The archived Happenings index November 2000 – June 2012 is here... Archived Stories – Page 7

August 14th – stirring the Memories John Whelton, who was Russ Tollerfield's brother-in-law, has very kindly forwarded a photo from Russ's personal collection. John says: "On the 52nd anniversary of Big L sadly closing down, I have attached a photo from Russ Tollerfield's collection. This was taken by Russ and shows David Hawkins on the left." We definitely think that could be Kenny Everett on the right of the picture. ******** "Here we go again, with the final final final Fab 40 taking us all back in time to my 21st Birthday (August 12 1946) as if it was yesterday. I was allowed time off serving at Dad's Petrol Station (Red Wings Alconbury) to record the last show I wish I had recorded more. What a time to be alive! Many thanks again for keeping all the memories alive. I can't thank you enough….the tears are flowing already. Michael Richardson, biglradiolimerick " ******** "For 44 years, 3pm August 14th has always had a special place in my radio heart - I shall as ever be recalling those most memorable days and what joy Big L bought us. Your dedication to the Radio London website has been incredible and who would have thought so much information is still coming in - a very big thank you! Best regards Francis Pullen, Cambridge" From Keith Skues Dear Mary, Chris, Moosie and Jon, August 14th 1967! Hard to believe it was 52 years ago that the Labour Government of the day introduced the Marine Etc. Broadcasting Offences Bill to outlaw the watery wireless days of Offshore Radio. I was at  Liverpool Street station last Monday (August 12th) and cast my mind back to that day when hundreds of listeners went there to welcome home the DJs from Big L. Who would have thought that all these years later we would still be paying homage to those memorable days on the high seas. British music radio has NOT improved since Big L commanded the airwaves. I am sorry not to be in London to join you as I have a meeting at the BBC. Please pass on my very good wishes to everyone who attends - delighted to learn that Mitch will be joining you. He has been a very loyal past member of the mv Galaxy. Hopefully our paths will cross again in the not too distant future. Thank you for continuing to keep the dream alive. Kindest regards,Keith Old Cardboard Shoes  ******** From Pete Brady I had hoped to be with you on the 14th but I needed to take my brother-in-law to hospital for his cancer treatment, as his wife has a bad cold and cannot do the trip. Best wishes to all who join you   Please keep in touch, Pete Below are a few photos from the small August 14th 2019 gathering referred to by the absent Keith and Pete Chris starts the 'Tattoo' craze by stamping Guy and Mitch with Captain Buninga's 'mv Galaxy' rubber stamp (Photo: Gerald Marie-Nelly) John Sales and Fab Alan Field are happy customers! (Photo: Mary) Mary shows Mitch a letter he sent her in 1966! (Photo: Gerald Marie-Nelly) More about that letter here and Galaxy artifacts here. While we always love having ex-Radio London Steward, Mitch, at our gatherings, this time there was a special reason for him being there. We were recently contacted by Gerald Marie-Nelly who told us about his ongoing project involving the story of Mitch's life. Gerald asked if anyone could bring Big L artefacts so that he could photograph them. Several of us brought a selection of memorabilia. Gerald says: "I'm Gerald Marie-Nelly and I'm working on a documentary about tonton Michel aka Michel Philistin. The project is in progress and should be based on visuals, meaning photographs and graphics supporting the narrative. The end goal is to publish a book and do various exhibitions with the project visuals. I met Mitch while working on a previous project about Haiti for the UHUK charity and thought his life story was incredible, especially the episode on the Radio London pirate ship, but I'm really trying to present a full picture because there is also the story of an immigrant who left Haiti and struggled quite a bit along the way. His fighting spirit through adversity and his power to keep smiling are very inspiring so I really hope to capture that in the work." You can see more of Gerald's work here: geez.mq/section/projects/

Abbey Road Revisited
Alan Hardy, who formerly worked for EMI at Abbey Road, attended a recent lecture at the studios. He also took a screen grab of fans flocking to the zebra crossing on August 8th, the 50th Anniversary of the original Fab Four photoshoot by Iain MacMillan.

The actual photo-shoot began around 11.35am. This is the scene just before 11.30 on the 8th August 2019! Traffic had to be diverted.

Alan says: "I went to one of the special Abbey Road Lectures at the studio on Sunday afternoon as an invited guest, thanks to one of my EMI colleagues who still works there. This is the second year these Lectures have been held over a couple of weekends in August. Tickets cost £125 and I was lucky enough to get in free. Fans from all over the world come to hear a 90-minute talk about the history of the studios, how they work and the recording sessions with The Beatles.
The Lectures take place in Studio 2, where some of the old equipment from the Sixties era is laid out and a visit to the control room possible. I, and another ex EMI colleague were invited last year, but were unable to go, so this year I felt I had to say 'yes'."

Above: Those £125 seats Below: Alan in the Control Room

Abbey Road Lectures info

Paul McCartney led the 2019 crossing recreation

Back in 2002, Chris and I participated in another unforgettable event at Abbey Road and of course we had to take our own photos on that famous crossing – and held up an ambulance in the process. Photo: Mary leads the way, with Knees Club Official Jenny in the blue top. We didn't know the lady to our right.

Trying to Keep Big L afloat
Mike Barraclough writes: "I found three adverts for the Big L Nights at the Starlite Ballroom, Greenford in the October and Novemeber 1967 issues of Melody Maker. By then, Pete Drummond, Keith Skues, Ed Stewart and Mike Lennox were all working for Radio One, Tony Brandon joined the station on November 28 '67 and Mark Roman on January 27 '68. Chris Elliot's book 'The Wonderful Radio London Story' explains that the many onshore promotional activities and live shows associated with Radio London began diminishing as early as June 1967. Motor racing and car sponsorship was withdrawn in September '67 and although the Philip Birch agency continued to be run by former Radlon employees Brenda Cogdell and Gordon Sheppard, it survived only to the end of the year."
		Webmaster: No info as to which ex-Big L DJs were present on October 21st, but Warren Davis appeared without his Monday Band. Both Warren and his band and Ebony Keys (usually spelt 'Keyes') had been supports during the Stax/Volt tour in the spring of '67, retitled 'The Otis Redding Show'. Ebony Keyes had two Fab Forty entries in '66 and '67. Fellow Fab Forty artsists Gino Washington and the Ram Jam Band were a massively popular live act in 1967. We shall probably never learn the identity of the 'many other' Big L jocks were who were scheduled for future appearances, especially as the 'future' didn't last beyond the end of that month! Was the name change brought about by he Beeb stepping in to stop their DJs appearing at 'Big L Nights'? Caroline's Colin Berry seems to have been a regular fixture at The Starlite with his All Systems Go Show.
	Mike continues: "Ironically, the popular Big L nights continued at the Starlite Ballroom in Greenford, Middlesex until December '67 when they were renamed Radio One Nights.  The last Big L Night was the one advertised on the left, November 25, with Keith Skues. Radio One Night started a week later on December 2. I can't find out anything about the Shock Treatment!"

Greetings from Rick Radio England's Rick Randall sent a 4th July greeting from Halifax, Nova Scotia. "Joy and I are in Canada this year, visiting with her brother and his wife. Here you see me in the Bald Eagle shirt I wore on our 4th of July Harbour walk."

From a very modest beginning...
Some of you may remember the Radio Mi Amigo show that Chris and I (Mary) presented from Harwich, where we featured a selection of clips from various recordings of the PAMS 'My Hometown' jingle from a number of locations.

Alan Hardy has discovered a Hometown page on the Jingle Samplers website. There are both the Radio London and Chantelles versions, 21 recorded for other US stations plus (the rather good) big band instrumental track. All are downloadable.

Señor Twiggy
In one of his final kneeports, Roving Kneeporter, Keith Milborrow told us:
"Roger 'Twiggy' Day is now broadcasting from Spain on PureGold FM, available online and FM locally. His programme airs on weekdays from 13:00 to 16:00 BST (14:00 to 17:00 CET). He has relocated to Spain, apparently to write his autobiography, but he has retained his weekly slot on BBC Radio Kent, Saturdays 1800 to 2000."

Across the Waves Caroline North's Nick Bailey has recently published his autobiography, 'Across the Waves - From Radio Caroline to Classic Fm' and it's receiving 5-star reviews on Amazon. The book, with an introduction by Paul Gambaccini, covers Nick's long career on both the waves of the Irish Sea and the radio airwaves for many years afterwards. Nick, who (like Mary) is suffering from repetitive strain injury after all the typing involved, writes: "I hope you and Chris, and indeed your website, continue to thrive. It's important to keep those pirate memories alive!"

SPECTACULAR MACCA!
Musician and all-round instrument expert, Ed Ryba, reports from Los Angeles on Paul McCartney's July 13th sell-out 'Freshen Up' concert at the 80,000-seater Dodger Stadium.

(Right) Ed in his studio. Photo: Jennifer Ryba

"I'm really glad we didn't miss this concert, because it was, in a word, SPECTACULAR! I wish you could have been there.

It was the last stop on the band's extended tour, which has been running since September 2018 and MAN, Paul doesn't seem to give a damn that he's 77 years old! He still puts on one helluva show. It started at 8:00 and wasn't over until almost 11:30!

Sir Paul is as brilliant as ever and the musicianship of his band was, in the words of this musician, extremely tight. Keyboardist Paul 'Wix' Wickens [from Brentford! – Webmaster] who has been with Paul's band since 1989, was accompanied by guitarists Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray and drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr., all Californians.

Paul's bass guitar for the concert was his Hofner 'Violin' a replacement for his Beatles original, which was stolen some years ago. However, the current one is a better model. His other instruments were a Yamaha Concert Grand piano, a psychedelic custom-painted Gibson Les Paul, a ukulele given to him by George Harrison (who had quite a collection of them) a beautiful mandolin, and a Martin acoustic guitar. One of the guitarists proved excellent on a red Fender bass when Paul was playing something else. The horn section consisted of two saxes and a trumpet, but the saxophonists also alternated on Alto, Tenor and Baritone saxes at the appropriate times. Someone from the horn section also doubled on Trombone when necessary, for stuff like 'Let 'Em In'.

Paul's outstanding synth player 'Wix' Wickens, was using several keyboards - which these days save the hassle of having to muscle around a Hammond B3 organ and Leslie speakers. His Yamaha Motif synth did the work of both the Hammond and the Leslies. My Korg Kross synth does a similar job, and weighs a mere nine U.S. pounds, as opposed to over 100 pounds just for the Hammond! I believe the Motif 88-key model we saw on stage weighs in at a little over 20 U.S. pounds. When they played 'Eleanor Rigby', Wix played all of the string parts you hear on the original recording, and Paul made a point of telling us that. The musician had what looked to be at least two other keyboards in use.

(Left) A scan of Ed's ticket

Naturally, lots of Beatles tunes, plenty of Wings numbers and quite a few of Paul's solo songs were performed and all were perfect renditions of the original recordings. On 'Love Me Do', 'Wix' Wickens came out from behind his rig on Stage Left (the audience's right), and stepped up to a mic located Center Stage to play harmonica, duplicating John's playing note-for-note!

[In an interview with Keyboard magazine, 'Wix' told Jon Regen, "It's somebody's one and only (chance to see the) show, so they don't want to see a Thelonious Monk version of 'Hey Jude'. They want to hear it how they recognise it, along with it being live. It's not a tribute band - it's a live version of it." – Webmaster]

The stage lighting was spectacular, with pyrotechnics saved for the last couple of numbers. Jennifer's photo of the giant screens shows Paul at a Yamaha Concert Grand Piano, with fireworks going off behind the stage, and timed flames shooting up in front of the band. Our seats were on the field level and it's hard to get better than that! When Paul sang a ballad, well, you haven't lived until you've seen roughly 60,000 iPhones in flashlight mode on all three levels of the audience!

Naturally, Ringo showed up for a couple of tunes – they rolled out a platform with his Ludwig kit from his All-Starr Band for him. He accompanied Macca's regular drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr. Towards the end of the show, none other than guitar wizard Joe Walsh came out for a guest appearance.

After several encores, members of the band came back out again carrying HUGE flags. First came the Stars And Stripes, followed by the Union Jack, then the official flag of the State of California, the 'California Republic' flag, and the last was the rainbow flag of the LGBTQ movement. I thought that was extremely cool!

It took us FOREVER to get out of Dodger Stadium, but we finally made it home after a truly memorable show!

Pyrotechnics! Photo: Jennifer Ryba

Clip from 'Freshen Up: Wix Wickens - Organ Solo on Paul McCartney's "Let Me Roll It"

Wix Wickens Keyboard magazine interview – Zen and the Art of Multitasking

'Best Classic Bands' tour review

Weeley: The Great British Woodstock BBC Essex and Radio Caroline presenter, Ray Clark, appeared on BBC TV's 'The One Show' on Thursday 20th June, in a feature about the Weeley Music Festival aka The Great British Woodstock. Ray announced the news of his TV appearance during his Caroline afternoon show. Following the success of his book Radio Caroline: The True Story of the Boat that Rocked, Ray penned The Great British Woodstock: The Incredible Story of the Weeley Festival 1971 (follow the link to preview some of the fantastic photos.) It's the story of how a village fete in the Essex village of Weeley (which Ray attended aged 17) turned into a major music festival headed by Rod Stewart that attracted crowds of around 150,000. The feature has now been posted on Youtube. The Daily Mail online gave Ray's Weeley book extensive coverage. Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, a band signed to John Peel's Dandelion label, appeared at Weeley.. An advertisement for Dandelion from International Times has kindly been supplied by Hans Knot. (Left) recording the feature for 'The One Show'. Photo courtesy of Ray. (Right) Ray appearing at Pirate BBC Essex.

Hauraki Founder receives Queen's Birthday Honour

David Gapes was 25 years old when he launched pirate radio station Radio Hauraki in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf in 1966. Fifty-three years later, David has been made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours, for his services to the country's broadcasting.

Ross's nemesis is unlikely site of 5K run
Ten miles north east of Dover, the site where the Ross Revenge ran aground in 1991 has become the surreal location of a new 5K run. The Goodwin Sands aka The Great Ship Swallower, emerges from the water at low tide, and there is just enough time for a challenging 5k race before the water returns.

Another sandbank sporting location is Buxey Sands off Essex, where cricket matches are staged at low tide.

"Radio London Reminds You... go listen to Garner Ted. There's a nice bit of The World Tomorrow audio here."

Keith also noticed that Johnny Young is missing from the latest 2CH Sydney programme schedules so he contacted the radio station to found out why.
"Johnny is apparently returning to the concert stage and will be touring Australia, no doubt performing all his old hits Down Under. Perhaps including Craise F(r)inton Kirk?"

Spedeworth Racing driver 'Big L' Lee Holden writes: "My late granddad, Ron Moore, used to race Superstock on the short ovals for Spedeworth in the 50s/60s under the race number 266. His nickname was BIG L and I'm sure he had the BIG L radio sticker on his car."

Lee very kindly sent a couple of photos of Ron's Superstock with his BIG L name on the side, racing under the266 number.

If anyone has other photos of Lee's granddad and his car, or can supply further information, please get in touch We do not believe that Ron was racing on behalf of Radio London. The likelihood is that he was a fan of the station, who happened to have been allocated the racing number 266. However, we do know that Radio London was always connected to various motorsports, so it is possible that there was an official Radlon association with Ron.

The actress and model's recordings included 'Tar and Cement'. Verdelle Smith's version had been a #1 smash in Australia, a US chart entry and in August '66, a minor success in both the Fab Forty and Caroline Countdown. Although Caroline recorded the song with the assistance of Fab Forty artists Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Steve Howe with 'Teenage Opera''s Mark Wirtz producing, it was not a hit when released in May '67. She did have a beautiful song written about her, though. 'Caroline Goodbye' was penned by Colin Blunstone as a sad farewell when their relationship ended.

Caroline was a visitor to the Big L '97 broadcast, during the summer of 1997.

In Brief
Roving Kneeporter Keith Milborrow has drawn our attention to 'Pirate Plunder' magazine, pondering whether they might cover the subject of Pirate Radio in an article. However, the publication does seem focussed mainly on costumes for the discerning buccaneer and we don't think they will be interested in Big L teeshirts.

Mark responds: "Wow, that was recorded decades ago – surprised it's still around! It was done as a birthday 'See-what-happened-in-the-year-you-were-born-type gift, so I guess there might still be market for it. It's nice to know someone remembers this old fart."

More Big L and Sgt Pepper
Tom Blomberg writes from Hoofddorp in The Netherlands:

"Considering your Sgt. Pepper-story on the Radio London website, this may be a nice surprise for you. It lasts nearly sixteen minutes. I'm sure you will enjoy it.
Big L 4ever!"

It was great to hear more of the first airing of Sgt Pepper, although I felt sorry for John Peel having to read out so many 'What's on at the Weekend' announcements when all he wanted to do was play the incredible new Beatles album! He was obliged to do this because the album was played as soon as it arrived on aboard the Galaxy, which meant it ran into the regular Friday announcements time-slot, which could not be omitted.

There is one thing wrong with the clip. The accompanying photo of the ship is not the Galaxy! It's a Photoshop mock-up of another military vessel with the Radio London logo added. Tony Prince also mistakenly used this image when he made the Radio London edition of his documentary 'The History of DJ'.

Alan Field believes the mock-up originated on this page – Mary

Ray Reynolds says:
"I am able to watch 192 TV on satellite from Holland which plays non-stop oldies, but recently I have acquired reception for direct reception of IPTV where the signal comes from your router. There is a different version of 192 TV from Benelux countries and they have an opt out on many occasions and show The Radio Museum and various days of convention meetings etc.

You will be interested to know I've seen you both at The Radio Day 2014 on two occasions this week receiving your award and extracts of the talk hosted by Ray Clark and Keith, Johnny and Robbie Dale and others talking.

 I've also seen a very clever remix of the Cruisin' series soundtrack of Robert W Morgan for 1965, matched to commercials and pictures of the time."

Scores of UK radio stations to lose local programmes • Australian radio host's six-month-old son targeted by activists • Radio newsreader sacked for on-air gaffe wins $30,000 payout • Radio journalist shot dead in Mexico's latest media killing • Here is the nudes

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Texan documentary featuring Big L wins major award 'Texas Standard', an hour-long daily news magazine hosted by award-winning journalist David Brown, airing in 29 markets throughout the state, has won three National Headliner awards. Last year's special 'Black Friday' show from Nov 23rd, which explored how marketing created a legacy of pirates in the air over Texas, took third place in the documentary/public affairs category. The fascinating documentary covers extensively the subject of the Mexican 'border-blaster' stations and their massively powerful transmitters. It also includes a segment about Radio London and the role played in UK broadcasting by the Lone Star State. Grey Pierson (right) son of Big L founder Don, was interviewed about a subject with which many Texans would have been completely unfamiliar.

The Cavern Club at Sea – it's almost offshore radio! Liverpool's world-famous Cavern Club has revealed plans to expand its empire with new venues in North and South America and the Far East – and also on the ocean! "Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Joy is the third of the company's vessels to launch a 'Cavern at Sea'. The successful partnership with NCL started in 2015, and the vision is to eventually have a replica of the most famous club in the world on each ship in the cruise line's fleet." The original Cavern did, of course, have strong ties with Caroline. Cousin Moosie played the Cavern (left, with Keith Gunson) but is disgruntled that he didn't get his own brick in the famoose Mathew Street Wall. (Thanks to Alan Hardy)

A little bone in the knee that scientists thought was being lost to evolution seems to be making a comeback, according to experts from Imperial College London.

The fabella (Latin for little bean) is found in some people buried in the tendon just behind their knee, but the bone is not thought to serve any useful purpose. However, it appears that arthritis-sufferers are more likely to be in possession of a fabella, so is it causing sore patellae?

Keith Milborrow, our Roving Kneeporter who spotted this riveting story, comments: "Many people were afflicted by something called the fabforty between 1964 and 1967!"

(Some of them still are! The most important question is, how many Knees Club members have a fabella? – Mary)

The shot labelled 'Harwick' which we assume is meant to be Harwich, has mountains in the background, because the photos were actually taken at the Port of Greenore. (See our feature). Caroline North seems to have acquired a DJ called 'Madic' Sloane too. It also seems pretty bad that the photographers are not credited.

Clearly, journalists are pretty poor at checking facts these days and simply take agency captions as given. The Mail is also the paper that in 2017 published a map with a new location of 'Fenton-on-Sea' in relation to Sealand.

Unfortunately for Caroline, the fact that the station is alive and well, active and broadcasting legally on land, appears to have bypassed the feature writer.
(Thanks to Alan Field & Jon Myer)

Ross Revenge feature: The story of when she was a Grimsby trawler

A poem called 'Ghost Radio'

Radio Piracy on the High Seas: Commercial Demand for Taboo Music

We've had a hairdressing business called Radio London, or more accurately 'Radio, London', the salon in question being a branch of a chain called Radio, located in London. (At Radio London we have occasionally received mail intended for this company.) Now a chain of restaurants has been named after a pirate broadcaster.

Chris found this feature about how the original Abbey Road sound desk that was used to record the Beatles (and numerous other musicians) has changed hands over the years and has by chance avoided two weather disasters.

Record Store Day 2019
This year's Record Store Day, on Saturday, 13th April was such a success that the sales figures from physical units sold at retail locations around the country broke records set in previous years.

John Otway says:

"For this event Willy and I re-recorded our first album direct to disc – we've made a short promo, and we are popping stickers on the album in exactly the same way we did back in 1977."

Also as part of the fun of Record Store Day, Otway performed in two shops, Banquet Records Kingston and David's Bookshop Letchworth.

The top-selling Record Store Day-exclusive single at indie record stores in the US was, unfortunately, not Otway's, but The Rolling Stones' 'She’s A Rainbow'.

The BBC News website picked its Top Ten of the exclusive releases only available on April 13th. It included Mickey Mouse going Disco, but we suspect Alan Partridge would have chosen the release by A-ha.

Zombies Hall of Fame Induction On March 29th, The Zombies were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside Radiohead, The Cure and Roxy Music. On stage with Rod Argent, Hugh Grundy and Colin Blunstone was Chris White; the man who co-produced and wrote more than half of the classic 1968 seminal Odessey & Oracle album, who composed 'This Will Be Our Year' and who penned and co-produced the worldwide hit 'Hold Your Head Up' for Argent. The Chris White Experience, released to coincide with the induction, is an incredible collection of unreleased recordings from the last 40 years. (left) A programme of the event is one of the souvenir items for sale from the R & R Hall of Fame website The current Zombies exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Urban Myths Mat Baynton takes the role of Kenny Everett in 'Princess Diana, Freddie Mercury and Kenny Everett', a drama made for Sky TV's 'Urban Myths' series, which has been performed previously as a stage play. (left) Publicity cartoon

Update on Tony Currie Tony says: "Thanks for your daft ecard. It made me laugh. Ouch! When they gave me CPR they broke my ribs, so laughing, coughing, sneezing and hiccuping are a bit on the ooyah! side. I got a free dose of pneumonia with the CPR. Wot a treat. Still, despite an only 5.9% chance of survival, I'm here and back on the wireless* (only missed a week!!) although I shan't be back at the BBC for a while yet." *Tony's international station Radio Six.

Skues on Film March is a big month for offshore birthdays, but this year we send warmest congratulations to Mr Cardboard Shoes, Keith Skues MBE, Knees Club member 235, on a particularly special double celebration. On March 4th, Keith reached not only his 80th birthday, but the incredible and rarely-attained achievement of 60 years in radio. We were delighted to hear that Keith Skues received an overwhelming number of greetings from his loyal listeners and that David Clayton arranged a dinner on Keith's birthday Ray Clark, who kindly supplied the photo below, writes: "David Clayton organised a surprise dinner and an invited a few people who had worked with him in recent years. The venue was the Assembly Rooms in Norwich and, as you can see, the greeting from the 25 or so present, surprised him. I understand that Andy Archer and Tom Edwards had hoped to attend but were unable to make it." Keith appeared alongside Roger Twiggy Day and Alan Neddy Turner on March 30th at the Cromer Sixties Festival, where part of Chris Dannatt's Flashback exhibition was also on display. Jeff Link has produced a short film celebrating Cardboard Shoes' 60 years in broadcasting.

Webby's Wonderful 65 Years Even Cardboard Shoes's amazing 60 years of broadcasting has been surpassed by Graham Webb. On 28th February, he celebrated an incredible 65 years behind the mic. Webby (pictured right at Offshore 50) posted on Facebook: "I am not boasting but I am very proud of the fact that I am still on top of the grass and not under it at almost 83 years of age. I am still on air today, more recently on a new radio station known as Sydney's own Harmony FM along with my little brother Mike Webb. Mike started New FM in Newcastle, 2WS in Sydney and was one of the architects in the seventies with Rod Muir at 2SM also managing MMM in Sydney. Joining Harmony our dear friend the 'Mighty Quinn' (Allan Quinn) of Saturday Night Gold fame which is heard all over Australia and around the world. I am totally in tune with Harmony FM to gain the full-time licence soon.   The 28th February was also momentous for me as it was the day, we launched Australia's first pop clip television program, later to become Sound Unlimited and then Sounds, with our friend the great Donnie Sutherland OAM in 1974 (45 years ago). Our shows morphed into MTV worldwide, a very proud achievement for all concerned, especially me." Our warmest congratulations to Webby. We think he's more than entitled to boast about his achievements. (With thanks to Jon Myer)

Offshore radio vehicles
Some months ago, Iain Saunders wrote:
"I was wondering if you or someone who visits your site might be able to help me? Does anyone know if Caroline or Big L had any signwritten vans between '64 and '67. I have searched the web for any photos, but other than the 242 Bedford workbus, I have found none.

Thank you for a great site. I really have enjoyed it over the years. Keep up the good work."

Mary: "We know that Radio London had a large van associated with the motor racing events, painted purple-and white like the Big L racer. I was travelling through London in the back of our family car (I think a Triumph Herald) when we briefly found ourselves driving a few cars behind the Big L vehicle. However, I've never seen a photo of it. If anyone remembers this or other offshore radio-related vehicles, please get in touch."

Derek Spencer, who managed Big L racing driver Keith St John responded:

"The vehicle mentioned was our racing transporter. it was purple and white with Radio London Racing written on both sides and 266 on the back shutter. it was a Bedford petrol with old 'crash' gearbox and carried our Elva MK7s sports car and Brabham Formula 3 cars. it was also fitted out as mobile workshop bench, with welding equipment etc. if anyone wants any more info on Radio London Racing, contact me via the Radio London website."

Keith St John died in Spain in 2018. See obituary page.

Fab Forty Goove spotted after ten years!
Sharp-eyed Roger Foster spotted an anomaly in the notes of one of the Fab Forties that nobody had noticed although it had been on the site for at least ten years. He writes:

"I've noticed a bit of a mix-up in the notes for the chart for 250765, in the section where The Fab 40 is compared with the WMCA chart for the same week.

The Four Tops record that appears on both charts isn't 'The Same Old Song' (WMCA 21 - FF 14) as stated, but 'I Can't Help Myself'(WMCA 4 - FF 14).  

Of course it is easy to mix up the two songs, indeed legend has it that when one of the songwriting team of Holland, Dozier, Holland came up with the tune and musical arrangement for a follow up to 'I Can't Help Myself' another one of the songwriting  team exclaimed 'but it's the same old song' and wrote lyrics to fit!!"

When I came to investigate, I realised that the confusion had been caused by there being not one, but two Four Tops songs in the WMCA chart, with 'I Can't Help Myself' on the way down the Goodguy Survey and 'The Same Old Song' on the way up. When correcting the error, I took the opportunity to give the feature a bit of a revamp – Mary.

Roger is the author of two books 'Good Hope' and 'Reunited Worlds'.

D-E-C-C-A is N-I-N-E-T-Y!
Those of us who were avid 208 listeners will always remember the sponsored programmes from Decca Records, which were introduced by a jingle of the company name being spelt out in song as, "D-E-C-C-A – Decca!" (with a hefty dose of added reverb).

2019 is the company's 90th Anniversary year and D-E-C-C-A has a programme of events lined up, including the launch of a new book.

For Record Store Day 2019 on 13 April (see story below) a series of exclusive vinyl releases will be available, while six rare videos of David Bowie, from his early period on Decca's Deram label, have been restored to 1080 HD by the UMC team, and will be released monthly from 8 March.

London's V&A museum will host a Decca day of family events and music as part of the V&A Performance Festival 2019 on Sunday 5 May. Then in July, Decca's historic recording studio in West Hampstead will open again for a few nights of one-off performances and artwork exhibitions.

Decca: The Supreme Record Company - The Story of Decca Records 1929-2019 is a hardcover history of the company in twelve chapters. The Radio London era is covered in 'The Pop Years 1956-68' (Jon Savage). Due to be published on July 4th, the book promises rare photography and never-seen-before archival material with "lively anecdotes and insights into the label's broader contribution to culture." Described as "a treat for collectors, aficionados, and anyone fascinated by the development of modern music", it can be pre-ordered from Amazon.

Escape from Sealand
A record-breaking charity swim from the Principality of Sealand to Felixstowe by two old school chums, has been filmed for posterity as 'Escape from Sealand'.

BIG BEATLE ROUND-UP
A collection of Beatle-related stories

Beatles for Sale
One of Sir Paul McCartney's old school books, which contains notes and grades written in by his English literature teacher, was sold at auction on Tuesday, 26 March.The exercise book was an item in 'The Beatles Collection: Memorabilia & Vinyl Records' by Omega Auctions in Merseyside which they had estimated could reach £4 - £6 thousand pounds, but after a fierce bidding battle, the selling price was a staggering £46,800!

Mad Money
Another item of Fab Four memorabilia recently fetched £9,400. Alan Hardy writes:
"The British Heart Foundation shop in Midhurst, Kent received a rare promo copy of The Beatles' 'Love Me Do' as a donation. The demo comes with a misspelling of Paul McCartney's surname, with songwriters 'Lennon-McArtney' credited on the label and only 250 copies were ever pressed. The shop had no idea who donated it or whether the donor realised what they were passing on.

The British Heart Foundation put the demo on eBay, hoping it would sell for around £4,000. Its condition was described as 'Vinyl In Good Condition. (A Few Light Surface Marks) Also Has Slight Warp. In Generic White Sleeve.'. The current Record Collector Price Guide lists a mint copy at £5,000, but this sub-standard one sold for an amazing £9,400! Someone must have some money!

Fab but Miserable
Ethan Russell was the photographer for the final Beatles photo shoot.

Unseen Footage
Apple Corps Ltd. and WingNut Films Ltd. have announced a new collaboration between The Beatles and the acclaimed Academy Award winning director Sir Peter Jackson. The film is based around 55 hours of never-released studio footage, shot between January 2nd and January 31st, 1969 when the Fabs were recording' Let It Be'. The album was eventually released 18 months later in May 1970, several months after the band had broken up.

'The People's Beatles'
Barry Miles, the author of 'Many Years from Now', the Paul McCartney biography, led a global appeal to find unseen, lost or otherwise forgotten photographs of the Fab Four at any period in the band's history.

The photos are to be published in a book sponsored by the Photobox printing company, 'The People's Beatles'. Due for release in May 2019, the publication will feature over 500 unseen photographs with accompanying anecdotes and a written narrative by Miles. Hopefully, the Fab Four are not looking miserable in most of them!

All profits will be donated to the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy charity and a selection of the best images will be displayed at The Beatles Story museum in Liverpool.

Montreal Bed-in Anniversary
This year sees the 50th Anniversary of the 1969 Montreal Bed-in at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, by John and Yoko. Our friend Marc Denis has been recruited by the hotel to narrate some of the history in English and French. Marc explains:

"2018 was been a pretty good year for updates and additions to both my CKGM Montreal Super 70s Tribute Pages and CFOX Montreal Radio Archive online. Not so much audio memorabilia resurfacing this year as really delightful CKGM or CFOX radio-related photos being contributed my way. For one, I received a beautiful photograph in glorious black and white of Roger Scott at the CFOX Montreal mic entertaining little Kyoko Ono Cox during a quiet moment of the John Lennon-Yoko Ono Montreal Bed-In For Peace, back in 1969.

It came courtesy of Mrs. Joan Athey out in Western Canada. She is the delightful lady that manages the Estate of Gerry Deiter, the (late) official photographer who was assigned to the Montreal Bed-In of 1969. Joan and I will get together here in Montreal as she will be traveling in to take part in the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the Montreal Bed-In at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Speaking of which, Mary, I was one of the media personalities recruited by the Queen Elizabeth Hotel and their creative agency in 2017 to narrate in both English and French some of the history and memories of the Bed-In. Guests and visitors to the newly-refurbished Rooms 1742-40-38 of the Queen E. can hear us at the flip of switches in the various interactive drawers of the massive new wall cabinet. I was also asked to supply some CFOX radio audio and CFOX visual mementos from my website for the new and improved 2.0 Bed-In suites, in anticipation of 2019 and the 50th. It was my great pleasure to put together some Charles P. Rodney Chandler and Roger Scott audio and visual for the 'CFOX Montreal, The Radio Bed-In Remembered' drawer.

Here's another Bed-In related pop-up I created for my CFOX Montreal Archive, Memorabilia section, online. The pop-up features the same Chuck Chandler-Roger Scott audio links I supplied for that new "CFOX, The Radio Bed-In Remembered" drawer at the Queen E. Pretty cool, n'est-ce-pas ?

And so life goes on... and, unfortunately, the John Lennon message still stands in the year of the 50th: Give Peace A Chance. War Is Over...If You Want It !

Salutations amicales, Mary, stay in touch!"

Kenny's Thames TV shows The Kenny Everett Video Show comprises all of Kenny's Thames TV shows. Reviewers point out that some of the music performances have had to be cut because of copyright issues. Sunday Post feature

Remembering Duncan On January 17th, a group of Duncan Johnson's friends met in London to remember him and celebrate his life. As Duncan did not have a funeral, his golfing pal, Terry Wheeler decided he would organise an event where golfing and radio friends could meet and share their memories of a special and much-missed man. Some of the guests: (l to r) Maggie Brown, behind her, Cindy Kent, Sally Quinn, Brian Willey, Keith Skues, Adrian Juste. Photo: Chris Payne Duncan's friend and Sixties flatmate, Willy Walker, writes from the USA: My regrets that I was not able to be at the celebration of Duncan's life, but I send my condolences and best wishes to all those who attended. Willy's own memories have been added to Duncan's Tribute Pages.

Sealand celebrates 51st Anniversary Sealand is rarely out of the news and here are a couple of recent stories, connected to the micronation's 51st Anniversary. Congratulations to Prince Michael and the Royal Family