Blue Peter star Diane Louise Jordan’s musician husband Giles Broadbent dies aged 51 with his band left ‘in shock’
BLUE Peter legend Diane Louise Jordan’s husband Giles Broadbent has died following a short illness.
The renowned violinist, who played as part of family quartet Stringfever, was just 51.
In a short statement, the group said: “Although Giles had not been well recently, we as a family are still in shock at his passing. The band will be taking a break whilst we make funeral arrangements.”
Giles and broadcaster Diane, 63, got together in 2006 and married the following year.
Songs of Praise presenter Diane was effusive in her praise of her husband in an interview from last year.
She said: “We share similar values, even though we’re quite different people – I’m much more of an introvert and Giles loves the house to be busy and full of people. He’s also a musician, so he’s very expressive too.”
Giles’ musical group combine comedy with virtuoso ability and have performed over 1,000 shows around the world.
On the group’s site, Giles described himself as “young at heart” and said he loved the “buzz” of live performances.
Nicknamed ‘The Boss’, Giles was the eldest of brothers Ralph, Graham and Neal and played lead violin.
Diane is best known for becoming Blue Peter‘s first black presenter in 1990.
Around the same time, she became guardian of her niece Justine following the sudden death of her sister Jay from a virus.
Quickly achieving fan favourite status, Diane formed a strong friendship with Anthea Turner and spent six years on the programme.
She told The Sun in an interview last year: “I was definitely told it was a big thing for me to become the first black presenter. ‘There’ll be media interest and there may be members of the public that aren’t happy about this’. At that time Blue Peter was a bit of an institution. It was the nation’s favourite children’s programme. There was a lot that rested on that decision.
“For any Blue Peter presenter you’re more than a presenter, you’re an ambassador really, and so to be the first black presenter I definitely knew getting that job was much more than representing myself. I
knew the spotlight was on me and if I got it wrong that might reflect in a negative way on others like me.
“When I started the job I was told to prepare for a few dissenting voices, and as expected there were letters that very vocally expressed how much they disliked someone like me, but within not too long a period of time the viewers got to know me, and when you get to
know somebody the fear about who you assumed them to be, on the whole, tends to dissipate.”