BBC radio legend dead at 81 as heartbroken tributes pour in

A presenter has died suddently at the age of 81, his wife has confirmed. David Arscott was a presenter and producer on Radio Brighton and later Radio Sussex from the mid-seventies until 1991.

The father-of-seven passed away on a bench in the grounds of Lewes Priory on November 29 after playing a game of tennis, according to his wife.

David started his career as newspaper journalist in London, Dorset and Caracas, Venezuela. He worked in newspapers before becoming a presenter and producer on the radio.

His daily programmes for the Radio Brighton, which later became Radio Sussex, were speech-based. David referred to the style as a local Radio 4, bringing guests into the studio and interviewing them.

Speaking of what he thought of his radio work, David’s wife, Jill, said: “In those days editing meant cutting tape with a razor blade and all too often hunting for the lost bit when it dropped into the wastepaper basket.

“Whether it was missing parrots or doing the commentary from the funeral of Ian Gow, the Eastbourne MP murdered by the IRA, David loved the job.”

Although he loved his writing, said Jill, he always said that radio presenting was the best job he had ever had. The grandfather-of-ten also wrote more than 40 books about Sussex.

The last book he wrote was about the Sussex poet Hilaire Belloc.

David was well known in the local community for creating a garden on the corner of Friars’ Walk in the town centre. The old Railway Inn, where he lived, with its corner garden, was what he called their ‘forever home’.

The presenter gave his meadow its last cut in the late autumn and planted a rambling rector rose under the goat willow. The last gift of the man on the corner will be seen in the next summer or two.

He leaves behind four children from his first marriage, three from his second, and ten grandchildren. He is buried at Westmeston between the Downs and the cottage where he and Jill once lived with their children.