David Arscott: BBC Radio presenter and Sussex legend dies shortly after tennis match
A BBC presenter died just moments after the end of a tennis match, his wife has revealed.
David Arscott, a familiar voice on Radio Brighton and later Radio Sussex from the mid-1970s until 1991, died unexpectedly at the age of 81 after a tennis match. He passed away while seated on a bench in the grounds of Lewes Priory.
Arscott’s career began in print journalism, working for newspapers in London, Dorset, and even Venezuela, before transitioning to radio. Known for his conversational, speech-based programs, he described his style as a local version of Radio 4, often inviting guests into the studio for interviews.
Despite his extensive writing career, during which he authored over 40 books about Sussex, wife Jill said that Arscott considered radio presenting to be his greatest passion.
Paying tribute, she said: “He liked people and rarely judged them. Although he loved his writing he always said that radio presenting was the best job he had ever had. Few things riled David, but a misplaced comma certainly did. David had long been the county's laureate, telling its story in his own words and in his warm voice in dozens of books, programmes and talks all over Sussex.
“He loved the records kept by Sussex vicars of centuries ago, laughing out loud at 'Buried Thomas Winfield, that old fornicator' and the baptism of the daughter of 'Elizabeth Rogers, a very noted strumpet of this parish.'”
A cherished member of the Lewes community, Arscott contributed to the town by creating a garden at the corner of Friars' Walk near the old Railway Inn, which he fondly referred to as their "forever home." A graduate of Hertford College, Oxford, with a degree in English Literature, David moved to Lewes in 1988. After leaving the BBC in 1991, he became a dedicated Lewes FC supporter for 25 years.
Arscott is survived by his wife Jill, seven children, and ten grandchildren.