Early Career
He was born Antony Kenneth Blackburn, in Guildford, Surrey, but in 1946 his family moved to Bournemouth, Hampshire, where his sister, Jacqueline, was born. His mother, Pauline Cubitt (née Stone), was a housewife and his father, Kenneth Fleming Blackburn, was a GP, and he was educated at Castle Court School in Parkstone, Poole, Dorset and Millfield School in Somerset, which he entered on a sports scholarship. He went on to become captain of the school cricket team, but left before taking any examinations. He then achieved a clutch of O-levels, following private tuition, and enrolled for a HND course in Business Studies at Bournemouth Technical College. He began his career as a singer, then worked as a DJ for the offshore pirate radio stations Radio Caroline and Radio London, before joining the BBC in 1967, initially broadcasting on the Light Programme.
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