
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 Gambaccini in 2010 | |
| Born | Paul Matthew Gambaccini (1949-04-02)2 April 1949 (age 76) New York City, U.S. |
| Other names |
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| Occupation(s) | Broadcaster, author |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Spouse | |
| Awards | Radio Academy Hall of Fame, 2005 |
Paul Matthew Gambaccini (born 2 April 1949) is an American-British radio and television presenter and author. He is a dual citizen of the United States and United Kingdom, having become a British citizen in 2005.
Known as "The Great Gambo"[1] and "The Professor of Pop",[2] Gambaccini was aBBC Radio 1 presenter for 16 years, including 11 years on a weekly show counting down theBillboard Top 30 songs. A regular contributor toBBC Radio 4's long-running arts programmeKaleidoscope, Gambaccini was a long-time TV morning show correspondent for British television, and makes regular appearances on other British TV magazine shows.
Gambaccini was the host of the 12-partClassic FM seriesPaul Gambaccini's Hall of Heroes, and chairs theRadio 4 music quizCounterpoint. He was presenter ofPick of the Pops onBBC Radio 2 from 9 July 2016, to 7 October 2023 andAmerica's Greatest Hits onGreatest Hits Radio on Saturday afternoons since February 2020. He now presents the Paul Gambaccini Collection on Radio 2 which began on 29 October 2023. Inducted into theRadio Academy Hall of Fame in 2005, Gambaccini is the author of more than 15 books.
Born inthe Bronx, New York City,[3] Gambaccini studied atDartmouth College, where he obtained a degree in history in 1970.[3]
Gambaccini then migrated to the United Kingdom and attendedUniversity College, Oxford,[3] where he studiedphilosophy, politics and economics. He has since returned toOxford, where he delivered a series of lectures in January and February 2009, as theNews International Visiting Professor of Broadcast Media. In February 2010 he was invited by thevice-chancellor of the University of Oxford,Andrew Hamilton, to deliver the inauguralLGBT lectureOut on Monday to the university's LGBT staff, students and faculty.
Gambaccini's broadcasting career began atDartmouth College, where he was music director of the now-defunctWDCR, a college-owned-and-operatedTop 40 radio station. Gambaccini may have first achieved wider prominence when his tips for playlisted songs likely to see greater chart action were published in the 11 May 1968, issue of the international trade publicationBillboard, alongside similar tips from radio programming talent at major commercial stations across the United States.[4]
Having left Oxford, Gambaccini considered further study in law atHarvard orYale, but had the opportunity of writing forRolling Stone magazine, as British correspondent.[3] He attributes his broadcasting career to this post—especially an interview in 1973 withElton John which brought him to the attention of BBC Radio producerJohn Walters who arranged for him to host onBBC Radio 1.[5][6] Gambaccini then started broadcasting in the UK, onBBC Radio 1, from September 1974, first as a music reporter on theJohn Peel Saturday showRockspeak[citation needed] and as presenter ofAll American Heroes.[7] The following year, he started a show focussing on the weeks' music in theUS chart which was to continue for over a decade.[8] The show was broadcast every Saturday afternoon until his last show on 8 February 1986. Thereafter, he moved to independent radio to hostAmerican Countdown. In 1990, he returned to Radio 1, but left during the tenure of controllerMatthew Bannister in 1993.[citation needed]
In 1992 Gambaccini became a founding personality on the UK's classical music stationClassic FM, where he hosted the weekly Classical CD Chart show. He left forBBC Radio 3 in 1995, where he broadcast an hour-long morning show, in a slot formerly used forComposer of the Week. He returned to Classic FM in 1997.
Alongside his work in music radio, he contributed regularly toBBC Radio 4's long-running arts programmeKaleidoscope between 1975 and 1998.
For 13 years Gambaccini reviewed films for breakfast television, first onTV-am and thenGMTV. In the early 1980s he presentedThe Other Side of the Tracks onChannel 4, which ran for three series. His other television appearances includePebble Mill at One,Call My Bluff,Music for the Millennium, andThe South Bank Show. He co-hosted coverage ofLive Aid in 1985, which he later said was one of the two proudest achievements of his career.[9]
In 1998, he joinedBBC Radio 2. His first show was on 18 April 1998, once again opening the first of his weekly showsAmerica's Greatest Hits with "Born to Run" byBruce Springsteen. In 2002, he quit his role atClassic FM, to present a weekly chart show on London'sJazz FM until 2004. He was also a contributor to the London stationLBC when it was taken over by Chrysalis.[citation needed]
He has worked widely across the BBC and theBritish Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) as well as contributing to many television shows, mostly related to music, film, and the arts. He narrated the BBC Radioadaptation ofEspedair Street, theIain Banks novel.
Gambaccini has presented the annualIvor Novello Awards since 1990,[10] theParliamentary Jazz Awards since 2005, the Music Industry Trust's Man of the Year Dinner since 1999, and theRadio Academy Awards for a ten-year stretch from 1998 to 2008.
In August 2008, Gambaccini returned to Classic FM, to present a 12-part seriesPaul Gambaccini's Hall of Heroes on Sunday evenings between 9:00 and 10:00. In March 2008, he took over as chairman of theRadio 4 music quizCounterpoint fromEdward Seckerson; he was temporarily replaced in 2013 byRussell Davies and returned to the show in November 2014 after being cleared of allegations of historical sexual offences made against him. He returned to BBC Radio 2 withAmerica's Greatest Hits on 15 November 2014, and hosted it until 2 July 2016, when he took overPick of the Pops fromTony Blackburn, the following week.
He started his finalAmerica's Greatest Hits on the BBC with "Born to Run" byBruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, and ended it withJustin Timberlake's "Can't Stop The Feeling!".[11]Trevor Nelson took over the Saturday timeslot with hisRhythm Nation programme, that was allocated to Gambaccini'sAmerica's Greatest Hits programme for seven years.[citation needed] The show was revived onGreatest Hits Radio from February 2020 airing 5-7pm on Saturdays, with the first show starting off with "Born to Run", just like the final BBC Radio episode, and ending with "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" by Stevie Wonder. Gambaccini has also presented special shows on Greatest Hits Radio on bank holidays and over the Christmas holidays. On Boxing Day 2021, he co-presented a special show on Greatest Hits Radio paying tribute toJanice Long, whom he had discovered in 1982.
On 10 August 2023, it was announced that Gambaccini would leavePick of the Pops on 7 October 2023, after seven and a half years at the helm, to host a new live Sunday evening show for Radio 2, titledThe Paul Gambaccini Collection, which would begin on 29 October. He announced the news on the show on 12 August, and he was replaced by the lateSteve Wright.
On 22 October 2023, Gambaccini was interviewed by Wright in a special programme on Radio 2 to celebrate his 50 years of broadcasting on UK radio.
Gambaccini was co-author ofThe Guinness Book of British Hit Singles and related titles, withTim and Jo Rice, alongside Radio 1 colleague at that time,Mike Read, between 1977 and 1996. Gambaccini's own books includeLove Letters,Radio Boy,Top 100 Albums andTrack Records.The Ultimate Man, a musical about a comic booksuperhero, was co-written withAlastair King and Jane Edith Wilson, and produced at the Bridewell Theatre in London in 2000.[12]
Gambaccini was active in the realm of comic book fandom. As an American teenager in the 1960s his missives were regularly published in theletter columns of titles such asJustice League of America andThe Amazing Spider-Man.[3] Gambaccini claims to have invented the term "Brand Echh", which later became widely used byStan Lee.[3]
While still in high school,[3] Gambaccini began contributing to comicsfanzines, including the publicationRocket's Blast Comicollector. In 1964[3] he succeededJerry Bails (the so-called "father of comic book fandom") as executive secretary of theAcademy of Comic-Book Fans and Collectors,[13] an umbrella organization for the burgeoning world of comics fandom[14] During 1964-65, he also published eight issues ofForum which was an Academy newsletter for ex-board members. As part of his involvement with the academy, Gambaccini helped organize the comics industry's first awards, theAlley Awards.
Gambaccini and television presenterJonathan Ross co-owned Top 10 Comics, a comic shop in London which opened in 1989 and closed in 1995.[15][16] Gambaccini has been an official guest at many British comic conventions, including theUnited Kingdom Comic Art Convention (where he co-presented the 1990Eagle Awards and the 1997National Comics Awards), andComics Festival UK.
A character introduced inThe Flash No. 141 namedPaul Gambi, a tailor specializing in super-villain outfits, is an homage to Paul Gambaccini,[17] who had written a letter to the Flash editor, later published in the letter column, asking the question, "Where do all these super-villains get their costumes?".
Gambaccini has been a supporter of gay-related charities. In 1995, he was named Philanthropist of the Year by the National Charity Fundraisers for his work on behalf of theTerrence Higgins Trust. He is a patron of the London Gay Symphony Orchestra. In 2010, he won an episode of celebrityMastermind, with his chosen beneficiary charity beingStonewall.[18]
Gambaccini lives in theKennington area of London.[19]
Gambaccini has been openly gay for many years, saying in 2013: "I was never 'in'."[20] In June 2012, he entered into acivil partnership with Christopher Sherwood.[21] One week later, theymarried in theNew York Botanical Garden.[19] In 2013, Gambaccini said he had been highlighted as a potential security risk by theBBC earlier in his career due to his sexuality, with a symbol resembling a Christmas tree on the cover of his personnel file: "It meant you were 'ascamp as Christmas' and thus a potential security risk."[22] In fact, the symbol was a general indication that the subject should not be promoted or transferred without reference to the department responsible for security vetting, due to left-leaning sympathies (see:"Christmas tree" files).
In October 2012, Gambaccini made headlines when he said he had known rumours about his BBC colleagueJimmy Savile going back to the 1980s. He said: "The expression I came to associate with Savile's sexual partners was either one used by production assistants or one I made up to summarise their reports ...'under-age subnormals'. He targeted the institutionalised, the hospitalised – and this was known. Why did Jimmy go to hospitals? That's where the patients were."[23]
On 1 November 2013, it was reported that Gambaccini had been arrested on suspicion of historical sexual offences as part of an investigation byOperation Yewtree in the United Kingdom, which had been set up following theJimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal the previous year. He was released on bail and his spokesman said that he denied the allegations.[24] It was announced on 10 October 2014 that no charges would be brought.[25] Giving evidence to the House of CommonsHome Affairs Select Committee on 3 March 2015, Gambaccini said he believed he was used as "humanfly paper" to encourage other people to come forward and make allegations against him.[26]
The BBC reported that Gambaccini also said he suspected his bail was repeatedly extended until the end of high-profile cases involving other celebrities because "police did not want juries to hear a former Radio 1 DJ had been cleared of sexual wrongdoing". He also argued in favour of a 28-day bail limit;Home SecretaryTheresa May had announced in December 2014 that she was consulting on such a limit in all but exceptional cases. Gambaccini's allegations of a "witch-hunt" were denied by theDirector of Public Prosecutions.[27] The 28-day limit came into effect in April 2017.[28]
Gambaccini wrote an account of his experience in his bookLove, Paul Gambaccini: My Year Under the Yewtree, which was published in 2015.[29][30] In February 2016, Irish Supreme Court JudgeAdrian Hardiman used a review of the book to criticise what he described as the radical undermining of thepresumption of innocence, especially in sex cases, including Gambaccini's, by the methods used in Operation Yewtree (among other instances).[31]
In February 2017, Gambaccini sued theMetropolitan Police, citing a loss of £200,000 during his time under investigation.[32] In November 2018, he settled a claim against theCrown Prosecution Service, who agreed to pay him damages; the amount was not disclosed due to confidentiality clauses in the settlement agreement.[33][34]
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