Mike Raven – Nostalgia Central

Mike was born Austin Churton Fairman in London on 15 November 1924. He was the son of the actress Hilda Moore.

Before becoming a DJ, he had been a photographer, a flamenco guitarist, and an interior decorator, and his first experience with offshore radio came in May 1964 when he joined Radio Atlanta (founded by his cousin Oliver Smedley), which later merged with Radio Caroline.

After a spell with Radio Invicta, he eventually became the programme controller for the highly rated Radio 390, which operated out of a disused wartime marine fort in the Thames Estuary

He achieved nationwide fame in 1967 as one of the first disc jockeys to broadcast on Radio 1‘s launch day, and his 30-minute Sunday night The Mike Raven Blues Show soon became a two-hour slot. His appealingly diffident delivery was backed up by a comprehensive knowledge of his subject, and he built up a faithful audience over the
years.

Raven abruptly left radio in 1971 to pursue a lifelong fascination with the occult, astrology, and witchcraft. He went on to appear in several horror films, including Lust for a Vampire (1971), Crucible of Terror (1971), I, Monster (1971) and Disciple of Death (1972).

He eventually withdrew entirely from the entertainment industry and moved his family to Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, where he lived a quiet life as a sheep farmer and a respected abstract sculptor under his birth name, Churton Fairman.

He died on 4 April 1997, aged 72, and was buried in a grave he had dug for himself on Bodmin Moor.