My education began at Mrs Mudge’s nursery school in Poole, Dorset. Then I went to Castle Court, a nice but strict prep school, also in Poole, and at about 12-and-a-half my mother and father took me for an interview at Millfield. The headmaster, R J O Meyer (who was known as the Boss), paced out a cricket crease and asked me to imagine he was the stumps and bowl a ball at him. I did and it hit him badly on the leg. He said, “My God, that was accurate and fast”, and gave me a sports scholarship on the spot.

I didn’t want to go to boarding school. I wasn’t unhappy; I just would rather have been at home. It’s interesting, though, that the three of us left at the end of the TV survival programme, I’m a CelebrityI Get Me Out of Here - Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Christine Hamilton and me - were all products of a boarding school education. My time at Millfield, being used to sleeping in a dormitory and having to get along with people, probably helped me to win.

Looking back on my schooldays, apart from the headmaster, I can’t remember any of my teachers’ names. I got on well with Mr Meyer’s wife, who was the school matron and very sweet, but I thought being at school was a waste of time and wanted to get out into the world. I’d decided at the age of four that I wanted to go into show business.

I didn’t run away from Millfield, I walked out. I was playing a lot of sport, but wasn’t interested in becoming a professional footballer or cricketer, and wasn’t good enough anyway. Academically, I wasn’t learning anything. I got an exeat from the headmaster, hopped on a train home and explained to my father, who said: “Fair enough.” So I left and had a year’s private tuition. I passed 10 O-levels and went to college for three years and did a diploma in business studies.

I’ve learned more since I left school. The people who have taught me the most are those who have helped me in my career, especially fellow broadcasters like Pete Murray and Alan Freeman. The biggest guiding force in my life, though, was a man called Harold Davidson. He was a top show business agent, handling acts like Frank Sinatra and Liza Minnelli, and I met him when I was working as a DJ on the pirate ships. He was a terribly nice man and we immediately hit it off, and he became my manager. He said he could make me the number one disc jockey in three months - he actually did it in two. This was just before the launch of Radio 1; he got me on to the BBC Light Programme and then I joined Radio 1 at the beginning. He put me with the right accountant and the right publicist and taught me the business. He introduced me to influential people at the BBC and ITV, and took me with him to showbiz functions, and his confidence rubbed off. He was like a second father, always there when I needed advice.

I’d been a fan of Pete Murray and Alan Freeman as a boy - I had a radio confiscated at Millfield when I was listening to a Pete Murray show on Radio Luxembourg after lights out - and was in awe of them. They were part of the older brigade of disc jockeys at Radio 1 but were as nice in person as I’d hoped they would be. Neither of them thought they’d survive when we youngsters came in, but they did.

Pete’s advice was not to get involved in politics, just go in and do the programmes. He and Alan are immensely professional. They’re on time, are well turned out and do their homework. They are also down to earth in a field where there is a lot of ego. Pete used to tell a lot of jokes on his shows and in the early days so did I. He and Alan were pleasant to people and I modelled myself more on their attitude than the way they broadcast. We became friends and still meet up occasionally.

DJ Tony Blackburn was talking to Pamela Coleman

The story so far

1943 Born in Guildford, Surrey

1956-59 Attends Millfield school, Somerset

1960-63 HND course in business studies at Bournemouth technical college

1964 DJ on pirate station Radio Caroline

1967 Joins BBCLight Programme

1967-1984 One of the launch DJs for BBCRadio 1; presenter of Junior Choice

1988 onwards Helps to launch Capital Gold with In Bed With Blackburn show

1993 Receives Best Breakfast Show award at Sony Radio Awards

September 2002 Wins I’m a CelebrityI Get Me Out of Here TV programme; subject of The Real Tony Blackburn on Channel 4, October 24; features in The Entertainers, BBCTV, October 29