DEREK A J LISTER

Soldier, Top Rank DJ, Author, and Explorer of Kwa Zululand,

I was born on 2 May 1938 at Walden Drive, Heaton, Bradford, and attended St Patrick’s Roman Catholic school in Westgate. Leaving school aged fifteen I worked at the famous Bradford store Brown Muffs and later Burtons the Tailors in Westgate. I was called up for National Service at the age of eighteen.

In 1959 I returned to ‘Civvy Street’, working for a while at Grattan’s Warehouse, then Stenhouse Insurance Brokers in Wells Street, Bradford. During this time I had a ‘Rock n’ Roll group called ‘Dal Stevens and the Blue Jays' and later the 'Four Dukes'. For five years from 1960, I also worked as a semi-professional disc jockey for Top Rank at the Gaumont and Majestic Ballrooms in Bradford (see my 'Bradford’s Rock n' Roll: The Golden Years 1959-1965', Bradford Libraries 1991). In 1966 I married Diana and had two children Alexander and Angelique. Sadly in 1998, my lovely wife Diana passed away. 

I retired in 2003. During my last two years of employment and into retirement I wrote the popular book ‘Bradford’s Own', published by Sutton Publishing in 2004. In 2008 my third book was published ‘Bradford Born and Bred’, an epic of 137,000 words and over 150 photographs, published by Bank House Books, which chronicles my life from 1938 until being called up for National Service in 1956.

My family tree goes back to the monarchs of the Mercian Kingdom which also incorporates into my ancestry ‘Hereward the Wake’ 1032-73.  My hobbies include writing non-fiction, especially local history, training at the gym, metal detecting, and collecting medals. I am a member of the Orders, Medals Research Society and an authority on British campaign medals.

I visit South Africa annually, primarily Kwa Zululand where I live with the Zulu people, and explore the areas involved in the Zulu Wars of 1879. I am an authority on the defence of Rorke’s Drift and the Battle of Isandhlwana. Watch the film, 'Zulu Dawn'. 

Among the 'highlights' of these trips was contracting tic fever and a confrontation with one of the world’s deadliest snakes, the Black Mamba. In 2006 I broke my wrist whilst crossing the Buffalo River in flood. In 2015 I climbed the heights of Isandhlwana for the fifth time. I visited Kwa Zululand for the last time in August 2022, to say goodbye to my Zulu and South African friends at Rorke's Drift and Isandhlwana.

Incidentally, I am also banned from two fish shops in the Bradford area! (Don’t ask!).

VIDEO: The reunion between disc jockey, aka, Dal Stevens, and the ballroom in October 2014.

Derek Lister aka Dal Stevens, returns to a much-loved Gaumont dance hall after 52 years away. Click on the link below to watch the video and be transported back in time.      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAJ7G6wTfi4