Woolf Byrne
October 1941 - May 2025

 

Radio London tribute by Mary Payne
pp Chris and Mary Payne, Radio London Webmasters

We were very sorry to learn that Radio City and (later) Britain Radio and Radio 390 DJ, Woolf Byrne had passed away on May 9th 2025. Woolf's daughter Lizz tells us that he died unexpectedly in Maidstone hospital with herself and her mother at his side.

We first met Woolf in 2001,when we held an offshore radio reunion at the East Coast Rock Cafe in Harwich. He attended with his old friend and fellow Manish Boys bandmate and fellow pirate DJ, John Edward. Woolf told me, "We shared birthdays on October 31 and it was Johnny who introduced me to Dorothy Calvert. He helped me record an audition tape which led me to going out to Radio City on Shivering Sands fort and the start of my broadcasting career. Life out on the forts was pretty grim compared to the comfort of the pirate ships. But we were young!"

Harwich, 2001. Woolf with John Edward (far left) and Radio 390 colleague, Roger Scott (left)

Woolf enjoyed attending many subsequent offshore reunions, plus a few boat trips out to visit the Thames Estuary forts. The last time we met was at the Offshore 50 reunion in London in August 2017.

As a member of the Manish Boys, Woolf had played baritone sax and harmonica. When Davy Jones joined, the band didn't feel that his voice was as good as that of their other singer John Watson, but Woolf realised that their new vocalist had a charismatic presence. He observed that when Jones was on stage, dancers in the audience would stand still to watch him. "The charisma was there," he recalled, "Although I don't think we were particularly aware of it at the time." Jones also played tenor sax with the band.

Woolf flies the Jolly Roger during a trip aboard Paddlesteamer Waverley to visit the Thames Estuary forts
Woolf at Offshore 50 in 2017 with Radio City's
Dick Dickson and Mike Brereton

Offshore 50 Reunion, as above (Photo: Martin Van der Ven)

"Early in 1965, although we had a record release, the band was surviving on all kinds of promises of various agents and promoters, (more package shows, Star Club Hamburg, USA, etc., etc.) but weren't actually making any money! When our old Bedford van broke down, we could not afford to fix it. Our parents felt they had subsidised us enough, and so we were forced to disband. It was some months before first Johnny Flux, then I, became pirate DJs, and Davy Jones became David Bowie."

After their stint on Radio City, John moved to Radio London aboard MV Galaxy in November '65 and called himself John Edward (his first and middle names). In '66, Woolf went to Britain Radio, aboard Olga Patricia. Then, in January '67, he joined easy listening station, Radio 390, on Red Sands Fort.

Woolf's subsequent career was in acting and he appeared in a number of films and TV series. On Jan 6th 2003, he could be spotted on the 100th edition of the spoof music quiz, 'Never Mind the Buzzcocks'. In the 'Guess the member of the Dave Clark Five' Identity Parade line-up.

A TV documentary about David Bowie, 'David Bowie: Finding Fame', was shown in 2019, but Woolf said, "I didn't bother to watch it, because all the blurb I'd seen about it had suggested it started with his career after he'd left the Manish Boys and sadly, there is no evidence of us on video. We did appear on Gadzooks on the then-new BBC2. We had a great day at the BBC, but the Beeb didn't record many of their live performances, and certainly not this one – of 'scruffy layabouts making a lot of noise!!' "

Manish Boys record company publicity photo:
Woolf says: "In that picture I was the one happily smoking on the left
It's surprising there isn't a pint in my hand!"

In 2018, the Daily Mail published a collection of uncredited photos of the Manish Boys when they arrived at Television Centre to appear on the above-mentioned early evening BBC 2 Pop show, 'Gadzooks! It's All Happening'. A publicity story was dreamed up, claiming that the show's producer Barry Langford took issue with the length of the band members' hair and said they would have to wear hairnets or get haircuts before they would be allowed to appear.

********************** 

Links to features:

Daily Mail 2018 article about the Manish Boys at BBC Television Centre

David Bowie World has a nice feature about Woolf and his musical contribution to the unique sound of the Manish Boys

The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame has photos of Woolf attending the Radio City 50th Anniversary reunion in Whitstable in 2014

Bob le Roi has a Radio City feature that includes both Woolf and Johnny Flux on the air