Meet The Voice of Balls & Strictly…Alan Dedicoat

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:01:02 Hello and welcome to The Luxury Podcast. My name's Jonathan Vernon-Smith, and with me is William Hanson. This is the podcast that helps you live a more luxury life.

William Hanson 0:01:21 Hello, Jonathan and I are here to help you create the everyday moments of luxury that make life worth living. Whatever your budget.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:01:27 So, welcome to another special bonus episode of The Luxury Podcast, where William and I will trade tips and stories from our own luxury lifestyles, as well as delving into our lovely, great big overflowing mail sacks.

William Hanson 0:01:40 Today is an extra special episode, as we are joined by possibly the most famous voice in television and radio. We've got Alan Dedicote with us.

Alan Dedicoat 0:01:51 No! I can't afford him, surely. Talking of which, we must discuss the fee later.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:01:59 Oh, I see.

William Hanson 0:01:59 We will.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:01:59 Yes. You've waited until we're recording.

Alan Dedicoat 0:02:03 Yes, exactly. Precisely.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:02:05 You're an old pro, aren't you?

Alan Dedicoat 0:02:07 Yes, I do.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:02:07 Oh, Alan, welcome to our luxury studio. What do you think of it? Isn't it capacious?

Alan Dedicoat 0:02:13 Luxury is the word.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:02:14 Isn't it? Yes. It's oozing.

Alan Dedicoat 0:02:16 Unbelievable. That's probably the best word for it.

William Hanson 0:02:18 Ironic luxury is what we're going for.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:02:20 Yes, absolutely.

Alan Dedicoat 0:02:20 Ironic, iconic. It's all of those, isn't it?

William Hanson 0:02:23 Yeah, good.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:02:24 We thought we'd have an episode where we would talk about, uh, what it is to have a luxury voice, because if I may say so, and I know you're a terribly modest chap,

William Hanson 0:02:36 yeah,

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:02:36 but you have, I would say, one of, if not the most luxury voice in the United Kingdom.

William Hanson 0:02:44 Absolutely.

Alan Dedicoat 0:02:45 Well, you see, I don't know whether it is really, because I've never aimed for that. I have in the recent past been accused of being too BBC. So I'm a little bit posh, but I'm from the Midlands. You can't be posh from the Midlands, for goodness sake. So yes, I'm sort of upmarket because I have links with the BBC, but at all times I try to keep it with the people. I get down with the kids. I really must stop that.

William Hanson 0:03:09 Do you have your show still on One Xtra?

Alan Dedicoat 0:03:11 No, no.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:16 I don't think—

Alan Dedicoat 0:03:17 Always one extra.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:18 Yes, I don't think of you as posh. I just think you've got, um, I mean, you've got lovely diction, but the, the thing about you with your voice is you've got, uh, a beautiful depth to it.

Alan Dedicoat 0:03:30 Range, I believe the word is you're looking for.

William Hanson 0:03:32 What's the upper range?

Alan Dedicoat 0:03:34 Oh, massive. And I'm glad you are, sweetie. I'm glad you are. You see, William is posh.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:40 Yes, he is.

Alan Dedicoat 0:03:41 In a lovely sort of way.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:42 Here we go.

Alan Dedicoat 0:03:43 And it's one we care about.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:44 Here we go. And—

Alan Dedicoat 0:03:44 And then there's you. Because, I mean, you're posh on this because of the title of the show. That's what it's all about.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:52 Are you suggesting I'm common as muck?

Alan Dedicoat 0:03:54 No, not at all. You're more downmarket because you want to appeal to more people.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:58 As William would say, provincial.

Alan Dedicoat 0:04:00 Provincial?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:04:01 That's probably— that's a good word.

William Hanson 0:04:02 Or Borehamwood.

Alan Dedicoat 0:04:06 Well, I do Borehamwood every now and again.

William Hanson 0:04:07 Yes, you do, you do. But you're—

Alan Dedicoat 0:04:09 Dancing show.

William Hanson 0:04:10 You work there.

Alan Dedicoat 0:04:11 I do. I don't know what you call that with these hands. I've never seen a day's work. Come on, William.

William Hanson 0:04:14 Look at that. Yeah. Oh my gosh, that's very smooth.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:04:17 They are baby soft.

William Hanson 0:04:19 Because you do, even when you were on the radio, did you control your own knobs?

Alan Dedicoat 0:04:22 I did, I did, I did. That's true.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:04:27 No, because some of them don't.

Alan Dedicoat 0:04:28 No, so some people have someone to do it for them. I was lazy, unbelievable. Who do you have here? Is there anybody here who does that?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:04:34 Rodrigo.

Alan Dedicoat 0:04:35 Oh, I've met Rodrigo.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:04:36 He's from Peru.

Alan Dedicoat 0:04:38 Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

William Hanson 0:04:39 So, we found him at Paddington Station.

Alan Dedicoat 0:04:43 He's very kind, isn't he? He's a very nice man. Yes.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:04:46 Before we talk too much about you, can we talk about, uh, because I've— well, yes, because how long have I known Alan for? Since I was a child. But the first time I met Alan— so I grew up with Alan. Yeah. On, on Radio 2.

William Hanson 0:05:01 Okay.

Alan Dedicoat 0:05:02 Just making notes for my solicitor.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:05:04 So Alan was one of the, the voices of Radio 2.

William Hanson 0:05:08 Yeah.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:05:08 If not the— you were head of continuity, weren't you?

Alan Dedicoat 0:05:10 I was chief announcer.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:05:11 Yes. Yes. Top bod. And,

Alan Dedicoat 0:05:15 uh, you know, rein him in a bit.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:05:17 When I worked at Three Counties Radio, I remember as a young boy being terribly excited when they told me that the gardening programme I worked on that was presented by a chap called Bernard Mulhern—

William Hanson 0:05:28 Is that the one that you were so drunk you couldn't answer the phones for?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:05:30 That is the one where I had the worst hangover in my life, yeah. And I couldn't even look at the flashing lights at the corners because my—

Alan Dedicoat 0:05:37 And I did that show, didn't I?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:05:38 You did do that. And they said, Alan Dedecote— Bernard's going on holiday, but Alan Dedecote is coming to do— and I said, what, the Alan Dedecote? And they said yes, and he came. And I was so nervous because I thought, oh, is this big star from Radio 2? And, uh, you were just such a hoot. And I remember you were so nice and so nice to me, and I just loved you instantly.

Alan Dedicoat 0:06:01 Well, and why not? Why not indeed? But the thing is, I'm known mainly for my asides, I think, aren't I, in life generally? Which is not a bad thing, I suppose. When I first did that show for Three Counties, the only trouble was I didn't have anybody to answer the phone.

Alan Dedicoat 0:06:16 So I had to duck behind the desk and quietly say— so I had an agreement with the gardening man. Unless I look directly at you, do not start speaking about anything to do with gardening. Just keep quiet and it'll be fine. So he was talking, he was answering one question, that was fine. And behind the desk I was going, yes, yes, yes.

Alan Dedicoat 0:06:34 Could you, could you turn your radio down? Could you turn your radio down for me? That would be good. Thank you. And we will be with you shortly.

Alan Dedicoat 0:06:39 Okay. And then my eyes would meet his and, and he'd know there was another call ready. It's a bit basic in those days, but that's not a bad thing because, you know, Mark, must have had the same problems. You know, you not turning up to answer the phones, that sort of thing.

William Hanson 0:06:55 Did you adopt a different voice when you were answering the phones on the gardening programme?

Alan Dedicoat 0:06:59 Hello there, what's your question? No, no, we weren't allowed to do that. The only thing is I'd started the programme about an hour or two earlier, and to let the gardening man in, I used to have to trot out to the front door with a 10-inch tape box because they were big tapes in those days. that were being used, and I had to prop the doors open as I went along with one of these tape boxes, hoping desperately the doors didn't shut because otherwise I'd be locked out. What's the point of that?

Alan Dedicoat 0:07:25 What's the point of that? Yeah, so it was, it was, you know, it's all right for you two. You come in here, you swan in, you got Sadie producing there, you got Rodrigo doing whatever he does, and, and, and you've got all this stuff, and this is, this is luxury.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:07:39 It is, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're very, very fortunate. Yes.

William Hanson 0:07:42 And so, you've mentioned that you were born in the Midlands.

Alan Dedicoat 0:07:44 Yes.

William Hanson 0:07:45 Was— and this is a question that Jonathan and I get asked a lot, so we'll ask it to you— how did you sound as a child and as a teenager? Did you sound like this?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:07:54 Did you sound like your mother?

Alan Dedicoat 0:07:55 No, I didn't say— yes, I did. Is that Mrs.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:07:59 Dedicate?

Alan Dedicoat 0:08:00 Oh dear, I don't even know where the name comes from, to be honest, which is one of the things I'm usually asked. Dedicate, I think it must be French, wasn't it? Did you cut something like that?

William Hanson 0:08:09 Oh, that's long.

Alan Dedicoat 0:08:10 And it was in the Doomsday Book as well, under D for Doom. But the thing is, it was, it was, it was, I was near to Solihull, Solihull, the posh bit of the Midlands.

Alan Dedicoat 0:08:20 So therefore I didn't get so much of the Birmingham accent really. But it was there at one time. And it is if I get drunk, looking forward to that later, or if I'm very tired and emotional. So the accent comes out then. But I lost it.

Alan Dedicoat 0:08:33 I went down to Devon first, And they spotted it straight away when I went to Radio Devon. The first, one of the first, if it were, I don't think it were even emails in those days, it was messages, and they just said, why don't you go back up the M5 where you belong? And you think, how welcoming is that?

William Hanson 0:08:49 Yeah.

Alan Dedicoat 0:08:49 But it's all gone well because I organised the reunions for that radio station, and we are still meeting over 40 years later. About 30, 35 of us get together after all that time.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:09:01 Oh, that's lovely.

Alan Dedicoat 0:09:02 David Willis, you see him from America every now and again talking about this and the other.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:09:06 Oh yes, yeah, yeah.

Alan Dedicoat 0:09:06 He was at Radio Devon. He makes a little return trip every now and again. Well, it's a sign of a country station, a rural station. Big city stations don't do that, but there's a lovely feeling on county stations.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:09:19 How long had you worked at Radio Devon when you were poached then by Radio 2?

Alan Dedicoat 0:09:24 Well, to be fair to them, I was sniffing around Radio 2 for quite a long time because I fancied being an announcer. Not at a station or anything like that before anybody starts that nonsense. I wanted to be on the wireless, on the radio. Because as a kid, I'd practised with a Grundig TK18 tape recorder, reel-to-reel, reading the news from the Birmingham Evening Mail onto a tape recorder. So I'd got a feeling for it then, you see.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:09:49 Mm-hmm.

Alan Dedicoat 0:09:50 And so I kept that tape recorder in case they hadn't got me to Radio Birmingham. And I eventually applied to them saying, you know, It would be nice, do you have any vacancies? And they were very kind. They said, well, as it happens, we've got 2 vacancies and we've got a bloke from London who's coming up to do it and he's been doing it as a freelance for some time but wants to get onto the BBC staff. But what we'll do with you is we'll take a gamble.

Alan Dedicoat 0:10:13 And that's exactly what I needed. And I still to this day, I'm proving myself that I can do it. And one day somebody will say, you were right. But, um, it's unlikely, isn't it? But no, that's, that's how I got in.

William Hanson 0:10:26 So did you have any, and one of our listeners, Max, has asked this, did you have any training or are you self-taught with, with the, the wonderful range of voice that you have?

Alan Dedicoat 0:10:34 Max, was it?

William Hanson 0:10:35 Yes.

Alan Dedicoat 0:10:35 Right. Okay.

Alan Dedicoat 0:10:36 Look out for him in future. I'm a great believer that it never upset anyone because at some point some lift doors somewhere will open and there will be Max saying, you know, I got the job, you didn't. But no, I, uh, I just, I was trained. I was trained. in the practicalities of how to do it in broadcasting house because of the different equipment and whatever.

Alan Dedicoat 0:10:56 At least they've got equipment. Uh, it's a lot of stuff in here, a lot of it metal, but I'm not sure what it does, folks. But, um, but it was James Alexander Gordon who, uh, the, the, uh, the newsreader and sports commentator. He used to do the football results, didn't he, James Alexander Gordon?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:11:15 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Alan Dedicoat 0:11:15 Really lovely man.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:11:16 Uh, and

Alan Dedicoat 0:11:16 so he trained me. But you get all that sort of training of, you know, setting fire to the scripts while you're trying to read it. What? All that sort of stuff. Oh, it's horrendous, William.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:11:27 You used to do a lot of the BBC training, didn't you? Of kind of voice training.

Alan Dedicoat 0:11:31 I've done a bit of that in my time, yeah. I don't think we ever crossed paths. Can't have done. But otherwise it's all rubbed off, as they say. But you wouldn't need it, obviously, William.

William Hanson 0:11:48 No, thank you very much.

Alan Dedicoat 0:11:49 You'd be good on Radio 3, you know.

William Hanson 0:11:53 Oh, thank you very much. Radio 3.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:11:56 It's a bit boring, isn't it?

William Hanson 0:11:58 That's why I think it's—

Alan Dedicoat 0:12:00 Never say— you never know when you're going to need Radio 3. Let me tell you, David, you can't just say that. Somebody will have logged that somewhere saying, oh, he said that about us, did he?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:12:10 Hills, Rachmaninoff.

Alan Dedicoat 0:12:13 That was too quick. Slowly. Just do it very, very slowly.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:12:16 Yeah.

William Hanson 0:12:17 Yes, now what if you were training Jonathan? Let's imagine. Jonathan is a fresh ingenue at the BBC. He's yet to—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:12:25 I'm a lost cause.

William Hanson 0:12:26 You're yet to broadcast. What would you do to sort of polish or not polish his voice? Well,

Alan Dedicoat 0:12:33 I'd take him outside the studio first because that's no place for him. So, uh, then we just sit down and talk about it generally. No, he's all right, but he does, he does, he breathes a lot. That's, that's the thing. Uh, and, you know, as some of your listeners will know, um, far too often. But yeah, you see, you're doing it now. You're laughing, you see, you laugh. You can't do that. I could have been saying something very serious there. I know he's known for his laugh.

William Hanson 0:13:00 Yeah.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:02 Alan used to do all the jingles on our radio station. Alan was the voice of BBC Three Counties Radio.

William Hanson 0:13:09 Sung or spoken?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:10 Spoken.

William Hanson 0:13:11 Spoken.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:11 Spoken.

William Hanson 0:13:12 Can you sing?

Alan Dedicoat 0:13:13 If you want me to.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:14 Can you still remember the Up to the News? No. No?

Alan Dedicoat 0:13:18 What were the words? Tell me, tell me.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:20 It was something like, on 103.8 FM.

Alan Dedicoat 0:13:24 On 103.8 FM.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:26 95.5 FM.

Alan Dedicoat 0:13:28 95.5 FM.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:30 And 104.5 FM.

Alan Dedicoat 0:13:32 And 104.5 FM.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:35 And 630 Medium Wave.

Alan Dedicoat 0:13:36 No, come on, this is ridiculous.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:38 This is ridiculous.

William Hanson 0:13:39 Isn't it easier with DAB?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:41 Yeah. Yes. You used to—

Alan Dedicoat 0:13:42 Couldn't have done that in South Wales.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:43 But you were very good. And then you used to build to this big dramatic, This

Alan Dedicoat 0:13:47 is Three Counties Radio

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:49 from the BBC.

Alan Dedicoat 0:13:51 Yeah, that's it. Wow.

William Hanson 0:13:52 Oh, I've got chills.

Alan Dedicoat 0:13:54 Yeah, I mean, well, I'm surprised, didn't you?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:56 You were very good. And then they replaced you with, uh, a guy called John Briggs.

William Hanson 0:14:02 Oh, Siri.

Alan Dedicoat 0:14:04 The original voice of Siri. Yeah, yeah.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:14:06 And he was the voice of The Weakest Link as well.

William Hanson 0:14:08 Yes.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:14:08 And I always thought that John was a more aggressive you.

Alan Dedicoat 0:14:13 Well, it has been said. Does he listen to this?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:14:17 Do we know?

Alan Dedicoat 0:14:19 He might do, so I can't say.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:14:20 He sounded like Alan Dedecote, who'd kill you. Yeah.

Alan Dedicoat 0:14:25 But I mean, that's, that's, you see, that is the point. You put your finger right on it. It's warmth. It's to do with warmth, isn't it? Coming across in the voice. And you two got it in, well, spades, you know. Got it in spades.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:14:35 He's being nice.

Alan Dedicoat 0:14:35 You're genuine. Well, because it's almost time for me to go.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:14:41 When did you, um, get the job as the voice of the balls? Because of course that's where—

William Hanson 0:14:44 Oh, that's— can we just explain that for our non-UK listeners?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:14:48 So we have the National Lottery,

William Hanson 0:14:50 which started in the '90s,

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:14:52 I think. John Major was the voice.

Alan Dedicoat 0:14:54 1994 was the first draw, yes. I came to it 6 months in because it had been on the road. If you remember, it went to various places, uh, Tintagel, the Arthurian legend and all that sort of stuff.

Alan Dedicoat 0:15:06 Uh, there was Scarborough as well. know where that came in there, but it travelled around and they decided, we've had enough of this because it's costing us a lot of money to carry these machines here, there, and everywhere. And also, it was presented originally— Noel Edmonds did the first one, but the rest of them were done by Anthea, the lovely Anth, and a Scottish actor called Gordon Kennedy. And Gordon had to be back in London for the next morning, so wherever they took him, he had to drive through the night for a programme at the 11th hour. on a Sunday morning on BBC One.

Alan Dedicoat 0:15:40 He got tired of that. And so I was wheeled in. They said, we need somebody who can cope with anything. And the guys who produced the Lottery at that time had heard me working with the man I used to call the greatest living Irishman, Terry Wogan. They said, you appear to be able to cope with anything he throws at you.

Alan Dedicoat 0:15:59 So therefore, would you come and do this for us just in case anything happens?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:16:02 Hmm.

Alan Dedicoat 0:16:02 So I was always sitting there and even in relatively easy job in some ways because you— I trained all the cameramen to go zooming in as far as they could. so I didn't miss the balls and what the numbers were. And I'd said, you are my eyes, for goodness' sake. But the aim was to just get it right every time and do it in a nice way. But all the time in my head, I was thinking, what if, what if, what if? And there were times when it didn't go according to plan, like an occasion when the Fathers 4 Justice people—

William Hanson 0:16:31 Yes!

Alan Dedicoat 0:16:32 Set off a flare in the studio.

Alan Dedicoat 0:16:34 Now, those can burn at about 1,000 degrees, so they can do a lot of damage. But it was, it was Eurovision Song Contest night and everything starts from wherever the Eurovision starts from, dead on 8 o'clock, right across Europe, whatever the time is relatively. And so, uh, I knew this was going wrong. And I, if you listen back to me on YouTube, it's all there, but I pause every now and again, hoping that presentation, whose job it is to pick up when these things happen, I was hoping that they would dive in and rescue me. They didn't.

Alan Dedicoat 0:17:03 Mm-hmm. In fact, they said at one point, keep going, we've got an 8 o'clock start. Thanks. Thanks for that. Thanks for that.

Alan Dedicoat 0:17:09 So I was hearing not a lot from the director because we didn't know what was happening on the floor. People were just shouting. And I went through all my stuff about Daz Sampson and Terry Wogan and where he was and how the Eurovision worked. And we're hoping to get these 2 draws done as quickly as we can. And we did.

Alan Dedicoat 0:17:26 We managed to.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:17:27 Nice.

Alan Dedicoat 0:17:27 Which was good.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:17:28 Professional.

Alan Dedicoat 0:17:29 Well, did you ever read—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:17:30 have you ever read the wrong number out? Yes. Have you?

Alan Dedicoat 0:17:33 Oh yes. We were on an outside broadcast once. from somewhere or other, and I've got the tiniest monitor in front of me. Imagine telly that big. And the 06 and the 09 are the ones, the tricky ones to sell, because, you know, you've got the zero on the one side and a number on the other. And you, you can sometimes see me, because they had a camera on me as well, uh, arching round to try and get what the number was. So, but if you very quickly say, wrong number called, that number is in fact blah blah, you've got time because there's about 5 or 6 seconds.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:18:04 For our international listeners who haven't heard you do it, could you just give us a Quick bursts.

Alan Dedicoat 0:18:09 Release those big money balls!

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:18:10 Is one of them.

Alan Dedicoat 0:18:13 Number 19, last drawn in September, 98th time as a main ball. Because when I took over from Gordon, he was just pointing, he was at the machine side saying, there it is, that's a green 38. So I need, I need to zhuzh that up a bit, come on. So I started keeping the stats and I made sure that only I kept them because otherwise you start taking a risk on them being accurate or not. So I did all of that.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:18:35 So are they all in there then, all the stats?

William Hanson 0:18:38 Or do you have— Well, they—

Alan Dedicoat 0:18:38 no, I had, I had a piece of paper with simply— you've got it, you see, straight away. This is why this man is here.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:18:44 I know.

Alan Dedicoat 0:18:45 Okay, yeah, a piece of paper with 49 lines on it. Have to be 59 now because of 59 balls these days. So yeah, so I kept all these stats.

William Hanson 0:18:53 Because of inflation.

Alan Dedicoat 0:18:53 And all I did— exactly. And I, uh, fed up with him now. And all you do is update each line each week. You see, so you keep doing that. So it's not— it's an onerous task, but it has to be done.

Alan Dedicoat 0:20:49 I didn't know you had international people.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:06 Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Alan Dedicoat 0:21:08 In America, are they in America?

William Hanson 0:21:09 Yeah, yeah.

Alan Dedicoat 0:21:09 So they will know you from Dancing with the Stars.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:12 Well, we're getting— let's—

Alan Dedicoat 0:21:13 I'm the British voice.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:14 Before we get on to that, can we go back a little bit?

Alan Dedicoat 0:21:17 Wishing my life away.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:18 Just talk about Uh, Terry.

Alan Dedicoat 0:21:20 Yes.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:21 Because of course you were a massive part of Terry Wogan's Breakfast Show.

Alan Dedicoat 0:21:25 I was part of his Breakfast Show, yes.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:27 You were a big part, come on.

Alan Dedicoat 0:21:28 And we were, we were great friends, um, and I used to go and socialise with him, invited round to his house on a Saturday sometimes for lunch, that sort of thing. Sunday was always the family day, so you weren't allowed in on Sunday, but Saturday he got everyone around him. Lovely banqueting table in there, in the house that they've, uh, they had in Taplow. In fact, it's still on the market, I think.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:50 Is it?

William Hanson 0:21:50 Yes, we were going to buy it, weren't we?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:52 We were thinking about it.

Alan Dedicoat 0:21:53 Wouldn't that have been great? There's a swimming pool, there's a tennis court, it's absolutely fantastic. And so you'd have Terry at one end cracking all the jokes and telling all the stories, Helen at the other end saying where all the food had come from. She prepped most of the food a couple of days before, and then on the day they'd get a couple of flunkies in so they could be with their guests.

Alan Dedicoat 0:22:14 What a fabulous idea. And you had the best of everything. And he never appeared in the Sunday Times Rich List because all of his stuff was squirrelled away in various transactions. There was a time, for example, where he owned most of the trees in Scotland.

William Hanson 0:22:30 Oh wow.

Alan Dedicoat 0:22:31 Because that's what he did. Yeah, he owned a lot of land. Yeah, he invested in various things. But what he did also is invest in his friends. So I'd be sitting opposite various people at this lovely banqueting table and you'd he knew that what you would have to do at some point is find out who you each were, you know, why you meant so much to Terry and Helen.

Alan Dedicoat 0:22:50 And so I leaned over to this lovely couple opposite me. I said, well, how do you know Terry then? Of course he was listening. And they said, well, he comes to see us every now and again. We're from Italy.

Alan Dedicoat 0:23:01 We own a town in Italy. And so my jaw dropped. Sorry, what was that? Did I hear that correctly? Yes, they owned a town in Italy and they invited him round.

Alan Dedicoat 0:23:10 Gosh. Every year. But there would be— and the neighbours, there'd be neighbours around the table as well. Not many people from broadcasting. And I was lucky enough to go to the actual funeral rather than just the Thanksgiving service.

Alan Dedicoat 0:23:21 And there were hardly any people from broadcasting there because it wasn't— I'm not saying it wasn't that important to him, but much more important were friends and family. But you'd get the neighbours because what he'd done with the neighbours is he'd bought all the fields around him in that lane that he lived in so that people couldn't build on it. And he did it not just, not just for his property.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:23:42 The original NIMBYs. All the neighbours. Exactly.

Alan Dedicoat 0:23:46 But he did something about it. But, but it says so for all the neighbours, did it for the whole neighbours for that lane so that nobody would build around it, which was fabulous.

William Hanson 0:23:53 Oh wow.

Alan Dedicoat 0:23:54 But not many people know that, you see. He's, uh, he was a very private man in, in many ways, but also, uh, very public and very good. You would walk around with him and, uh, builders You can do a good builder's voice, can't you? They would shout, they would shout, all right, tell, all right, tell, all that. Is that near enough?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:24:13 That's very good. All right, tell, all right, tell.

Alan Dedicoat 0:24:15 And he acknowledged everybody. How does he do it? But he acknowledged everybody and they came back to him because he was a man of the people, like myself, man of the people.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:24:25 Yes, of course.

William Hanson 0:24:27 And is it true Jeremy Vine tells a story that, you know, he would— Jeremy Vine would be getting in for his show at 7, because I think Sir Terry started at 7:30, his breakfast.

Alan Dedicoat 0:24:36 Strangely enough, I heard this very story only last night.

William Hanson 0:24:40 Oh, really?

Alan Dedicoat 0:24:40 Because Jeremy Vine was addressing a group of people at the RAF Club at the end of Piccadilly.

William Hanson 0:24:45 Yeah.

Alan Dedicoat 0:24:45 And he tells this story of getting in the lift.

William Hanson 0:24:50 Yes.

Alan Dedicoat 0:24:50 And pressing the right buttons, and he decided not to go to his floor, but he went up to the 6th floor, which is where the studios were, to deliver Terry. Uh, for that very reason. And then Terry says—

William Hanson 0:25:02 With 1 minute to go.

Alan Dedicoat 0:25:03 With 1 minute. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's— yes, I mean, we, we did laugh though, to be fair, every minute that he was there. But it was a question of minutes, you're right.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:25:11 But he did— sometimes he didn't turn up. I remember the days as a kid.

Alan Dedicoat 0:25:14 Well, I don't think that's quite the term. You see, that's where you fall foul.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:25:18 But he presented the show from the phone in the car.

Alan Dedicoat 0:25:23 Yes, but he was delayed by other motorists.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:25:25 It's not him.

Alan Dedicoat 0:25:26 He didn't deliberately fail turn up. He was held up in traffic, but because of his need to broadcast, he did it from the phone. We need to express things differently.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:25:37 Hello there, you join me from the M40.

Alan Dedicoat 0:25:40 Another training session needed.

William Hanson 0:25:42 Was he driving himself?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:25:43 No, he had a driver.

Alan Dedicoat 0:25:45 He had a driver because you don't want to be stressing yourself on the way into a show.

William Hanson 0:25:48 No, you don't.

Alan Dedicoat 0:25:48 Well, and I'm sure you're aware of that more than most, but the two of you. But yeah, no, he had a driver. was all right, so he could then broadcast, and the producer handled the music at the other end.

William Hanson 0:26:01 Yeah,

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:26:01 because when I was, uh, I think I was 12 when I got the opportunity to go and watch Terry Wogan's Breakfast Show, because Paulie Walters was from Harpenden, where I'm from. He lived around the corner from us.

Alan Dedicoat 0:26:16 Harpenden Huts.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:26:16 And, um, yes, and so my mum was friends with his friend, And she said, oh, my son would really like to work in radio. Is there any chance he could come down and watch your show? So I went down, I sat— it was in the old Radio 2 studio.

Alan Dedicoat 0:26:31 Yes.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:26:32 And I remember sitting there and just looking at Terry Wogan talking to the nation, and then he was playing a song, and suddenly Paulie Walters came through and said, Terry wondered if you'd like to come through. And I said, oh, mate.

Alan Dedicoat 0:26:46 The sanctum, the inner sanctum.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:26:47 Yeah. And I was taken into the studio And he was so nice and warm and friendly. And he said, you know, do you want to stand behind me and just watch what I do? And I stood behind him and part of me was watching his fingers and watching all the correspondence on the desk in front of him. The other part of me was checking to see if he did wear a wig.

Alan Dedicoat 0:27:07 And

William Hanson 0:27:13 you said—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:27:14 Because I thought, I can't, I can't have gone in there and got this close. And it wasn't a wig, was it? No, it wasn't.

Alan Dedicoat 0:27:21 It wasn't a wig. That's— those are correct words to be used there.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:27:25 Everyone said it was a wig. It wasn't a wig.

William Hanson 0:27:27 No.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:27:27 And I remember thinking, he's not got a wig on.

Alan Dedicoat 0:27:29 Chose the wrong person. It was another somebody else. Yeah, but I can't say. Not Jeremy Vine either.

William Hanson 0:27:38 No, not Ken Bruce.

Alan Dedicoat 0:27:39 No, no, joke. He's bald.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:27:42 Ken Bruce has never, never attempted it.

Alan Dedicoat 0:27:43 Only joking.

William Hanson 0:27:44 Who,

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:27:45 who was it?

Alan Dedicoat 0:27:46 Who was it? We'll edit that out.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:27:47 Who was it? Who was

Alan Dedicoat 0:27:48 it? No, I can't tell you who it was. I will later.

William Hanson 0:27:50 Let's talk about Strictly.

Alan Dedicoat 0:27:53 Yes. Well done, you're so good.

William Hanson 0:27:54 Yes. So Strictly, obviously, it's been going for 412 years over here and about 712 series in America because they do 2 series a year.

Alan Dedicoat 0:28:04 Yes, God bless America is what I'm going to say here at this point. Twice a year, March and September, 2 seasons. They've stopped that now, it's down to one.

William Hanson 0:28:11 Oh, is it?

Alan Dedicoat 0:28:11 Yes, my accountant's really angry.

William Hanson 0:28:13 And I assume Like they did with the late Len and Bruno, they fly you out every week to do the voiceover from LA.

Alan Dedicoat 0:28:23 Oh no. No, most things of what you hear, certainly on Strictly and Dancing with the Stars, are my spare bedroom, everybody. And one of the weeks we'll do the show—

William Hanson 0:28:35 Do you wait for the guests to leave? Don't mind me.

Alan Dedicoat 0:28:38 No, no, I'll leave them. Just don't make that noise. But one of the— one of these occasions we'll do the show from my spare bedroom. I think we should.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:28:46 Oh, okay.

William Hanson 0:28:47 Yes.

Alan Dedicoat 0:28:48 On location.

William Hanson 0:28:49 Is that all right, Sadie?

Speaker A 0:28:50 Yes.

William Hanson 0:28:50 Yeah, absolutely.

Alan Dedicoat 0:28:51 Oh, all of it is— I didn't know you've got a microphone.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:28:54 All of it's pre-recorded then?

Alan Dedicoat 0:28:56 Uh, most of it is, yes. Well, because if you think about it, the sound guys, in their defence, they've got the band, they've got the singers, they've got the audience. If you're not careful, I'm lost. So they have me on a little push button.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:29:10 Ah.

Alan Dedicoat 0:29:11 So I've done bits and bobs and I go down and see, because as you know, uh, Borum Wood is just a stone's throw from Harrow, so it takes 10-15 minutes to get over there. So I would pop over, see them, and I do see the dancers at lots of the corporate events that I now spend my life doing, thank goodness. Um, keep doing that, corporate people. Um, and they come and do demonstration dances, so I see them. Your Ali Ashes, Ali Ash Skorjanec,

William Hanson 0:29:36 Yes.

Alan Dedicoat 0:29:36 Lovely name, isn't it? Yeah.

William Hanson 0:29:39 Well, of course, the great joke that Sir Bruce used to do was, uh, you all

Alan Dedicoat 0:29:43 right,

William Hanson 0:29:44 my love?

Alan Dedicoat 0:29:46 Higher than an 8, you say? Oh, those cunts, those cunts.

William Hanson 0:29:49 That's uncanny.

Alan Dedicoat 0:29:50 It is. How does he do it? Why does he do it? Certainly not money here, is it?

William Hanson 0:29:56 But it was, um, Aliash and, uh, Artem and Kevin.

Alan Dedicoat 0:30:02 Yes.

William Hanson 0:30:03 From Grimsby. Yes.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:04 Yes. That was an easier one.

Alan Dedicoat 0:30:06 Well, Kevin from Grimsby. No, he was a lovely man, Brucey. Brucey. Yeah. There was— it's been, it's been, as you say, it's 20-odd years with Strictly, 30 with the Balls, and it's only now that you've decided to get in touch with me. I've been around for ages.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:24 We were waiting for the right moment.

William Hanson 0:30:26 I feel that we could continue to talk to you forever, which is—

Alan Dedicoat 0:30:29 Well, I think there's a part 2 in this, isn't there?

William Hanson 0:30:31 There is a part 2.

Alan Dedicoat 0:30:32 I want to explain about how I got into most people's people's heads, Sadie, which was years ago. I used to do that business of Thursday night on BBC One begins with Top of the Pops, then at 7:30 there's Trouble at the Queen Vic in EastEnders, and with international show jumping at 11:45, that's Thursday night on BBC One.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:48 Lovely.

William Hanson 0:30:50 And we will hear more from Alan in our special exclusive Patreon-only members club, and you can sign up to that at any time at luxurypodcast.com. Thank you very much, Alan.

Alan Dedicoat 0:31:03 It's been an absolute— I approached this building with some trepidation, I have to say. What on earth are they going to ask me? How are they going to treat me? Will there be buckets of water thrown on me?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:31:10 You thought we were going to stitch you up?

Alan Dedicoat 0:31:12 Yes, and so far that hasn't happened.

William Hanson 0:31:15 No, that's part 2.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:31:16 Yes, for now though, goodbye!