- published: 14 Nov 2015
- views: 1239
Anne "Annie" Avril Nightingale MBE (born 1 April 1940) is an English radio broadcaster. She is most commonly known by the more informal name of Annie. She was the first female presenter on BBC Radio 1 and, since the death of John Peel in October 2004, is its longest-serving presenter.
After attending Lady Eleanor Holles School, Hampton, London and the Polytechnic of Central London School of Journalism Nightingale began her career as a journalist in Brighton. In the 1960s she wrote columns for the Daily Express, the Daily Sketch and Cosmopolitan magazine.
She started at Radio 1 on 1 January 1970 with a Sunday evening show. Later she then hosted the singles review show What's New in the early 1970s before graduating to a late-night progressive rock show, which was simulcast on the Radio 2 FM frequency.
In the late 1970s she presented a Sunday afternoon request show and by 1980 was presenting a Friday night show and the non-music-based Radio 1 Mailbag. In 1978 Nightingale began presenting the The Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC2; during her tenure the show moved away from its progressive rock bias and embraced more modern, popular styles such as punk rock and new wave.
Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper (born 2 May 1985), better known as Lily Allen, is an English recording artist, actress and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative. Allen abandoned school and concentrated on improving her performing and compositional skills. Afterwards, she created several demo songs and, near the end of 2005, she created a profile on MySpace where she made some of her recordings public.
A contract was signed with the label Regal Recordings, as the views on MySpace rose to tens of thousands. In 2006, she began to work on completing what would be her first studio album and its first mainstream single "Smile" reached the top position on the UK Singles Chart in July 2006. Her debut record, Alright, Still, was well received on the international market, selling over 2.6 million copies and brought Allen a nomination at the Grammy Awards, BRIT Awards and MTV Video Music Awards. She then began hosting her own talk-show, Lily Allen and Friends, on BBC Three.