ROBIN RICHMOND BIOGRAPHY

Robin Richmond (1912–1998) was an English cinema organist and BBC Radio presenter and performer.

Robin Richmond was born on 21 April 1912 in London.   His father was a doctor.   He was educated at Westminster School and London University, though he failed to graduate from the latter.

After a brief engagement at Lambeth Mission Hall, from which he was sacked for adding percussion sounds to hymns, he made his West End debut in the revue "It's in the Bag". He then toured with the comedy singing duo The Two Leslies (Leslie Sarony and Leslie Holmes).   His BBC debut was in Palace of Varieties in 1938.

His trademark instrument became the Hammond organ, after he imported the first example to Great Britain from the United States in 1935.   It carried the serial number "001".

Rejected by the military during World War II for health reasons, he spent the duration as organist at the Paramount Cinema in Tottenham Court Road, London, and on BBC radio.

Post-war he regularly performed on the BBC Light Programme on shows such as Music While You Work, Variety Bandbox and Organ Grinder Swing.   He also presented a number of programmes including Housewives' Choice and Jazz Club. On television he was the resident organist on the quiz show Double Your Money. 

He created the BBC Radio 2 series The Organist Entertains in 1969, and was its main presenter until 1980. A special edition in 2012 marked the centenary of his birth.

He appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 10 September 1977.

He died on 27 July 1998.

Source: Wikipedia

CLICK on image below to hear Robin Richmond talk about the time when BBC officials reviewed his programme.

Sound track from the archives of Alan Ashton.

When the programme first started Robin Richmond opened it with "There's No Business Like Show Business" from the album below.  You can hear this being played at 23.30 minutes on the above feature.

Image kindly provided by Alan Ashton.