Free On Duty With the Queen: My Time as a Buckingham Palace Press Secretary by Dickie Arbiter Page B

Africa for so long, I was used to taking daily showers, and I was therefore bemused by the British approach to personal hygiene in the 1960s. Inaccessible lavatories, jugs of freezing water in which to wash. Compared to the way of life I had been used to, Britain felt like a step back in time. In Southend, another landlady thought the notion of bathing daily was a tremendous indulgence, and duly charged sixpence for the privilege. Each time I produced my money, on a daily basis, she’d glare as if I was committing a heinous moral crime. Whether she was worried I’d wear out her pristine bathroom or cause the electricity meter to explode from unexpected over-use I don’t know, but despite much disgruntled huffing, I got my daily bath.
    Towards the end of the tour, the attraction of Equity’s recommended B&Bs, was beginning to wear thin, so much so that by the time we got to Ludlow in Shropshire, I went wild. Although our salaries were modest in the extreme, I eschewed the local digs for the comparative luxury of the local inn.
    It was heaven. Not least because I was joined in going AWOL by one of my fellow cast members – a girl I had fancied for quite some time. I don’t know if it was my charm or the tantalizing thought of staying in a place with running hot water that tempted her, but it was the best night of the entire tour.
     
    Irritating as they were, it wasn’t the inconveniences that propelled me back to the African continent; it was the lack of sufficient work. Swinging as it was, there simplyweren’t enough jobs in London for all of the aspiring actors chasing them. I’d had enough. I was back on a plane to Rhodesia in 1968, heading for the family home in Bulawayo. Despite the constant apprehension over being called up for military service, I thought I would be able to get more of the kind of work I was so keen to do.
    Before leaving for Johannesburg in the early 1960s, I had guested regularly on a twice-weekly television entertainment programme. The medium was in its infancy then, and now it was burgeoning. With theatre work drying up, I decided to try and get in on the action.
    Ironically, it was in radio that I quickly found love. It, too, was a growing medium in that part of the world, and I soon managed to land regular work. By the early 1970s I’d contributed to every home-produced news programme in Rhodesia, working as a freelancer for the Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation (RBC).
    I stayed six years on that particular visit, but the writing was on the wall. By 1974 the war in Rhodesia had intensified, and we were now expected to do military service on a regular basis by putting in a month’s service every six to eight weeks. There was no end in sight, and therefore no future. I was also married by this time, and my wife was expecting our daughter. It was time to take the next sensible step. I had heard that commercial radio – including news radio – had started up in the UK, and with my broadcasting experience, I knew I had a shot at a good job.
    I was right. I joined LBC News Radio within a month of our return.
     
    Joining a 24-hour news station was not an easy adjustment. Nonstop airtime requires a significant amount of content and the station needed to be staffed around the clock, which meant working nights. The last time I had worked through the night was during my time in the army either conducting night patrols in the bush or on guard duty at the barracks. I was asked by my station bosses if I would consider doing the overnight news slot. I was a new voice in London broadcasting and prepared to do whatever was necessary to get ahead in a very competitive industry. It wasn’t ideal, but I agreed.
    Working nights five days a week and then going home to sleep for half the day was not conducive to a happy marriage, and before long I was a single father bringing up my 3½ year old daughter, Victoria.
    My immediate priority was to ensure that she had stability and continuity. This meant keeping