Nigel Ogden

Nigel Timothy Ogden was born on 21 November 1954 in Manchester, England,^[1] the son of Geoffrey Ogden, an accountant and church organist, and Eleanor (née Swales). He had a sister, Valerie.^[2]

Ogden had several years of piano lessons, before taking up the organ at the age of twelve.^[3] As a child, his family took him to Blackpool Tower Ballroom where he was influenced by the performances of Reginald Dixon on the Wurlitzer organ.^[3] He practiced on the Wurlitzer organs of Manchester’s Gaumont and Odeon cinemas, for a guinea an hour.^[2]

He trained to be a teacher, and subsequently worked as a sales demonstrator for an electronic organ retail business in Hyde, Cheshire.^[3] He then worked as a travelling sales rep for Boosey & Hawkes, before starting his own business selling organs in Sale, Cheshire.^[2][3]

From 1972, he started appearing on the BBC Radio 2 programme The Organist Entertains, eventually taking over from Robin Richmond as presenter in March 1980.^[3] Ogden presented the weekly programme for 38 years, until its final episode in 2018.^[2]

Ogden was also a composer and arranger, publishing collections such as "Fifteen Practical Voluntaries for Church Organist" and "Afternoon Tea with the Duchess", composed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the five-manual Compton organ at the Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square, London.^[2] In 1998, Ogden composed a piece called "Farewell to the Plaza", after the Stockport Plaza was threatened with closure.^[4] He was a touring musician, playing both theatre and church organs.^[3]

In 1993, he was the organist for the Channel 4 production of Dennis Potter's Lipstick on Your Collar, substituting as the 'hands and feet' of Harold Atterbow, played by Roy Hudd.^[2][5]

After the final episode of The Organist Entertains was broadcast in 2018, Ogden presented regularly on The Organist Encores podcast, for five years.^[6][7]