WHAT'S A TEA BOY?

Darcus Beese's early experience as a "tea boy" at Island Records in London (long before he headed the U.K. label and then became the successor to David Massey in the U.S.) has inspired some questions on this side of the pond. What, many of you have asked, is a tea boy?

The simple answer is that "tea boy" is the generic term in Blighty for an entry-level employee, for whom fetching cups of tea is but one of many menial tasks. It's comparable to "starting in the mail room," and many a tea boy (or girl) has hustled his/her way to prominence. Andy Gould legendarily served as a tea boy at George Martin's AIR London Studios, and later wore the low-ranking designation as a badge of honor by naming his label T-Boy Records.

You may also encounter the term "dogsbody" in this context, which similarly refers to a lower-echelon functionary/gofer.

In a related story, a HITS intern is known as a weed caddy, for obvious reasons.