The BBC radio legend died suddenly aged 81 as his wife shared a moving tribute.
David Arscott was a presenter and producer at Radio Brighton, later called Radio Sussex, from the mid-seventies until 1991.
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BBC radio legend David Arscott has died suddenly at the age of 81
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He was a presenter and producer on Radio Brighton Credit: Jill Parkin
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David was well known in the local community for his garden Credit: Jill Parkin
The father-of-seven died on a bench in the courtyard of Lewes Priory on November 29 after playing a game of tennis.
He was well known in the local community for creating a garden on the corner of Friars’ Walk in the town centre.
The grandfather of ten has also written more than 40 books about Sussex, The Argus reported.
David began his career as a newspaper journalist in London, Dorset and Caracas, Venezuela.
He joined Radio Brighton, which later became Radio Sussex, in the mid-seventies.
He graduated in English Literature from Hertford College, Oxford and his wife Jill settled in Lewes in 1988.
David left the BBC in 1991 and married Jill the same year while living in St John’s Hill, Pells.
He was proud of Lewes FC for 25 years, according to SussexWorld.
His first book, Hidden Sussex, was published by BBC Radio Sussex.
While the last book he wrote was about the Sussex poet Hilaire Belloc.
His wife Jill paid tribute to her husband, writing: “He loved people and rarely judged them.
“Although he loved his writing, he always said that radio presenting was the best job he ever had.
“Few things angered David, but a misplaced comma certainly did.
“David has long been a County Laureate, telling the story in his own words and with his warm voice in dozens of books, programs and speeches across Sussex.
“He loved the records kept centuries before by Sussex parsons, laughed aloud at ‘Thomas Winfield buried, that old fornicator,’ and at the baptism of the daughter of ‘Elizabeth Rogers, a very famous harlot of this parish’.”
Jill also recalled a funny moment in David’s radio career during a phone call for education.
She said: “The red light suddenly flashed, David gratefully opened the microphone, asked the listener about her education point and she said: ‘I’ve lost my parrot!’
“Such were the dangers of not having a backup to separate calls to the station’s lost pet service from current events calls
“At the time, editing meant cutting the tape with a razor blade and too often looking for the lost part when it fell into the wastebasket.
“Whether it was missing parrots or writing the funeral commentary for Ian Gow, the Eastbourne MP who was killed by the IRA, David loved the job.”
David is survived by his wife, seven children and ten grandchildren.
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