Richard Spendlove MBE (born 16 June 1939) is a British radio presenter/producer and television writer.

Life and work

Spendlove was born in Carlton in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

. He worked for

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commis ...

for 35 years, and in 1963 was appointed Relief

Station Master The station master (or stationmaster) is the person in charge of a Train station, railway station, particularly in the United Kingdom and many other countries outside North America. In the United Kingdom, where the term originated, it is now lar ...

at Ely in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

. He retired from the railways in 1989 at the age of 50, to pursue a career in broadcasting. With David Croft he wrote and created a BBC TV

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

series, ''

Oh, Doctor Beeching! ''Oh, Doctor Beeching!'' is a British television sitcom written by David Croft and Richard Spendlove, and produced for the BBC. After a pilot for the programme was broadcast on 14 August 1995, full production was green-lighted, with the sitcom ...

'', which ran on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

between 1995 and 1997. From 1989 until 2017, Spendlove worked for

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 ...

as the host of his long-running Saturday night music and phone-in show, which was simulcast from

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire BBC Radio Cambridgeshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Cambridgeshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at the Cambridge Business Park on Cowley Road in Cambridge. The station al ...

and also broadcast on the Eastern Counties radio stations, Radio Norfolk, Radio Suffolk, Radio Essex,

BBC Three Counties Radio BBC Three Counties Radio is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Grove Park in Dunstable. According ...

, Radio Northampton and Radio Kent. In January 1994, an

Early day motion In the Westminster parliamentary system, an early day motion (EDM) is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by a member of Parliament, which the Government (in charge of parliamentary business) has not yet scheduled for debate. Hi ...

tabled in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

after a break in its broadcasting received a total of fifteen signatures. It was believed to be the longest running phone-in chat show on British Radio. He also presented in the afternoons on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire until 16 June 2017, his 78th birthday. Since then, the Saturday night show format has returned on and off. From 4 December 2017 to 25 March 2018, Spendlove returned to broadcast the show on

Mildenhall, Suffolk Mildenhall is a market town in the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Mildenhall High, in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. The town is near the A11 road (Great Britain), A11, and is n ...

based community station Zack FM, on Monday nights and later Sunday nights. From late 2018 to May 2020, the show was broadcast live, on and off, on selected Saturday and later Sunday evenings online, and had a dedicated Facebook page. Spendlove was awarded the MBE for "Services to Regional and Local Radio Broadcasting" in 2000. In 2016, the BBC was critical of his use of his show to gain support for a convicted

Royal Marine The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

murderer. Spendlove now lives in

Harston Harston is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, located around 5 miles (8 km) south of Cambridge. In 2011, it had a population of 1,740. Village Sign The village sign was erected in th ...

. He and his wife Betty, who sat opposite him in the studio during his Saturday night show for much of the run on the BBC, married in November 1960. She died in August 2021. Spendlove currently presents on Wednesday afternoons between 1pm and 2pm on Royston Radio.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spendlove, Richard 1939 births BBC radio presenters British radio presenters British Rail people British television writers Living people Members of the Order of the British Empire People from Carlton, Nottinghamshire