Neil Spence

Neil Spence (?1937-2007) was an innovative British pirate radio broadcaster of the 1960s and an influential educator of the 1970s and 1980s, with a fine ability to spot and develop radio broadcasting talent. As Dave Dennis, from 1964 to 1966 he was the "Double D", the fastest-talking and highest-rated DJ on Radio London, operating from the pirate ship MV Galaxy and broadcasting alongside future household names such as Kenny Everett and Tony Blackburn. As Neil Spence, from 1968 to 1985 he oversaw the early radio careers of James Whale, Roger Scott, Adrian Love, Graham Dene, Jeremy Vine and Dale Winton, among many others who would reach the top of the UK broadcasting industry.

Spence was educated at Leighton Park School in Reading, Berkshire, a highly academic school where he was boasted he was not just bottom of his class but of the whole school. He left school to work in farming and stayed for eight years, by which time he was the manager of the farm and claimed on-air to be an authority on pigs. He attended the prestigious Central School of Speech and Drama in London for a three-year acting course, and then spent time in English repertory theatre.

Spence began his radio presenting career with the pirate station Radio Atlanta, which began broadcasting in May 1964 from the motor vessel MV Mi Amigo off the east coast of the UK. When Radio Atlanta was taken over by Radio Caroline in July 1964, Spence resigned and left the station. At some point that year he worked briefly as a DJ at Radio City, which broadcast from an old army fort at Shivering Sands in the Thames Estuary. A short time later he was as at Radio Invicta, a "sweet music station" which broadcast from a second world war fort at Red Sands, near Whitstable in Kent.

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