Lord Tim Hudson

George Timothy Hudson[1] (11 February 1940 – 14 December 2019), known as 'Lord' Tim Hudson, was an English DJ. He worked in Los Angeles for KFWB during the mid 1960s and was the manager of The Seeds and The Lollipop Shoppe.[2] He was also a voice actor, an artist and a sports manager, notably of the cricketer Ian Botham.[3] His obituary in The Times characterised him as a "colourful chancer".[4]

Lord Tim Hudson
Born
George Timothy Bramwell

(1940-02-11)11 February 1940
Prestbury, Cheshire, England
Died14 December 2019(2019-12-14) (aged 79)
OccupationDJ, voice actor, artist, sports manager

Biography

Hudson was born George Timothy Bramwell in Prestbury, Cheshire, and was educated at Strathallan School, Perthshire.[1] His father served in Bomber Command in World War II and died in a raid over Belgium in 1944.

His mother remarried Henry Hudson in 1948; his stepfather owned a cotton business.[4] Tim Hudson lived in London in the early 1960s, became a member of the fashionable "Chelsea Set", and claimed responsibility for introducing The Moody Blues to Decca Records. Hudson then moved to Montreal, Canada, where, as "Lord Tim of Liverpool", he became a successful DJ on station CKGM.[1][5]

When The Beatles embarked on their 1965 North American concert tour, radio station KCBQ in San Diego employed Hudson. He described himself as a record producer who claimed to know The Beatles personally, and to have helped discover the Moody Blues. Hudson made broadcasts publicising the "Fab Four"'s appearances in the San Diego area. Using his contacts in England, Hudson managed to get permission to travel with the group prior to their concert in San Diego, and to file reports to be aired exclusively on KCBQ.[6] However, it was said of him that:

He used his suave British accent to promote himself and became particularly popular among women. His problems surfaced, despite his claims to the contrary, when he could not do the simplest of tasks such as working the controls, playing records, or punching in ads. Having never before been on the radio, all he could do was sit in the studio and talk on the microphone. His brief stint at KCBQ, in terms of radio work, was one of the station’s worst staffing disasters.[6]

In March 1966, Hudson presented Nancy Sinatra in Hollywood, California, with a gold disc to mark her million seller, "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'". However, as the actual gold record had failed to arrive in time from New York, Hudson had to present Sinatra with the similarly earned disc of Dean Martin's "Everybody Loves Somebody";[7] at one point, Hudson was engaged to Martin's daughter.[4] In 1967, he became the manager of The Seeds, promoting the band and writing liner notes for their record releases. At the time, he claimed to have invented the term "flower power".[5] He later managed another band, The Lollipop Shoppe, but left the music industry, disillusioned, in 1969.[5]

Hudson was also a voice actor during the 1960s and 1970s, and appeared in Disney's The Jungle Book (1967) as Dizzy the Vulture, and The Aristocats (1970) as 'Hip Cat' the English cat.[3] In the early 1970s, he invested in property in Hollywood, remarried, and set up what he claimed was the first organic food restaurant in Hollywood. Later in the decade he had a radio show, Hudson's Theater of the Mind, on station KXLU.[1]

Returning to England, he bought Birtles Old Hall near Macclesfield in Cheshire, with an attached cricket ground, in 1984. A keen cricket fan, he invited the professional cricketer, and one-time England captain, Ian Botham to play in a match in at his ground. After Botham had been convicted on drugs charges, Hudson offered to become his manager, and promoted Botham in Hollywood as a potential film star, suggesting to film producer Menahem Golan that Botham could be the next James Bond.[4] However, Botham became disillusioned with Hudson's plans, and eventually fired him.[8][9] Hudson hosted celebrity cricket matches at the ground, known as the "Birtles Bowl", throughout the 1980s; he later sold both the house and the cricket ground.[3][10]

In 1990, Hudson moved back to the U.S., and lived in Palm Springs. Some of his paintings have been exhibited, and he continued to work as a radio DJ.[1] The latest edition of his autobiography From the Beatles to Botham was published in 2014.[11]

He died after heart surgery on 14 December 2019.[4] Hudson was married four times, with three divorces. He was married to Maxi Gordon Silver from the late 1970s until her death, and had a daughter from his second marriage.[4]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1967The Jungle BookDizzy, The VultureVoice
1970The AristocatsHit Cat - English CatVoice, (final film role)

References
  1. 'The Story of Lord Tim Hudson", LordTim.com. Retrieved January 13, 2020
  2. Thomas S. Hischak (2011). Disney Voice Actors: A Biographical Dictionary. McFarland. p. 103. ISBN 978-0786486946. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  3. "'Hippie' cricket pitch for sale". BBC. 6 January 2005. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  4. "'Lord' Tim Hudson: Obituary", The Times, 16 January 2020, p.49
  5. Biography, Allmusic.com. Retrieved 13 January 2020
  6. "The Beatles Live! At Balboa Stadium 1965" (PDF). The Journal of San Diego History: 21–36. 2008. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  7. Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 156. ISBN 0600576027.
  8. "Bang goes Beefy". The Guardian. 30 September 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  9. "Beefy bites back". The Guardian. 28 October 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  10. Michael Horsnell, "Former hippy draws stumps on his cricketing idyll", The Times, 8 November 2004. Retrieved 13 January 2020
  11. "Nibbles and Bits". The Los Angeles Times. 4 December 1991. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
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