EXCLUSIVEALISON BOSHOFF: Two wives, many lovers and an affair with a prostitute called Mel, meet Diddy David Hamilton, the unlikeliest of ladies' men
Beloved broadcaster David Hamilton – one of the great voices of BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2, and a successful TV presenter for Thames TV and others – has a very amiable reputation.
However, perhaps we will think a little differently about him after his autobiography, David Hamilton's Long And Winding Road, is published next week as it reveals the jaw-dropping, untold inside story of his life… as a ladies' man.
Hamilton, twice married, tells of a love affair with a prostitute, casual bunk-ups with housewives on the road and the dope-fuelled dressing-room sex which shocked This Is Your Life star Eamonn Andrews who walked in on it.
In his book, Hamilton talks fondly about his first wife Sheila, and his regrets about cheating on her with a co-presenter, Roz Early, which led to their separation in 1970.
After he and Roz broke up, he had a high-profile love affair with judge's daughter, Kathy McKinnon, but was then single from 1977 until he met his second – and current – wife Dreena, in 1983. It was during this period that Hamilton says he fell in love with a prostitute named Mel. He recalls being at Mayfair nightclub The Bristol Suite in around 1983 at the invitation of the owner, Leslie Conn.
Broadcaster David Hamilton, one of the great voices of BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2, with his girlfriend Kathy McKinnon in the 1970s
Conn explained over a glass of champagne, 'that the customers bought the girls a bottle of champagne (no doubt very costly) and the girls kept them company at the table.
'If the girls liked the men they could make their own financial arrangements to take the situation further. The house made the money on the champagne.'
Hamilton continues: 'Leslie invited one of the girls over to our table. She was stunning and for the purposes of this story we will call her Melanie. Over more house champagne I told her that I found her attractive but that I don't pay for sex.
'She suggests an arrangement as she is opening a pet shop in Surrey. She asked me how much I charged. I told her and then asked what her going rate was. She said: 'I reckon that's five to one. So you give me one and I'll give you five.'
'I must confess that on the way home I did wonder what I had let myself in for. I needn't have worried. We had a night of unbridled passion. In the morning she asked to see my diary so that she could fix a date for the shop opening a few weeks ahead.
'Often she'd call me and say: 'Hi its Mel. It's collection time.' I think I had collected four by the time I'd turned up and opened her shop. That's it, I thought. But no, she rang again and said: 'I still owe you one.'
'On the morning after number five I said goodbye to her on the doorstep. 'That's it Mel,' I said. 'We're all square.' '
David had a fling with actress Trudi van Doorn in London after she invited him to see her in a West End show
He says that Mel told him that she would like to see him in her spare time, for fun. He writes: 'I started seeing her regularly. One night we watched the film the Days Of Wine And Roses with tears rolling down our cheeks.
'I could feel myself falling in love with her. It was then that I thought — how would I feel if I was in love with her and she was sleeping with other men through the week? Before I got in too deep, time to end The Arrangement.'
By this time he was voted one of TV's 'biggest turn-ons' behind Magnum star Tom Selleck, and took advantage of the female interest when he was on the road with the variety show Up For The Cup, screened against The Generation Game in 1980.
He writes: 'Often at gigs I'd meet women who would say: 'Where are you staying tonight?' I would say either at a hotel or driving back to London. Some would say: 'Oh, you don't want to do that. Why don't you stay at mine.'
'I got to know women in every part of the country. Sometimes they'd be in touch ahead of a gig. 'I hear you're coming to town — do you want to stay at my place?' A wonderful bonus — free accommodation.'
He adds: 'Back in London I dated a couple of Penthouse Pets and an American air stewardess I met on a soccer tour to Florida. I met the actress Trudi van Doorn, who invited me to see her in a West End show. Afterwards we went back to her place for what must have been the longest seduction ever.
'For hour after hour, she played me her Dory Previn records, some of which I found rather depressing. Finally at 6am, we went to bed. Was it worth the wait? Of course.' His dressing room encounter came in 1977 when Thames TV had a 'swap week' with New York station WOR. A 'randy' researcher offered him a 'funny cigarette' and wine and then took him to bed.
'We walked down the corridor to the number one dressing room. It was the only one with a bed. Silly not to make the most of it. While we were in flagrante delicto, I fancied I heard the door open gently and close again.
'I discovered later that it was Eamonn Andrews' dressing room and he'd popped back in to pick something up. I was also told that Eamonn, who was a little bit straight-laced not to say puritanical, had said: 'That man will never appear on This Is Your Life.' I never did. Until Michael Aspel took over.'
