Simon Dee article

[Greg H]

Hey all,
I just found this link on the fortean times website:

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6825102.ece

I am not old enough to have seen any of the Simon Dee on broadcast, so I was wondering if there was anything to this story, or if it is hot air.

I figure its not going to exist either way about!

Would be very interesting to hear if anyone has any recollection of this.

[Mark Smith]

That link comes up as dead I'm afraid...

[Peter Kane]

Sept 9, 2009 11:24:52 GMT Mark Smith said:

That link comes up as dead I'm afraid...

It is there now, and is an interesting story. I don't remember it myself. (I am assuming you were not just 'joking' in saying 'comes up dead'?)

[Mark Smith]

Sorry, but that link's dead, or at least it is for me. Just comes up as a 404 error.

[Greg H]

How odd. Its working fine for me. I tried it at work as well. Im using firefox. Are you using a different browser?

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6825102.ece

You can find the link on the fortean times website in the breaking news section. Perhaps you will have more luck there.

[Ray Langstone (was saintsray)]

COPY OF THE TIMES article (one-off copy, thank you News International, it's a one-off!)

Martin Jackson writes: At a time when broadcasters kept individual viewing figures a closely guarded trade secret, I got a tip that Simon Dee (August 31) on London Weekend TV was attracting even fewer viewers on Saturday nights than the David Nixon Show it replaced, and that advertisers who had paid a premium for the Dee spot wanted a refund.

I ran the story as lead in the Saturday TV column I wrote for the Daily Express. That morning an angry Dee phoned me and said: “Watch tonight’s show, it will interest you.”

Among his guests was a self-styled King of the Witches. “Can I put a spell on someone?” Dee asked. “Yes,” he was told, “but beware, it will not profit you.”

“I don’t care, this is for a certain journalist who is watching tonight,” said Dee, as he plunged a needle through the right shoulder of a rag doll he was holding.

At home we laughed at the threat. But a few weeks later I got an agonising pain in my right shoulder and was paralysed down that side of my body. I ended up in hospital for three months. But by that time Dee was dropped by his London Weekend employers, and never got a regular TV series again.

[Ray Langstone (was saintsray)]

Also worth noting (and I can copy this one freely, thank you Wikipedia!): -
Due to a disagreement between Dee and BBC bosses over Dee's huge salary demands - he was being paid £250 per show (equivalent to some £3000 today) and claimed ITV were offering him £1000, his contract was reviewed in 1969 and he left the channel.[7] It is said that the BBC's Head of Light Entertainment Bill Cotton not only refused the pay rise that Dee demanded, but said that he would cut Dee's wages by 20 per cent "to test his loyalty".[10] He was offered £100,000 for a two-year contract with the independent channel LWT and commenced a series with them in January 1970.

Dee fell out with the LWT management as well and they terminated his contract after only a few months. There was friction between Dee and David Frost, part-owner of LWT, after whose show Dee's was broadcast.[citation needed] Both were talk shows, and Frost thought that some of Dee's items would make the shows too similar. Dee felt that Frost was deliberately sabotaging his show. After a bizarre interview with actor George Lazenby, who had been smoking cannabis and who outlined at length his theories about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, the show was dropped

[Mark Smith]

Thanks Ray.

[Greg H]

Yes, thanks for posting that Ray. For some obscure reason it didnt occur to me to simply paste it over....... der.............
It is a great pity that nothing much of Dee exists. He has quite a reputation and it would be interesting to see him in action in his prime. Oh well.

[Mark Smith]

Thanks for the original link Greg. Probably my browser at fault.