Annie Nightingale Obituary

Annie Avril Nightingale CBE was an English radio and television broadcaster. She was the first female presenter on BBC Radio 1 in 1970. Nightingale specialized in championing new and underground music, she also led the movement and encouraged other women to become DJs and broadcasters.

Annie Nightingale Obituary

Anne Avril Nightingale was born in Brentford, west London, on 1 April 1940. Her very first word was “music”.

Her father Basil had inherited a wallpaper business but had no interest in it. Her mother Celia was frustrated by her lack of a career. An only child, Annie became acutely aware that the marriage was unhappy.

She was sent to a Catholic boarding school at the age of five, although it was not the family religion. She became fascinated by the images of the Virgin Mary on the walls, collecting copies of them as if they were pop stars.

Later, Nightingale won a scholarship to the independent Lady Eleanor Holles School, but spent much of her time hanging out in coffee bars.