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Francis Roy Plomley ( ; 20 January 1914 – 28 May 1985) was an English radio broadcaster, producer, playwright and novelist. He is best remembered for creating the BBC Radio series Desert Island Discs, which he hosted from its inception in 1942 until his death in 1985.
His original aim was to be an actor, and he did secure very minor parts in a number of films, e.g. To the Public Danger (1948), Double Confession (1950), but he soon drifted into broadcasting, coming to public notice as an announcer, and later producer, for the International Broadcasting Company (IBC), starting on Radio Normandy in April 1936 and moving on at the end of that year to the IBC's Paris-based station, Poste Parisien.
Between mid-1937 and late 1939, he was involved in writing and production, travelling back and forth between these two IBC stations in France and the company's offices and studios in London, while also presenting the variety programme Radio Normandy Calling, recorded on location in theatres at UK seaside resorts and regularly beating the BBC in audience ratings.Roy Plomley, Days Seemed Longer: Early Years of a Broadcaster, London, 1980, pp.107–159.
On 29 January 1942, the first of a series of eight weekly programmes was broadcast. Each show consisted of an interview with a celebrity, interspersed by the guest's choice of music. His contract was renewed for a further 15 shows. In the end he presented 1,791 editions of the programme stretching over 43 years. Its success was attributed to his skill as an interviewer and to his meticulous research.
Plomley was succeeded as presenter by Michael Parkinson (1986–1988), then by Sue Lawley (1988–2006), Kirsty Young (2006–2018) and most recently by Lauren Laverne. Desert Island Discs is the second longest-running radio programme in the world (after the Grand Ole Opry), and it is still running.
Until late September 2009, unlike many other BBC radio programmes, Desert Island Discs was unavailable for Listen Again on the BBC website. This was because when Roy Plomley devised the programme he was a freelance producer, and it had therefore been argued that the 'format rights' of the programme belonged to him rather than to the BBC. At his death, those 'rights' passed to his widow, and the BBC were subsequently unable to negotiate the right to include Desert Island Discs in their Listen Again offering. It was announced on 27 September 2009 that an agreement had been reached with the family as to payment of royalties and it would be available via BBC iPlayer.
Plomley was appointed OBE in 1975. He was chairman of the Radio and Television Writers' Association from 1957 to 1959, and was voted BBC Radio Personality of the Year in 1979. He published 16 stage plays (one of which, Cold Turkey, was put on in the West End), and one novel."Plomley, (Francis) Roy (died 1985)", Who Was Who, A&C Black, London, January 2007. He was posthumously inducted into the Radio Academy's Hall of Fame.
After a period of declining health, Plomley died from a heart attack at his home in Putney on 28 May 1985, at the age of 71; he was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery.
Other work
Plomley's broadcasting career was not restricted to Desert Island Discs; he also compiled and presented several feature programmes and was the chairman of BBC Radio's game show Many a Slip from 1964 to 1979, and a participant in such panel games as Does the Team Think?, also on BBC Radio. He anchored Round Britain Quiz in 1961. For television he produced Dinner Date with Death in 1949, claimed to be the first UK film made for TV, and in the same year chaired We Beg to Differ on BBC Radio, transferring with it to BBC Television in 1951. He also wrote the screenplay for the 1953 film The Blakes Slept Here.
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