Chris Denning | |
---|---|
Born |
Christopher David Denning 10 May 1941 Hayes, Middlesex, England |
Occupation | Radio presenter |
Criminal charge | Sex offences |
Christopher David "Chris" Denning (born 10 May 1941) is an English former radio presenter and convicted sex offender. His career effectively ended when he was convicted for sexual offences in 1974, and he has spent four decades in and out of prison in Great Britain and overseas.
Born in Hayes, Middlesex, Denning grew up in Cowley, Oxford, the only child of middle-class parents. He has said that he was a rent boy from the age of 13 and remained so until the age of 18.
His first radio experience was on a short-wave station in the USA as a teenager, and then on to Radio Moscow before travelling to Kenya to work on British Forces Network with Keith Skues. He then returned to the UK in time to become the first announcer heard on BBC 2 when it launched in 1964. He worked for Radio Luxembourg and Radio London before presenting the Saturday afternoon programme Where It's At with Kenny Everett (produced by Johnny Beerling) on the BBC's Light Programme. He then became one of the original DJs on BBC Radio 1, where he continued presenting Where It's At, had his own weekly show and deputised as necessary for Tony Blackburn on the latter's breakfast show. Denning is gay, and has said he was 'out' when he was working at Radio 1.
Denning left Radio 1 in 1969 after facing accusations that his job there came into conflict with his new promotional job at Decca Records, which the BBC had initially agreed to with provisos. He worked for Decca for two years, at the same time that Jonathan King was employed by the record company. He then became the number-two producer at Bell Records and was involved in developing the careers of the Bay City Rollers and Gary Glitter.