British DJ Dave Lee Travis meets 'fan' Aung San Suu Kyi

Reuters 2012-06-20

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Dave Lee Travis aka DLT aka The Hairy Cornflake aka has been thrust into the limelight, thanks to a surprise high profile fan.

Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi revealed she liked to listen to him on the radio while she was under house arrest in Burma.

A meeting on Tuesday at the BBC's World Service was a chance for the iconic peace fighter to finally come face to face with the man from Manchester whose radio show she said made her life more complete.

SOUNDBITE DJ Dave Lee Travis, saying, (English):

"Thank you and it's such a pleasure to meet you in person after all the nice things you said about the programmes."

SOUNDBITE DJ Dave Lee Travis, saying, (English):

"But yeah, she is an excellent icon for the age and that is why it becomes more and more surprising to me that a DJ, whose job is to play music and have fun jolly things along a bit should have been a part, almost a cure for her loneliness there."

It was Travis' programme 'A Jolly Good Show' which was one of Suu Kyi's favourites during her first period of confinement between 1989 and 1995.

No longer on the air, Travis explains it was a varied music show:

SOUNDBITE DJ Dave Lee Travis, saying, (English):

"We played music that people didn't expect around the world, because we would be asked for a request and sometimes the requests were hysterical, it took you a long tome to work out which record they meant."

With around 40 million listeners, The Jolly Good Show was a huge success.

Even so Travis was shocked to discover he had such an iconic supporter.

SOUNDBITE DJ Dave Lee Travis, saying, (English):

"You don't expect to have world leaders, people of that stature, not only just listening to the programme but actually finding solace in it which that to me that is the touching part about it."

The pair are due to cross paths again on Thursday, as both attend a reception at the Foreign Office.

Sarah Mills, Reuters

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