Hubert Gregg

Hubert Robert Harry Gregg (19 July 1914 – 29 March 2004) was a British broadcaster, writer, actor and prolific songwriter whose career spanned seven decades of entertainment history. Born in Islington, north London, he attended St Dunstan’s College and the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art before joining the BBC Empire Service as an announcer in 1934, a role he balanced with repertory theatre work. His early stage breakthrough came on Broadway in Terence Rattigan’s French Without Tears (1937‑1938), and during the Second World War he served initially as a private in the Lincolnshire Regiment before receiving a commission in the 60th Rifles, where his fluency in German led to a highly effective stint with the BBC German Service, reportedly puzzling Joseph Goebbels. After being invalided out in 1943, Gregg turned his wartime experiences into popular music, penning more than two hundred songs, the most enduring being “Maybe It’s Because I’m a Londoner”, written in just twenty minutes while on leave in 1944 and later adopted as a folk anthem for the capital. He also wrote “I’m Going To Get Lit Up When The Lights Go up in London” for his first wife Zoe Gail and contributed numbers to several wartime revues. Post‑war, he directed Agatha Christie stage adaptations—including The Mousetrap for seven consecutive years—acted in dozens of British films and television programmes, and became a beloved radio personality through long‑running shows such as A Square Deal (seven years) and Thanks for the Memory (over thirty years). His later years were marked by memoirs, two novels, and a reputation as a charismatic figure who blended wit, musical talent, and an intimate knowledge of London’s cultural pulse.