THANKS FOR LISTENING TO A MULLARD RADIO, WITH MULLARD VALVES BOUGHT FROM MULLARD MAGIC!

Take a look at this wonderfully howl-worthy cinema advert, made by Mullard for the Australian market and screened during 1937. I am not sure which part I like the best, could it be the tramp like persona at the start of the film which reminds me of how I look when I get up, rush to the iMAc to see what orders have been placed, there again could it be the camp persona right at the end of the film.    

All of these well observed and beautifully acted tableaus feature Jack Davey who, although a Kiwi, rose to become Australia's greatest radio personality.   He was quite the spendthrift playboy as was demonstrated when he got his first break as a crooner at a radio station.  On the strength of the job offer, he immediately went out and bought three suits and a sports car.

Fast cars were a a passion for Jack throughout his life and when the first Redex Reliability Around Australia Rally was announced, he was one of the first to enter. With co-driver Lou Moss, he drove a Ford Customilne on the marathon in 1953. But his health was already beginning to deteriorate, and doctors were called after he collapsed with heart problems, at the home of friends later that year.  Thankfully, he recovered enough to take part in the second Redex Trial in 1954. However that proved too much for him, and shortly after returning to Sydney he suffered a second collapse, and was admitted to St Luke's Hospital. Doctors told him he had to ease his workload, but even while he was in hospital he continued to write his newspaper column and do radio shows. His doctors succeeded in banning him from the 1955 Redex trial. 

Davey's health soon began to suffer again and his agent called in the doctors. Their advice was the same as it had always been – a reduced workload and rest, something Jack wouldn't entertain.  In mid-1959, X-rays revealed a small cancer in his right lung, but Davey went on with his work, including a trip to the United States to look at advances in television. Further tests, several weeks later, revealed the cancer had grown, and Davey was moved to hospital.