Jimmy Young - Career

Orft we jolly well go.

Jimmy Young, born in 1921, was an accomplished singer, enjoying chart success with 'Eternally', 'Chain Gang', 'More', 'Unchained Melody' and 'The Man from Laramie'. The latter two were number ones in the days when one had to sell quite a few copies.

Jimmy broadcast for Radio Luxembourg, before joining a new BBC Radio One, presenting mid-mornings from 1967 to 1973 in the days when Radio One and Two were still joined at the hip. By 1973, he’d joined BBC Radio 2 proper for 'The JY Prog'. ‘What’s the recipe today Jim’ (cue ‘varispeed’) was as much a part of national radio folklore back then as Ken Bruce’s PopMaster is now. But, more seriously, JY’s show served huge audiences with insight into the issues of the day; albeit in a more cuddly way than his successor Jeremy Vine so ably has. The programme style, like the World around it, has moved on; but JY may justifiably lay claim to having helped to create the genre of accessible music-magazine radio; where the Cold War and the Carpenters nestled comfortably together.

Jimmy retired from full-time broadcasting in 2002, and as the end of these clips suggests, it was not really his choice.

BFN.