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3 unusual facts about Simon Bates


Jonathan Ruffle

At one time Steve Wright's and Simon Bates’s radio producer on BBC Radio 1, he left to produce the acclaimed BBC radio drama version of Len Deighton’s Bomber, and the award-winning 1995 Channel 4 documentary Edward VIII: The Traitor King.

Simon Bates

Over Nino Rota's theme to Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, Bates read a sentimental story sent by a listener, ending with a record chosen by the correspondent.

His voice — essentially a sped-up, slightly Americanised version of the standard Received Pronunciation associated with BBC Radio 4 — was unusual in that most Radio 1 DJs had a more informal 'DJ' voice.


A Different Corner

After radio DJ Simon Bates first aired A Different Corner on Radio 1, he rated the song so highly that he immediately played it again from the beginning.

The Blues Band

After unqualified endorsement from BBC Radio 1 presenter Simon Bates and others, media interest resulted in a recording contract with Arista Records, who re-released the album under the same title.


see also

2011 in British radio

12 December - Simon Bates takes his Smooth Radio Breakfast show to Afghanistan for a week of programmes with British troops from Camp Bastion.

Smooth Radio presenter history

The station's flagship breakfast show is presented by Simon Bates, who left Classic FM after more than a decade to join Smooth, and revived some of the features from his Radio 1 days, such as Our Tune.