My brother Richard Caperon, who has died of cancer aged 71, became active in radio while he was at university and, possessing what was described as a “perfect radio voice”, decided that would be his career.
He was employed by the British Forces’ Broadcasting Service (BFBS) and following training with the BBC was posted to Malta in 1977, where on-air schedules were taxing. Nevertheless, his voice became known to many thousands as he presented slots on Family Favourites for BBC Radio 2 on Sunday mornings. This continued after a move to Cologne in the late 1970s.
Richard was born in Brighton, the second son of Margaret (nee Perring) and George Caperon, a Whitehall civil servant. In 1958 the family moved to High Barnet, north London.
At 11, Richard entered Queen Elizabeth’s school, Barnet, where he spent his secondary years, before moving on in 1971 to study government and politics at the (then) radical University of Essex, where his flowing hair and bell-bottom trousers were very much better received than they had been at home. Winning the second-year prize for the quality of his work encouraged Richard to take his MA, and during that year he met Veronica Pugh, a first-year student whom he was to marry two years later in 1977.
Richard and Veronica moved to Wolverhampton, where he joined Beacon Radio in 1980, becoming director of programmes in 1985, while Veronica worked in PR for the polytechnic. After a takeover of Beacon in 1986 Richard resigned, and he and Veronica decided to go freelance, setting up their own PR agency, Redhouse Associates, named after their home in Worfield, Shropshire.
In 1992 the family moved to Edgmond, Shropshire, where Richard’s passion for DIY had huge scope. Both Shropshire houses had capacious wine cellars, and trips to southern France, notably the Côtes du Rhone, ensured they were never empty.
At heart, Richard yearned for the countryside, and the hills. In 2009 the family moved to Lawkland, near Austwick, North Yorkshire: from the windows Richard could see grazing sheep and (in good weather) the great mass of Ingleborough. These were to prove his consolation in the sad years following Veronica’s death from cancer in 2017. Following the changing fortunes and styles of the English cricket team (though never a fan of Bazball), walking the three peaks, or more gently in his beloved Swaledale, cooking for and entertaining friends and relatives – these shaped Richard’s life.
He is survived by his daughter, Lizzie, and me.
