Careers don't move much faster than Dean Martin's.

North Finchley's aspiring 23-year-old DJ has gone from strength to strength in the weeks since he gave up his job at Tesco head office to seek fame and fortune.

Two weeks ago the Hendon & Finchley Times reported that Dean, of Eton Avenue, had landed a job presenting two shows on a new radio station headed by former Radio 1 DJ Bruno Brooks. Now he has been snapped up by one of London's biggest radio stations after a friend advised him to enter Capital Radio Cafe's Search for a DJ Star competition.

Dean was the best of 100 DJ hopefuls who auditioned and will work as a DJ at the cafe in Leicester Square or at Capital's new cafe, which opens in Finchley Road in November.

"I'm very excited," he said. "It's happened all at once."

Dean, who went to Finchley Catholic High and worked for five years at Barnet Hospital Radio, hopes to find out when and where he will be working next week.

During his years of trying to make it he also worked as a disco promoter and for several other radio stations. His advice to other would-be DJs is to get as much work experience as possible and some work on a hospital radio station.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.