Samuel Gabriel Costa (17 June 1910 – 23 September 1981) was an English singer, entertainer and broadcaster. Initially a popular singer in the dance band era and a comic actor on the show ''

Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh ''Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh'' was a comedy show broadcast from 1944 to 1950 and 1951 to 1954 by BBC Radio and in 1950–1951 by Radio Luxembourg. It was written by and starred Richard Murdoch and Kenneth Horne as officers in a fictional RAF sta ...

'', he was later a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

for

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 ...

and the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Life and career

Costa was born in

Stoke Newington Stoke Newington is an area in the northwest part of the London Borough of Hackney, England. The area is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington (parish), Stoke Newington, the ancient parish. S ...

, London, the son of journalist Gabriel Costa and Annie (née Sawer), and was of Sephardic Jewish- Portuguese ancestry – ''Costa'' is a Jewish, and non-Jewish, Portuguese surname. "Sam Costa", ''Jewish Lives Project''
Retrieved 16 March 2021 Sam Costa began his career as a pianist with Bert Firman's band. He later became a popular British dance band singer in the 1930s making many records with bands such as Jack Jackson, Lew Stone, Harry Leader, Maurice Winnick and Jay Wilbur. Denis Gifford, ''The Golden Age of Radio'', B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1985, , pp. 59–60 After his crooning days, his

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

career began in 1939 with the ''

It's That Man Again ''It's That Man Again'' (commonly contracted to ''ITMA'') was a BBC radio comedy programme which ran for twelve series from 1939 to 1949. The shows featured Tommy Handley in the central role, a fast-talking figure, around whom the other ch ...

'' (ITMA) shows with

Tommy Handley Thomas Reginald Handley (17 January 1892 – 9 January 1949) was an English comedian, best known for the BBC radio programme ''It's That Man Again'' ("''ITMA''") which ran between 1939 and 1949. Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, Handley went on th ...

, in which he took the part of Lemuel the office boy. He then worked with

Kenneth Horne Charles Kenneth Horne, generally known as Kenneth Horne (27 February 1907 – 14 February 1969), was an English comedian and businessman. He is perhaps best remembered for his work on three BBC Radio series: ''Much-Binding-in-the-Mars ...

Richard Murdoch Richard Bernard Murdoch (6 April 1907 – 9 October 1990) was an English actor and entertainer. After early professional experience in the chorus in musical comedy, Murdoch quickly moved on to increasingly prominent roles in musical comedy and ...

and Maurice Denham in ''

''. In 1950, he started hosting ''Record Rendezvous'' on the BBC, and also hosted ''The Sam Costa Show'' on

. On Sundays he did both ''Breakfast Time'' and ''Glamorous Nights'' and he also presented '' Housewives' Choice ''and ''Midday Spin'', transitioning to

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

from 1967. On BBC Radio 2 he had various shows; morning, lunchtime, afternoon, early evening, and late night. Costa would sign off saying "Thank you for the pleasure of your company". On Radio Luxembourg in the early 1960s, he hosted an hour-long show sponsored by Guards Cigarettes. Along with Kenneth Horne, Costa also appeared in an episode of ''

The Men from the Ministry ''The Men from the Ministry'' is a British radio comedy series broadcast by the BBC between 1962 and 1977, starring Wilfrid Hyde-White, Richard Murdoch and, from 1966, when he replaced Hyde-White, Deryck Guyler. Written and produced by Edward ...

'' which co-starred Richard Murdoch. While he generally disliked TV work, Costa did appear on several '' Juke Box Jury'' shows. In 1964 he linked a musical short film, '' Just for You'' which featured some prominent "pop" bands of the day, including The Applejacks and Freddie and the Dreamers. Costa was also a regular on

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was an English television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ...

's ''Frost on Sunday'' in 1970. He married Esther Comer in 1938; they were married for over 40 years. He was the great-uncle of the radio presenter Andy Jacobs. Sam Costa died in London in 1981.

Filmography

* '' A Piece of Cake'' (1948) * '' Trouble in the Air'' (1948) * '' One Wild Oat'' (1951) * ''

The Pickwick Papers ''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was the Debut novel, first novel serialised from March 1836 to November 1837 by English author Charles Dickens. Because of his success with ''Sketches by Bo ...

'' (1952) * '' Just For You'' (1964)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Sam 1910 births 1981 deaths English male television actors British male radio actors British Sephardi Jews British people of Portuguese-Jewish descent British radio people 20th-century English male actors 20th-century English male singers BBC Radio 2 presenters

Life and career

Filmography

References

Further reading

External links