Rust was born in 1922 in
Golders Green, then part of the
Municipal Borough of Hendon in
Middlesex. He collected records from the age of five, but his most significant purchase was aged 14, when he acquired a copy of "Ostrich Walk" by the
Original Dixieland Jass Band. After leaving school, Rust became a bank clerk. During the
Second World War, he was a
conscientious objector, and worked as an auxiliary fire officer. After the war, he returned to being a bank clerk. He worked in the
BBC's record library from 1945 to 1960, and supervised broadcasting selections. He contributed to
The Gramophone magazine from 1948 to 1970, and wrote freelance from 1960, including liner notes for record releases. During the early 1960s, he was living in
Hatch End, Middlesex. Rust hosted the
Mardi Gras radio programme on
Capital Radio from 1973 to 1984, in which he played only 78s; his friend Chris Ellis recalled that he sounded like "a cross between an
Oxford don and an overgrown schoolboy, always bubbling with enthusiasm". Rust's
Jazz Records 1897–1942, revised several times since its publication in 1961, is a standard jazz discography. He moved from London to
Swanage,
Dorset, in 1970. Rust died on 5 January 2011 in Swanage, England, aged 88. He was survived by his wife, Mary, and their daughters, Angela and Pamela, and a son, Victor. ==Discographies==