Talksport phone-in host Mike Dickin has died in a road accident near his home in Cornwall, at the age of 71. The presenter, involved in a pile up on the A30 on Monday, was airlifted to hospital but subsequently pronounced dead.
Dickin, known to listeners as 'The King', due to his supposed resemblance to Henry VIII, started out as a musician in the sixties, as a singer and bass player. He began his broadcasting career at BBC Radio Oxford back in the seventies, before moving on to a stint at Australia's 2UE. Returning to the UK, he spent the next seventeen years working for the likes of Radio 4, LBC and Capital Radio. He joined Talksport, then known as Talk Radio UK, in 1996.
Known for his outspoken views, listeners dubbed Dickin 'Britain's angriest man' for his passionate take on issues such as crime, young people and transport. Paying tribute, colleague James Whale called him "the original grumpy old man", concluding: "Radio will never be the same again".