Station

Charles Chilton MBE (15 June 1917 – 2 January 2013) was a BBC radio presenter, a writer and a producer. Born in Bloomsbury in London, England, he never knew his father – who was killed during the First World War – and when he was six his mother died as a result of having a botched abortion, with the result that Chilton was raised by his grandmother. He was educated at St. Pancras Church of England School.

Chilton left school at the age of 14, and after a brief apprenticeship making electric signs, he joined the BBC as a messenger boy. A year later he became an assistant in their gramophone library. He had a passion for jazz music, and in 1937 formed the BBC Boys' Jazz band.