MBE Seva Levenstein-Novgorodsev (born Vsevolod Borisovich Levenshtein on 9 July 1940), better known as Seva Novgorodsev (Russian: Се́ва Новгоро́дцев), is a former radio presenter on the BBC Russian Service. He is famous throughout the former Soviet Union, being widely considered as Russia's first radio DJ.
Biography He created the music programme «Рок-посевы» ("Rock sowing" or "Rock crops", in Russian containing a pun with the name Seva) and the chat shows «Севаоборот» (Sevaoborot, a pun with the Russian word sevooborot, "crop rotation") and «БибиСева» (BBSeva). He has also written the books «Рок-Посевы» (Rock the Seva way) and «Секс, наркотики, рок-н-ролл» (Sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll).
He was Russia's first radio DJ, and has been featured in several Russian films. In 1981 he married actress Karen Craig, with whom he co-wrote a Russian cookbook for Sainsbury's in 1990, but they later divorced. He is now married to Olga, who is a designer.
On 4 September 2015, at the age of 75, Seva retired from broadcasting.Kremmer, William Seva Novgorodsev: The DJ who 'brought down the USSR' BBC. 9 September 2015
Filmography A View to a Kill (1985) - Soviet Helicopter Pilot Spies Like Us (1985) - Tadzhik Highway Patrolman Leto (2018) - Antiquarian
References
External links BBC, "Seva Novgorodsev: The DJ who 'brought down the USSR'", 5 September 2015
Seva's page on the BBC Russian Service website BBC Russian Service online Seva's personal site (mirror)