Dickie Arbiter


Dickie Arbiter LVO is a television and radio commentator on the British Royal Family and an international public speaker. He was a press spokesman for Queen Elizabeth II from 1988 until 2000; in 1996, he was appointed LVO.

Biography

After college in London he was an actor and stage manager in South Africa and the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, where he became a television and radio news reporter. His most famous on-air slip up occurred when he started a radio broadcast with the sentence "I am an oil tanker, Dickie Arbiter is on fire in the Gulf". This would then go on to be immortalised by Fi Glover as the title of her book I am an Oil Tanker: Travels with My Radio.
Upon his return to the United Kingdom he was a special events presenter for LBC and court correspondent for Independent Radio News
His television appearances include Newsnight, BBC Breakfast, BBC News, This Morning, Larry King Live and Richard and Judy.

Personal life

He is the father of Victoria Arbiter, who is a commentator on the Royal Family for CNN.

Publication

His book On Duty With the Queen was published in October 2014.