Oludotun Davey Moore "Dotun" Adebayo (born 25 August 1959) is a British radio presenter, writer, and publisher. He is best known for his work on '' Up All Night'' on

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

, as well as the former obituary programme ''Brief Lives'' (ended July 2007). He is known as the "King of Overnight" Radio and also known as "Radio Dotun"m the pen name by which he has recently (2023) published his noir-moir memoirs ''EFFRIES''.

Early life

Oludotun "Dotun" Adebayo was born on 25 August 1959, in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

, Nigeria, and moved to join his parents in England at the age of six. His younger brother

Diran Adebayo Oludiran "Diran" Adebayo FRSL (born 30 August 1968) is a British novelist, cultural critic and academic best known for his 1996 novel ''Some Kind of Black''. Early life and education Oludiran Adebayo was born on 30 August 1968 in London, to Ni ...

is a novelist, and his nephew

Tobi Adebayo-Rowling Olutobi Adebayo-Rowling (born 16 November 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for side Rochdale. Career Peterborough United Signed on a youth contract in 2012 by Brighton & Hove Albion but was released 12 mon ...

is a professional footballer. As a young boy, Adebayo joined the

National Youth Theatre The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain (NYT) is a youth theatre and charity in London, created with the aim of developing young people's artistic skills via theatrical productions and other creative endeavours. Founded in 1956 as the world ...

, where he starred in ''Killing Time'' by

Barrie Keeffe __NOTOC__ Barrie Colin Keeffe (31 October 1945 – 10 December 2019) was an English dramatist and screenwriter. Best known for his screenplay for the gangster classic ''The Long Good Friday'' (1980), starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren, Keeffe ...

, ''

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

'' by

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

, and several other productions. Adebayo was educated at Woodlands Park Junior School in

Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...

, where he was in the year below

Winston Silcott Winston Silcott (born 1959),Winston Silcott: An infamous past
(

Stationers' Company's Comprehensive School in Hornsey, North London, followed by

Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

, where he studied Literature. While there, he had a reggae segment inside a Saturday-night radio programme on

Sveriges Radio P3 Sveriges Radio P3 (P3) is a Contemporary hit radio, semi-mainstream CHR/CHR Alternative-formatted station operated by Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcasting organization Sveriges Radio. The P in P3 originally stood for Program (''Pro ...

. Also started a reggae band, Giant Steppers. He then returned to the UK to study Philosophy at the

Wivenhoe Park Wivenhoe Park is a landscaped green space of more than at the eastern edge of Colchester, England. It is the site of Wivenhoe House, a four-star hotel, based in an eighteenth-century Grade II listed house. Wivenhoe House is also home to the Ed ...

campus of the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

. While studying at the University of Essex, and presenting two programmes on the student radio station, in 1987 Adebayo was elected president of the University of Essex Students' Union to serve in the 1987/1988 academic year. Standing as an independent, he defeated

Labour Students Labour Students is a student organisation within the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party of the United Kingdom. It is a network of affiliated college and university clubs, known as Labour Clubs, who campaign in their campuses and communities for L ...

candidate Asad Rehman. Adebayo graduated from Essex in 1987 with a BA degree in Philosophy. Adebayo revealed during an episode of '' Up All Night'' that his middle names were "Davey Moore". His parents were boxing fans and had given him these middle names because the boxer Davey Moore had boxed and beaten British-Nigerian

Hogan Bassey Hogan "Kid" Bassey MBE MON (3 June 1932 – 26 January 1998) was a Nigerian-British boxer; he was the first man of Nigerian descent to become a world boxing champion. He was born Okon Asuquo Bassey on the banks of the Cross River Creek To ...

a year earlier. He spoke about this during the show's "Virtual Jukebox" segment when the

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

song "

Who Killed Davey Moore? "Who Killed Davey Moore?" is a topical song written in 1963 by American folk singer/songwriter Bob Dylan. Though the song was not commercially released on Dylan's several studio albums in the 1960s, it was popular in his repertoire for live shows ...

" had been selected by a listener.

Career

The American playwright

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

chose Adebayo to play a small part in the world premiere of his last play, ''

The Red Devil Battery Sign ''The Red Devil Battery Sign'' is a three-act play by American writer Tennessee Williams. He copyrighted the text in 1975 for its premiere in Boston, but revised the play in 1979; that later version was published by New Directions in 1988. Sy ...

'', in which Adebayo acted opposite

Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He was the fifth actor to play the fictional secret agent Portrayal of James Bond in film, James Bond in the List of James Bond films, James Bond film series, starri ...

. Adebayo appeared in '' The Oblong Box'' (1969) at the age of eight, and as a schoolboy in the 1971

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film '' Diamonds Are Forever''. As well as claiming to have been the first black

Teddy boy The Teddy Boys or Teds were a mainly United Kingdom, British youth subculture originating in the early 1950s to mid-1960s and then revived in the 1970s who were interested in rock and roll and Rhythm and blues, R&B music, wearing clothes part ...

in London in his early teens, Adebayo also won a

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...

public-speaking award as a teenager, and worked for the BBC from the age of 12 on the radio programme ''Network Africa''. Around this same time, Adebayo nearly became the latest, 'Milky Bar Kid', only narrowly missing out on the part, owing to him not needing to wear glasses. Adebayo resigned as president of the University of Essex Students' Union within a few months to take up a job with '' The Voice'', Britain's main black newspaper, where he was music editor until 1991. His columns and articles have been published in ''

Pride Magazine ''Pride Magazine'' (styled in covers as ''PRIDE'') is a magazine that focuses on black women in the United Kingdom. It has been on publication since 1991. The magazine has a circulation of more than 30,000 copies per month. In 2012, the magazine ...

'' and the ''

New Nation ''New Nation'' was a weekly newspaper published in the United Kingdom, UK for the Black British community. The newspaper was launched in November 1996 by Richard Adeshiyan, the founding Editor who gave the title its name. the newspaper was Bri ...

'', as well as broadsheet and tabloid newspapers such as ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', ''

London Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...

'' and the ''

News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national "Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top" Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling ...

''. Some of these columns were compiled into books: ''Can I Have My Balls Back Please'' (2000) and its sequel ''Sperm Bandits'' (2002), the latter a humorous look at the phenomenon of

sperm theft Forced fatherhood or imposed paternity, occurs when a man becomes a father against his will or without his consent. It can include deception by a partner about her ability to get pregnant or use of contraceptives, birth control sabotage, patern ...

. This led to a follow-up

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

docudrama ''Sperm Bandits''. He is working on his first novel, ''Promised Land'', an epic saga spanning 50 years in the lives of Britain's richest black family. In 1993, while appearing on

's ''The Devil's Advocate'' opposite presenter

Darcus Howe Leighton Rhett Radford "Darcus" Howe (26 February 1943 – 1 April 2017)"Civil ...

, he was spotted by GLR programme executive Gloria Abramov, who was looking for a new presenter for the ''Black London'' programme. His broadcasting work on

BBC London 94.9 BBC Radio London is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater London. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Broadcasting House in Langham Place, London. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly au ...

gave him the opportunity to present other programmes, such as the Saturday night

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

show, and he eventually "presented everything except travel!" On his half-week of the '' Up All Night'' show on

, he presents both the World Football Phone-In and the Virtual Jukebox: this was a replacement for his Virtual Bookshelf. Adebayo's television work includes writing and presenting the documentary ''White Girls Are Easy'' (for Channel 4), and the weekly show ''Heavy TV''. Adebayo founded the publishing company X Press, with Steve Pope, producing black fiction such as ''Baby Father'',

Victor Headley Victor Headley (born 1959) is a Jamaican-born British author. He is the author of the bestselling novel ''Yardie'' (1992), which gained cult status upon publication and "heralded a new wave of black British pulp fiction". Other books by Headley in ...

's ''

Yardie Yardie (or Yaadi/Yawdie) is a term often used, particularly within the Caribbean expatriate and Jamaican diaspora, to refer to people of Jamaican origin; however, its exact meaning changes depending on context. The term is derived from the Jama ...

'' (which became the first black British best-seller when it was published in 1992), and ''Cop Killer'' (which gained instant notoriety when 200 bullets were sent out to the press to promote the title). He is also responsible for the Nia imprint of literary black fiction, including titles such as J. California Cooper's ''In Search of Satisfaction'', and the 20/20 imprint for current generic fiction such as the best-seller ''Curvy Lovebox''. Adebayo also published the comic magazine '' Skank''. Adebayo is co-founder of Colourtelly, Britain's first general-interest black internet television station. To save costs, Adebayo uses his own house as the studio. When it launched on 1 August 2007, he had the aim of attracting 6000 subscribers to break even. In September 2020, Adebayo became a co-presenter of ''On The Continent'' as part of the new Football Ramble Presents network, alongside Andy Brassell. In October 2023, it was announced that Dotun Adebayo would launch a Sunday evening programme on

BBC Local Radio BBC Local Radio (also referred to as Local BBC Radio) is the BBC's local and regional radio division for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of 39 stations. As of December 2024, the network broadcasts to a combined audience of 7.1 mil ...

, presented from London and starting on Sunday 12 November. The programme will be broadcast on all BBC Local Radio stations. Dotun Adebayo using his pen-name Radio Dotun published his 'memoirs' called Effries in October 2023 which he states tells the story of how he was once arrested for murder.

Personal life

Adebayo is married to singer

Carroll Thompson Carroll Thompson is a British lovers rock singer, best known as the "Queen of Lovers Rock" Biography Thompson was born in England and is of Jamaican descent. Thompson undertook classical piano training on the piano and sang in school and chur ...

, and they have two daughters. He supports

Charlton Athletic Football Club Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

. In October 1999, Adebayo was invited to

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

to meet

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. Ten years later, he was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2009.

References

External links

''Dotun Adebayo''
(BBC Radio 5 Live)
''Dotun Adebayo''
(BBC Radio London)
''Brief Lives''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adebayo, Dotun 1960 births Living people Alumni of the University of Essex BBC Radio 5 Live presenters Black British radio presenters British book publishing company founders British public relations people British radio personalities British publishers (people) English writers Members of the Order of the British Empire National Youth Theatre members Nigerian emigrants to the United Kingdom Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom People educated at the Stationers' Company's School People from Tottenham Stockholm University alumni