Billy Cotton

Band leader, TV celebrity, war veteran - and speed merchant

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'WAKEY WAKA-A-A-Y!' Delivered at full pelt in a cockney accent by bandleader Billy Cotton, for more than two decades this was the opening cry that announced the most popular show on British radio, and later on television. Cotton led an eventful life: an underage boy soldier in World War One, RFC pilot, bus conductor, boxer, talented footballer, motorbike racer, powerboat racer and, for more than 40 years, a hugely successful bandleader. He was also a top-flight amateur racing driver.

Bill - variously 'Billie' or 'Billy' but never 'William' was born in 1899 in Smith Square, Westminster, when it was a rat-infested self-contained village with a yard for horse-drawn buses outside his parents' house. He was the youngest of ten children: four boys and six girls. His father was bandmaster to the Chelsea Water Board; young Bill showed no interest in music, although he could sing and was a solo treble in the choir at St Margaret's Church, next to Westminster Abbey.