Johnnie Stewart
Encyclopedia
Lorn Alastair Stewart (7 November 1917 - 29 April 2005) was a television producer who worked for the BBC, noted mostly for his role in creating the long-running music programme Top of the Pops
.
, Kent
, Stewart was the son of Dr Haldane Campbell Stewart, who was also musical but in a different sphere - he was organist and choirmaster at Magdalen College, Oxford
, the director of music at the Tonbridge School
, Kent, and also notable as a cricketer on the Kent County Cricket Team. As a child, Stewart's family played as a string quartet, with Stewart and his sister Jean playing violin, his father playing viola, and his mother playing cello. His sister Jean went on to become a noted performer on viola, performing as a soloist, and in chamber music and orchestras. She performed with the Menges Quartet, the London Bach Orchestra and the English Baroque Soloists
. Stewart's grandfather, John Stewart, was the sixth Baron Appin, and a barrister of Lincoln's Inn.
Stewart started off his entertainment
career in the BBC radio
sound effect
s department in the late 1930s. During the Second World
War he worked in the Middle East as a wireless operator and later worked in intelligence. After the war, in 1946, he got married to Sheila Williamson.
He returned to the BBC and produced a number of radio music programmes, which included Sing It Again and BBC Jazz Club. He was able to sign up Frank Sinatra
for a fee of only fifty pounds as a guest for Cyril Stapleton's Show Band Show. In 1958 he produced Juke Box Jury
for BBC Television
.
Continuing the popular music
al theme, in 1963 the BBC recorded a pilot chart show, which Stewart produced. Originally called The Teen and Twenty Record Club, it emerged onto the UK screens as Top of the Pops
, which continued on the air until 2006. Its initial presenters, on a rotational basis, were Jimmy Savile
, David Jacobs
, Alan Freeman
and Pete Murray. Samantha Juste
, one of the programme's assistants, sat alongside them and placed the records on a turntable. Stewart remained as producer of the programme until 1973, when he was succeeded by Robin Nash
. In 1970, he produced the BBC/ZDF
TV show Pop Go The Sixties
, broadcast across Europe on 1 January 1970.
but returned to the UK when his health deteriorated. He died in East Dereham, Norfolk
, aged 87.
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
.
Early life and career
Born in TonbridgeTonbridge
Tonbridge is a market town in the English county of Kent, with a population of 30,340 in 2007. It is located on the River Medway, approximately 4 miles north of Tunbridge Wells, 12 miles south west of Maidstone and 29 miles south east of London...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, Stewart was the son of Dr Haldane Campbell Stewart, who was also musical but in a different sphere - he was organist and choirmaster at Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
, the director of music at the Tonbridge School
Tonbridge School
Tonbridge School is a British boys' independent school for both boarding and day pupils in Tonbridge, Kent, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judd . It is a member of the Eton Group, and has close links with the Worshipful Company of Skinners, one of the oldest London livery companies...
, Kent, and also notable as a cricketer on the Kent County Cricket Team. As a child, Stewart's family played as a string quartet, with Stewart and his sister Jean playing violin, his father playing viola, and his mother playing cello. His sister Jean went on to become a noted performer on viola, performing as a soloist, and in chamber music and orchestras. She performed with the Menges Quartet, the London Bach Orchestra and the English Baroque Soloists
English Baroque Soloists
The English Baroque Soloists is a chamber orchestra playing on period instruments, formed in 1978 by English conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Its repertoire comprises music from the early Baroque period to the Classical period...
. Stewart's grandfather, John Stewart, was the sixth Baron Appin, and a barrister of Lincoln's Inn.
Stewart started off his entertainment
Entertainment
Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...
career in the BBC radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
sound effect
Sound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
s department in the late 1930s. During the Second World
Second World
The term "Second World" is a phrase used to describe those countries which are allied with or are supported by the "First World" countries . These include countries supported by the United States, such as Colombia, Israel, etc., and those supported by the former Soviet Union, also known as the the...
War he worked in the Middle East as a wireless operator and later worked in intelligence. After the war, in 1946, he got married to Sheila Williamson.
He returned to the BBC and produced a number of radio music programmes, which included Sing It Again and BBC Jazz Club. He was able to sign up Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
for a fee of only fifty pounds as a guest for Cyril Stapleton's Show Band Show. In 1958 he produced Juke Box Jury
Juke Box Jury
Juke Box Jury was a musical panel show which originally ran on BBC Television from 1 June 1959 until December 1967. The programme was based on the American show Jukebox Jury, itself an offshoot of a long-running radio series....
for BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
.
Continuing the popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
al theme, in 1963 the BBC recorded a pilot chart show, which Stewart produced. Originally called The Teen and Twenty Record Club, it emerged onto the UK screens as Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
, which continued on the air until 2006. Its initial presenters, on a rotational basis, were Jimmy Savile
Jimmy Savile
Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile, OBE, KCSG was an English disc jockey, television presenter and media personality, best known for his BBC television show Jim'll Fix It, and for being the first and last presenter of the long-running BBC music chart show Top of the Pops...
, David Jacobs
David Jacobs (disc jockey)
David Lewis Jacobs CBE is a British actor and broadcaster who gained prominence as presenter of the peak-time BBC Television show Juke Box Jury and the BBC Radio 4 political forum, Any Questions?-Early career:...
, Alan Freeman
Alan Freeman
Alan Leslie "Fluff" Freeman, MBE was a British disc jockey and radio personality in the United Kingdom for 40 years.-Career:...
and Pete Murray. Samantha Juste
Samantha Juste
Samantha Juste , became known on British television in the mid-1960s as the “disc girl” on the BBC’s Top of the Pops. In 1968 she married Micky Dolenz of the Monkees. Their daughter is the actress Ami Dolenz....
, one of the programme's assistants, sat alongside them and placed the records on a turntable. Stewart remained as producer of the programme until 1973, when he was succeeded by Robin Nash
Robin Nash
Robert Henry Douglas Drane, known professionally as Robin Nash , was a British television producer and executive, who was probably best known as producer of Top of the Pops from 1974 to 1981...
. In 1970, he produced the BBC/ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
TV show Pop Go The Sixties
Pop Go The Sixties
Pop Go The Sixties! was a one-off, seventy five-minute TV special originally broadcast in colour on 31 December 1969, to celebrate the major pop hits of the 1960s. The show was a co-production between the United Kingdom's BBC and Germany's ZDF broadcasters...
, broadcast across Europe on 1 January 1970.
After work
Stewart finally retired to IbizaIbiza
Ibiza or Eivissa is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses. Its largest cities are Ibiza...
but returned to the UK when his health deteriorated. He died in East Dereham, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, aged 87.