Tommy Vance, born Richard Anthony Crispian Francis Prew Hope-Weston (July 11 1941 – March 6 2005) was a British pop radio broadcaster, born in Eynsham, Oxfordshire. He left home at the age of 16 to join the Merchant Navy, and began his radio career in the USA under the name "Rick West". He took the name "Tommy Vance" at the radio station KHJ in Los Angeles from a DJ who had failed to turn up after the station had already paid to have jingles recorded. When asked if he would be willing to change his name, he reportedly replied, "for this money you can change my name to Judas Iscariot!"

After several years in American radio he returned to Britain in the mid-1960s to avoid being called up to serve in the Vietnam War, and joined Radio Caroline South, subsequently working for Radio Luxembourg and Radio London. He was heard on BBC Radio 1 in its early days, notably presenting the "progressive" show "Top Gear" as a trial in the station's first few weeks, but was not at that stage chosen as a permanent Radio 1 presenter.

Vance re-emerged in British radio when he was part of the original line-up at the London station Capital Radio - the first legal commercial pop station ever to broadcast on land in Britain - in October 1973, co-hosting the morning show. By 1976, he could be heard on the Portsmouth ILR station Radio Victory . Eventually, he returned to Radio 1 in November 1978 to begin a 15-year stint hosting the show for which he is best known - the Friday Rock Show . He was to become very closely associated with heavy metal and rock music, and his deep, resonant, booming voice has been much imitated. He also had a two-year stint (10 January 1982 to 1 January 1984) hosting the Sunday-afternoon Top 40, where he showed knowledge of and enthusiasm for a wide range of music, and displayed a similar keenness and professionalism when he hosted Top of the Pops at around the same time.

Vance departed Radio 1 in March 1993, having been lured away by the soon-to-launch Virgin Radio, for whom he initially presented the weekday drivetime show - soon after Vance's voluntary departure, many similar veteran DJs were forced out of Radio 1 by new controller Matthew Bannister. Vance continued to broadcast regularly - notably a revived Friday Rock Show for VH1 in the UK, which ran for some years until 2002, and a much-quoted appearance on "Brass Eye", where he is widely believed to have been in on the joke. He was also the voiceover for the Channel 5 series Dumber and Dumber .

Vance died of a stroke in Darent Valley Hospital, near Dartford, Kent, in the early hours of 6 March 2005. According to news reports he had been driving when his first stroke occurred, but had managed to pull off the road without endangering any other vehicles. It took two hours for rescue services to arrive and the temperature was only a few degrees above freezing. It is not yet clear whether this was a contributing factor to his fatal stroke.

External links

• Obituary at BBC News
• Profile and audio clips