Dickin began his broadcasting career in 1970 with the BBC as the first presenter on-air at BBC Radio Oxford. Prior to this, he started off as a musician as a bass player and singer. In 1997, Dickin moved to Australia where he worked for 2UE, Sydney’s largest radio station. When he returned to the UK, he spent 17 years working for BBC Radio 4, LBC and Capital Radio in London. Dickin was also an award-winning presenter having won a Gold Rose Award in New York for his coverage of the Lockerbie Bombing disaster.
In recent years, he was the presenter on Talk Radio in the late 1990s on the 1:00am-6:00am slot and was also on-air when the death of Princess Diana broke. Dickin returned to the airwaves with talkSPORT in 2000 filling-in for James Whale during his battle with kidney cancer. Shortly after, he was appointed as the new presenter of the mid-morning phone-in following Derek Hatton’s departure from the station. In 2004, he swapped with Ian Collins on the schedule and moved to weekend evenings between 10:00am-1:00am.
In addition to broadcasting, Dickin boasted a passion for motoring motor sport and music. He wrote for a variety of magazines about cars and animals, and got much of his knowledge from his farm near Bodmin in Cornwall. Also a keen sportsman, Dickin he was a Hellenic League footballer playing for Abingdon United and also had a trial with Headington in the season before they became Oxford United.
He also played cricket for Abingdon as well, and rugby for Oxford. Tennis, Cricket, Golf, Fly Fishing and Shooting were his more recent sporting passions as a participant, but Horse Racing and Motor Sport took up most of his time as a spectator. For pure relaxation, sailing and narrow boating were also Dickin’s favourites, accompanied by music by Joe Cocker, Status Quo, ELO, ZZ Top, Dire Straits and Elkie Brooks. He also spent plenty of his leisure time in France where he had property and was also considering retiring across the English Channel when he hung up his headphones.
