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DJ Inventor’s Decks Auctioned The world’s first mixing desk- the Diggola- went up for sale in Boston this week, following the death last year of inventor Ron Diggins, aged 90. Speaking just months before he died, the 90 year old pioneer recalled constructing the mobile twin turntable and amplifier system out of coffins in the late 40s, for use at live radio-type shows he used to present from the back of a van at school sports days. "It took me about six weeks to build the first Diggola," he told the Boston Standard, “"We couldn't get plywood in those days, so soon after the war. So I had to make it out of coffin boards." Switching to mixing music after being persuaded by girls guarding Italian prisoners of war to try it at a dance, Diggins eventually created six of the Diggolas as he went on to play over 20,000 gigs though admitted he was bemused by the emergence of millionaire superstar DJ from the late 80s. "I never knew how it would take off," he admitted to the Standard, "The most
I've ever charged is £50.” His legacy as the world’s first mixing DJ also remains in some doubt, not least due to confusion of when he started taking his Diggola to Boston parties. While the Standard suggested he began in 1949, UK newspapers the Times and Telegraph this week both said his first proper gig was at a village hall in 1947, the same year British DJ pioneer Jimmy Savile reputedly started out at the Guardbridge Hotel, Yorkshire “Savile is widely acknowledged as being one of the first (perhaps THE first) to use twin turntables for continuous play of music, thus pioneering the concept of DJing as we know it today,” Wikepedia claims, “The book 'Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: 100 Years of the Disc Jockey' bears this out,” the site adds. Article by Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com) Subscribe to Skruff music newsletter at www.Skrufff.com
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