Obituary: Christopher Dingle: Brilliant, abrasive radio and TV presenter

CHRISTOPHER Dingle, who has died in Johannesburg at the age of 66, achieved instant celebrity status when he uttered the first F-word on television in South Africa.

The gap-toothed Dingle, a multi-award-winning broadcaster and one of the best and brightest of his era, was presenting his popular Midweek programme in 1985 when a technical hitch elicited his famous explosion.

There was an immediate break in the programme, which was about unemployment insurance, and a continuity announcer apologised before it resumed.

Contrary to popular belief at the time, the programme was not live. It had been taped but a technician omitted to edit out Dingle's pyrotechnics. This emerged at Dingle's disciplinary hearing and probably saved him from being fired.

There was a flood of calls to the SABC - which responded with an official apology - and letters to the press. One writer felt Dingle's lapse was a "very pertinent four-letter comment on the state of affairs in South Africa".

A newspaper cartoon showed a child mouthing an expletive while watching Dingle, its proud mother saying on the phone: "Guess what? Jannie's just learnt his first word from TV!"

Dingle presented the actuality programme Radio Today for three hours every morning for several years in the late 1970s and early '80s. It contained analyses and interviews with correspondents around the world and was as politically progressive as the times allowed in spite of being forced to slot in a daily pro-government propaganda piece, much to Dingle's disgust.

He had a phenomenal memory, which ensured a steady supply of pertinent quotes; was witty, very fast on his feet and a master ad libber. He could be abrasive and arrogant and too pleased with himself by half. This did not endear him to everyone at the SABC, least of all the grey-shoe brigade that ran the place.

Dingle was one of the pioneer presenters of the SABC's cerebral talkshow Microphone-In, but the show he was proudest of was Medical File. It was highly regarded by the medical profession and attracted top-class panellists.

As Dingle's celebrity status grew, his lifestyle became increasingly dissolute. He smoked, drank and partied as if there were no tomorrow.

Unfortunately for him, there was. When the new order took over in 1994, he found himself without a job and went to pieces. He was admitted to Tara where he was found to have bipolar disorder. When discharged, he lived in a garage in Berea, Johannesburg, and spent his time walking the streets, a government disability grant the only thing saving him from absolute penury.

A friend put him up in a converted garage at his home in Orange Grove, where he lived out the rest of his days hunched over a computer screen creating and maintaining websites. A succession of mini-strokes, among other physical problems, made him increasingly reliant on a wheelchair. He became reclusive and uncommunicative.

Dingle was born on January 17 1946 in Zambia, where his father was a boilermaker on the copper mines.

The family moved to South Africa and he matriculated at Estcourt High School. He claimed to have been a public prosecutor and acting magistrate before joining the SABC.

Dingle was found dead in bed.

He is survived by a half-sister and three nephews.