Tommy Vance in the Merchant Navy

BBC Radio 1 disc jockey Tommy Vance, who died on 6 March, started his career in the Merchant Navy. Born in Oxford in 1941, his real name was Richard Hope-Weston; he adopted the 'stage name' Tommy Vance while working at the radio station KHJ in Los Angeles in the early 1960s.

You can view his discharge papers by clicking on the image on the right.

Catalogue reference: BT 372/2007/148

You can find out more about records of the Merchant Navy in the research guide Merchant Seamen: Sea Service Records 1913-1972.