Duncan Johnson (aka Gerald Clements) (17 August 1938 - 11 October 2018) was a radio DJ, working in his native Canada and in the United Kingdom. Born in

Fergus, Ontario Fergus is the largest community in Centre Wellington, a township within Wellington County in Ontario, Canada. It lies on the Grand River about 18 km NNW of Guelph. The population of this community at the time of the 2016 Census was 20,767 ...

, during his early years he joined a radio station in

Swift Current Swift Current is the fifth largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is situated along the Trans Canada Highway west of Moose Jaw, and east of Medicine Hat, Alberta. Swift Current grew 6.8% between 2011 and 2016, ending up at ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North ...

. After a time at CJOC in Lethbridge,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Duncan was offered a job in Bermuda where he stayed for a year and a half.The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame
/ref>Selling the Sixties:The Pirates and Pop Music Radio
/ref> While in London on a trip, Johnson came across a newspaper article that outlined the formation of Radio London. At first he covered for broadcasters who were on shore leave, but eventually had his own show, "London After Midnight". After leaving Radio London Duncan he appeared on the

BBC Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...

in 1966 and as one of the team of DJs on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

when it launched in 1967, though he only appeared on the station for the first three months. He worked at

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012, ...

as a label manager and returned to radio working briefly for

Radio Northsea REM Island is a platform built in the Republic of Ireland and towed off the Dutch coast in 1964 as the pirate broadcasting home of ''Radio and TV Noordzee''. Both stations were dismantled by the Netherlands Armed Forces. It was 10 km off Noor ...

BBC Radio London BBC Radio London is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM frequency, DAB, Virgin Media channel 937, Sky channel 0152 (in the London ...

presenting "London Country" and

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

. In 1968, Johnson recorded a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

for Spark Records, "The Big Architect".Duncan Johnson Discography
/ref> In 1976 Johnson joined

Capital Radio Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. ...

presenting "Afternoon Delight" and later the overnight show "Night Flight". Moving to Kent in 1984 he was part of the launch team at Invicta Radio. After leaving the station in 1988 he joined an advertising agency as a financial controller. Diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

in his sixties, Johnson continued to appear at offshore radio reunions including the Pirate Radio Essex broadcasts in 2004 and 2007. In his later years he lived at

Brinsworth House Brinsworth House is a residential and nursing retirement home for theatre and entertainment professionals in Staines Road, Twickenham, west London, England. The house is owned and run by the Royal Variety Charity and has 36 bedrooms, six living ...

and in October 2018 was admitted to

West Middlesex University Hospital West Middlesex University Hospital (WMUH) is an acute NHS hospital in Isleworth, West London, operated by Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. It is a teaching hospital of Imperial College School of Medicine and a designated ac ...

where he died on 11 October.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Duncan Canadian DJs 1938 births 2018 deaths Offshore radio broadcasters Pirate radio personalities People from Centre Wellington