The Dougie Story in my words by Ian Bateman

Before I made pals with Dougie, he came back to Corby  after working on Radio Clyde and Forth  he worked for Hereward Radio in Peterbourgh,  West Side Radio Scotland, Radio Gibraltar, local pubs and clubs, Shafts, The Rock, The Raven and the Rugby club.

I first met Dougie when I worked as a resident DJ in The Embassy Club, in the old Strathclyde Hotel Corby. He came along as a guest DJ from Hereward Radio, this was in 1981. As I was there every week I asked Dougie what music he would like to play, he said "whatever is appropriate for the dance floor". I had quite a few 12"  pre release records in my singles box, from WEA records who used to send me freebies every week. Dougie's eyes lit up when I pulled out Prince 1999, he loved that one and kicked off his stint behind the decks, introducing himself as the undisputed vanguard of bad taste. We had a cracking night the atmosphere was brilliant. We kept in contact after that and made very good friends, and the rest is history.

Dougie always classed himself as one of life's lucky ones, it soon came apparent that he was never ambitious to be rich, he just wanted to entertain and be comfortable. He loved technology, and had a good understanding of how things worked. I am sure anyone who used to go to the Raven to see The Dougie King Show on a Friday night had their ears enveloped in the loudest sound coupled with  a thunderous bass that made the hall shake. He was the first in the area to use four Citronic speakers which were bi-amped.

Off stage he went through many highs and lows, many of which I was a part of. When he was about to move from his home in Woodlands Avenue, he asked me if I would look after his record collection for a few weeks, I had plenty of loft space, so I thought. It took me five Journeys in my estate car to shift the majority of the boxes, they included mostly 7" and 12" singles and albums I would estimate at today's value a collector would have a bargain if he parted with £25,000. I am convinced that during his time in Woodlands Avenue was probably one of his lowest. He had the ability to build himself up to a dizzy height, then came crashing down to earth with problems under his own admission he created himself. I had many a late night call when Dougie told me he had enough of life, so decided to have a Sunday drink down the Talisman. Dougie poured his heart out to me, but still was very angry with life. A customer accidentally knocked into him, Dougie started to set about him, I said to him you are a mate, but if you carry on like this you will get yourself hurt, he said "I  am scared of no man". Believe me that was true. I gave him a slap  with the back of my hand.  He looked stunned at me I just about crapped my pants, but thought sod it I'll stand my ground. Suddenly he done a sergeant major walk to the gents, came back to his pint at the bar and said "if that was supposed to teach me a lesson, it did." This all happened  about 15 years ago. Since then whether it was in person on the phone or even a text message we always offered each other a fight. My very last text message to Dougie included do you want a fight, the reply was, a fight sounds very appealing.

The Nags breathed life again when Dougie took over as Landlord, he booked many bands including the late Steve Marriott from the Small Faces, who appeared there on more than on occasion.  After the gig we went into the bar and had a late drink, where it became very apparent that Steve Marriott and Dougie were of the same personality, Steve told me "I rock and roll have a drink then go home to my lady," Another personality who did not want to be rich, just to entertain and have a drink with the lads. People came from miles around to the alternative music night with Dougie's unique style, he used to call it several names, the harder edge or spikey night.  Dougie never  really believed in the paranormal but some strange things went on in the Nags, one night after everyone had gone he was cashing up, all of a sudden the price tags flew of the optics one by one. I   joked with him and said he must have been outside and sniffed the white lines in the middle of the road. Strange as it seems though, other landlords have said the place was haunted.

I went over to Hereward Radio with Dougie several times to help out  on his breakfast show, we used to DJ on a Friday night till 2.00am in the Nags, then had a couple of beers or soft drinks depending who was driving. At 5.00am went to the Bakers on Occupation road, Dougie would often have a couple of Scotch Pies, a bottle of Irn Bru then set off to Hereward radio for a 6.00am start on the radio till 9.00am, then back to Corby to the Nags for a full days work, not me though I was normally knackered and needed some serious shut eye, Dougie continued with his daily tasks, maybe cat napping for an hour or so until 7.00pm and open doors at the pub, 9.00pm for the club. 

Never play a trick on Dougie and expect to get away with it, one of the radio stations where he worked were one or two pranksters who tried to catch him out and put him off, while air. This normally happened when he was reading a serious news broadcast. Dougie entered the studio while his colleague was on air reading out a lengthy news item, he timed it until the last few sentences, then set fire to the news script as this was being read out on air. All that could be heard from the radio was the presenters words becoming increasingly faster and faster.

Many  radio stations have a play list of certain songs to play, then the presenter was left to fill in the songs during his show. Dougie always said he liked to bring in light and shade to every broadcast, this worked very well.

He often had an invisible aardvark in the studio, that he struck up a rapport with. There were real phone calls asking where he kept it after the broadcast and did it live in the  stations studio.

Dougie was pipped to the post as a full time presenter on BBC Radio 1, he almost made it, but the job was given to Paul Burnett.

Dougie  was always ready to give and expect no return. If all he had 98p in his pocket and someone was looking for 90p he would give it to them. He helped to raise money for charity over many years and was always keen to help when he could. Many people in our generation (45+) remember the late Nellie from Nellie's Bin, she was very keen to raise monies for her local charities, one of her stops was the Nags at the weekend, she always looked for a chat with Dougie  before going around with her collection tin. At this point I would like to say no matter what people say about our Corby town, people are always ready to dig deep into their pockets and give to raise money for many causes, Dougie always welcomed this.

Dougie loved the black taxi cabs, he was respected by many of his fellow taxi drivers. it must have been the fact that he could socialize on a one to one basis while taking local people from a to b, I have spoken to Bernie who was touched by all the kind comments on the Corby Knowhere Board. The one that gave her the warmest feeling are the comments below direct from the site.

(Re: Dougie King(RIP) by Just lil ole me (Member 132412) on 23-Jan-04
Hi first time on here..First thing i noticed was the sad demise of Mr Dougie King. I did not know him but living in Corby all my life you do tend to notice people without speaking to them just by sight.But our paths crossed whilst in his taxi last year.We spoke for a considerable length of time.Struck up a brief rapport.Never seen him again after that .But i was glad of his intelligence and depth of feeling towards the people he loved and cared for,,said he was the happiest in his life he had ever been..I just wanted to send this cos at that time i was very unhappy,,,I remember his words helping me...Never seen him again after that to thank him,,so i suppose by writing this i am..... )

Dougie was always hungry for Radio work, his biggest ambition in life was to sit behind the presenters desk at Radio Luxembourg. I had a call from him the same night saying his dream had come true.

He worked for Pirate Radio,  Radio Clyde & Forth, Hereward Radio WGMS Radio, KCBC now Connect FM and lately Corby Radio. I had many telephone calls where Dougie would play me his home made jingles down the phone to me, he produced these on his PC. another technology passion of his. The end results were brilliant.

Five years ago Dougie met  Bernie, I firmly believe she tamed him. He came across as very happy and seemed to be more mellow. I never witnessed him complain of his illness, he mentioned he had heart problems and water retention but always played it down. He used to say after a night on the cabs he liked to wind down with a whisky especially Grouse.

Below are my comments I added to the Corby Knowhere board on Monday 19th January 2004

It’s a long time since I have written on this board, sad day for Corby now that Dougie has passed away. I worked with him as a DJ in the 80’s and 90’s, and can say from first hand that Dougie was the most popular DJ Corby has ever seen. We had many a good night in the Nags spinning the records on a two hour rota, and very often stayed behind for a drink or five after closing time. He was respected by many personalities including Billy Connolly, the late Steve Marriott from the Small Faces, Rick Wakeman, and Bill Drummond from KLF who Dougie inspired with his music collection during his School days. Dougie lived life to the Max, he loved Corby, the black taxi cabs, but his big passion was to entertain. His natural ability for the spoken word allowed him to be warm, personable and funny which kept him in work at the end of a microphone. I think that Dougie King the Entertainer / Broadcaster & DJ will be an act that will not be easily equalled. In his words, often imitated never duplicated Dougie King.