AT the ripe old age of 70, Derek Morris seems an unusual figurehead for reggae music in the UK. But the Bristol-based DJ has played at summer festivals Bestival and Glastonbury, as well as influencing the likes of Massive Attack, with his passionate love of reggae and black music.

Now the superstar pensioner is set to rock 60 Million Postcards in Bournemouth on Saturday night. Derek turned his hand to music in 1977 after giving up his high-paid accountancy job to DJ in the predominately black pubs of St Paul’s in Bristol.

He has also featured in the video of Dirty Disco by Dizzee Rascal, where he played himself as a DJ in a disco hall for old aged pensioners. He is now a regular summer festival fixture and will be playing in Dorset next month at Camp Bestival and the Larmer Tree festival.

Speaking to 24Seven last year, Derek is still surprised at his clubbing cult status.

“I turn up at a gig and there’s this huge queue. It’s amazing and good in some ways that it happened to me later in life,” says DJ Derek.

The reggae aficionado is notable for MC’ing in a Jamaican accent while DJing, despite never having visited Jamaica.

He picked up the accent from a Bristol-based Jamaican barber, and it has since helped him be accepted in the black music industry.

“I still get this tremendous buzz on stage, especially when it’s a venue I haven’t played before. I assume it’s because there’s so much written about me on the internet, although I haven’t got a computer.

“People know about me before I even get in the place,” says Derek.

To get him in the mood, Derek has a tradition of enjoying a few pints of ale before he takes to the wheels of steel.

“I always have a few pints before I play, as there’s nothing worse than going into a place at 11pm when everyone’s been drinking and you’re sober,” he says.

In fact, the DJ is particularly partial to the chain pub Wetherspoons – so much so that he’s visited every single pub in the UK.

DJ Derek is a true musical institution and most definitely a one-off.