"It was about 90% in favour of coming ashore and looking after myself, not doing anything silly. Many years ago, I used to listen to Radio Luxembourg under the bedclothes. Kenny Everett is in the line-up. At five to eleven, I say, 'I've been putting off playing this for a whole hour but I've got to play it now. So basically I trash his record, and Don Arden goes absolutely ballistic. May 1966 Pierson starts Swinging Radio England not far from WRL in the North Sea. March 1964 Radio Caroline is founded by the Irish businessman Ronan O'Rahilly in international waters off Felixstowe. "Basically it was sleep in, read letters, pick records, eat and do your show," Walker says. This article was amended on Tuesday 10 March 2009. So girls would come to the ship, and we'd tie their boat alongside, and we used to get the engineer to take their boyfriends off to look round the transmitters and the generators, and we'd take them downstairs to the cabins. The information of medicine and health contained in the site are of a general nature and purpose which is purely informative and for this reason may not replace in any case, the council of a doctor or a qualified entity legally to the profession. The pirates talked a full-blooded language, even those on Caroline North, a second ship moored near the Isle of Man, who were keen to foster the personality of "zany": Jerry "Soopa" Leighton, Mick Luvzit, "Daffy" Don Allen, and they found an outlet for new creativity. At night time, I would snuggle under the bedclothes to listen to Radio Luxembourg. My earliest memories is of 'Saturday Club' which was aimed at the teenage 'with it' population. Focussing on the 208 service, which was opened by Pete Murray on July 2nd 1951 and closed down on 31-12-2015, Philip Champion elucidates the … [Emperor] Rosko used to throw them overboard. I actually got three books and you'll find them here plus one more. Source : http://api.ning.com/files/O*H55*IOAAELvlvbvLVnedmOt6ifMp0PkBiL5NQWaIcxNmrimGP30uDVg3JFpdefnrrkSKzNpps5SvSHstx6ZBRPoOxKMnUw/10000triviaQuestions.xls, Web site link of source : http://community.eflclassroom.com/forum2/topics/826870:Topic:70576?page=1&commentId=826870%3AComment%3A326973&x=1#826870Comment326973, Author : not indicated on the source document of the above text. Then a myriad of groups sprang up, like the Beatles,… There were a lot of fans in mourning. The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earliest commercial radio stations broadcasting to the UK and Ireland. "I've got quite a good drugs story,' says the DJ Johnnie Walker. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders. The most famous member of the club – who Jimmy went to meet on behalf of the Club – was Elvis Presley. They didn't understand the half of it, but they did understand the unifying power of music. Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. I spent most of my early youth listening to pop music from Radio Luxembourg on that old crystal set, sometimes late into the night and under the bedclothes when, unknown to my parents, I should have been sleeping. But soon there was competition from other nearby ships, particularly "Wonderful Radio London", and they upped the tempo (the former Radio London DJ Keith Skues described his station as the "swingingest"); soon the Rolling Stones and the Byrds were enthralling anyone who, like a young Johnnie Walker listening in a suburb of Birmingham, could thread a long wire from their window and manipulate the spotty reception. He is featured in composite form in the forthcoming Richard Curtis film The Boat That Rocked, a comedy about the last days of pirate radio in 1967, before the government made it illegal and sanctioned Radio 1 in its place. The school had begun life as a Victorian orphanage, and during Idle's time was a charitable foundation dedicated to the … Marquee Club-Wikipedia. There were women, Walker says, but they were not a regular occurrence. 2 / 2 How 208 was influential for millions of under-the-bedclothes listeners starved of music. by Janet Alldis, © published 1993. This article was amended on Thursday 12 March 2009. "Fans would come out to visit the ship. This has been amended. And there was a tape recorder here for when things got really bad and the stylus started lifting off the record. ", When the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act made the ships illegal in the summer of 1967, Walker took a heroic stance. March 1967 John Peel begins his British radio career on Radio London's midnight-2am shift. Instead of 24-hour satellite television, there was the anarchic free-for-all of Saturday morning pictures and the Under The Bedclothes Club on Radio Luxembourg. Instead of 24-hour satellite television, there was the anarchic free-for-all of Saturday morning pictures and the Under The Bedclothes Club on Radio Luxembourg. He thought he could do the same at greater volume for the UK. "She said, 'If you want any more, I'm always listening around half nine. If you want to quickly find the pages about a particular topic as Who formed the 'Under the Bedclothes Club' on Radio Luxembourg? London-American Records, Six Five Special, The Girl Can't Help It, New Musical Express, The 2I's Coffee Bar, 1950s rock n roll music and all its associated aspects - films, cars, books, personalities of the time - can be discussed from a UK viewpoint by joining this list. The Teen and Twenty Disc Club (TTDC) was part of Jimmy Savile’s Decca-sponsored Radio Luxembourg show. Or as Ken Dodd used to parody on his Radio 2 (Light Program) Show - Radio … Yesterday a blue plaque was unveiled at the station’s original London headquarters in Mayfair to celebrate almost 60 years of broadcasting to the British public. Just say you've run out of tea. One of my favourite broadcasters is Brian Matthew still going strong today on Radio 2 with 'Sounds of the Sixties' on Saturdays. Radio Luxembourg became one of the first English language commercial station to broadcast in Britain when it began transmissions in 1933, using a … This is me in the studio - in the middle of the ship, so that when you were in a force nine gale it didn't move quite so much. „As a listener you felt you were part of a secret club, under the bedclothes with your pop stars and your favourite jocks. The following texts are the property of their respective authors and we thank them for giving us the opportunity to share for free to students, teachers and users of the Web their texts will used only for … Most of his fellow DJs had other ambitions; some had contracts for Radio Luxembourg, others for the newly announced Radio 1. Radio Luxembourg 208 / under the bedclothes. I was amazed I could hear voices and music. His mother had difficulty coping with a full-time job and raising a child, so when he was seven, she enrolled him into the Royal Wolverhampton School as a boarder. This has been amended. I used to hide under the bedclothes and find John Peel's show. The station provided a way to circumvent British legislation which until 1973 gave the BBC a monopoly of radio broadcasting on UK territory and prohibited all forms of advertising over the domestic radio … This article was amended on Sunday 15 March 2009. So fact was stranger than fiction: Tintin's fictional rocket was actually a real-world V2. Instead of 24-hour satellite television, there was the anarchic free-for-all of Saturday morning pictures and the Under The Bedclothes Club on Radio Luxembourg. This was the 60s - people were just making love all over the place, no Aids or anything. Larapedia.com Terms of service and privacy page. The radio was a portable (with difficulty) valve set - 110V lead-acid … That's why the American government put Elvis in the army and why the British police hounded Brian Jones in an attempt to destroy the Stones. Ah! I have owned many gadgets over the years, they litter my kitchen cupboard and my attic. But from August 1967 things changed. Many spent time under the bedclothes with a transistor radio tuning in to Radio Luxembourg. In the early 60s, as a young boy growing up, I started listening to music. You must get bored, and this is just what you need.' He was the man who helped give The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Buddy Holly, Paul Anka, Donovan, Petula Clark and scores of others their big break. ", Pirate DJs had more mundane things on the agenda. In the caption for the picture attached to this article we said the radio station was Radio Caroline, it was in fact Radio London. "This explosion of music and fashion and teenage excitement - the lid had been kept on it for so long," Walker says. You can imagine how excited (and confused) I was listening to Radio Luxembourg RTL 208's pop music on a 10cm red-and-white rocket-shaped transistor radio late at night under the bedclothes. It is now legal, headquartered in Maidstone, Kent, and available on Sky and the internet. ", He comes upon a photograph of himself and Harold Wilson. Richard revisits childhood haunts, encountering an England changed beyond recognition – from the covered market which is now a 30-storey Dubai-style tower block to his old primary school, where pupils now speak 20 different languages as their mother … But as the main text made clear, Radio Caroline defied the new legislation and stayed on the air on various vessels, the last of which was shipwrecked in 1990, when it was obliged to seek new ways of broadcasting. In May 1962, the power of Radio Luxembourg was displayed in Britain when B Bumble and The Stingers took the instrumental Nut Rocker into the UK Top 10 without a single play on the national BBC … The B.B.C. A lot of books about the history and the DJ's of Radio Luxembourg are published over the years. '", Unlike Johnnie Walker, Tony Prince did jump ship in 1967, after seeking guidance from his listeners. 'Oh, it'll be on. ... find was this tiny little radio. The movie features the usual pliable gang - Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Rhys Ifans - with Philip Seymour Hoffman filling the slot vacated by Hugh Grant. The mid 1960s saw an extraordinary explosion of British pop music but the only radio stations broadcasting it were based on 'pirate' ships, like Radio Caroline, anchored off the coast. Many spent time under the bedclothes with a transistor radio tuning in to Radio Luxembourg. Instead of 24-hour satellite television, there was the anarchic free-for-all of Saturday morning pictures and the Under The Bedclothes Club on Radio Luxembourg. But the institutions that controlled the music - the stuffy record companies, the curfewed ballrooms, the weary, disbelieving parents - tried to keep the dampers on everything. August 1967 The Marine Broadcasting Offences Act outlaws pirate radio; all stations are forced to close. Examples of fair use include commentary, search engines, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship. "So on my show at about half nine, I said, 'I just want to say good evening to Dee in Kilburn, and we've run out of tea, love.' I spent most of my early youth listening to pop music from Radio Luxembourg on that old crystal set, sometimes late into the night and under the bedclothes when, unknown to my parents, I should have been sleeping. But you will not hear waves in the background. The music was unprecedented, an extraordinary burst of energy and frustration that still reverberates. Subject: RE: Radio Luxembourg 208 From: Newport Boy Date: 26 Jun 12 - 05:51 AM My main recollection of Radio Luxembourg is on summer evenings in 1954/5, sitting under the trees on the (ex)golfcourse. My favourite gadget at the moment is probably my … Idle stated that the two things that made his life bearable were listening to Radio Luxembourg under the bedclothes and watching the local football team, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Jimmy Savile and The Under the Bedclothes Club. 2013/09/14 - Transistor Radios - listening to Radio Luxembourg (208) and Radio Caroline (259) under the bedclothes. Walker says he has seen a BBC memo from 1967 addressed to the Radio 1 controller: "On no account should Johnnie Walker be employed for at least a year to let the taint of criminality subside.". So I turn him into a chipmunk. On the Caroline website, founder Ronan O'Rahilly reveals that he was recently told by someone close to him that he had wasted his life on Radio Caroline, but he disagreed. His father had served in the Royal Air Force and survived World War II, only to be killed in a truck-crash shortly afterwards. He left the Marquee Club in 1970 to take a job in the offices of Radio Luxembourg. It drove the listeners crazy. As a listener you felt you were part of a secret club, under the bedclothes with your pop stars and your favourite jocks. All the information in our site are given for nonprofit educational purposes. Extracts from Under the Bedclothes, 1993 biography by Janet Alldis, his daughter; Aircheck Legends: Barry Alldis page; Dick Offringa's Radio Luxembourg page (includes a very rare 21-second video clip of Barry Alldis at work in the Luxembourg studio in 1964) His addiction to music began in the mid fifties upon hearing Skiffle and Rock n’ Roll, and misspent many a happy hour listening under the bedclothes on his crystal set to Lonnie Donegan and Buddy Holly on Radio Luxembourg. Six weeks later, the BBC launches Radio 1, employing many pirate radio DJs, including Blackburn, Everett and Peel. Episode 1 1 / 2 Noel Edmonds tells the story of Luxy, the original pop music station in the UK. "Don Arden, the promoter [he managed the Small Faces and Lynsey de Paul, was Sharon Osbourne's father, and died in 2007], had recorded "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof, and it was dire. Few people had a phone or a … The radio was a portable (with difficulty) valve set - 110V lead-acid … Keith "Cardboard Shoes" Skues, now 70, presents Pirate Radio Skues on BBC Radio Norfolk on Sunday nights, while Johnnie Walker has a Saturday-night show on Radio 2 called Pirate Johnnie Walker. Idle was born in South Shields, Tyne and Wear (then County Durham) and lived at 11 North Avenue in Harton Village. With the BBC’s habit of rationing popular music and light entertainment in the 1930s, Radio Luxembourg had made a very profitable niche for itself putting out exactly those types of programmes for 6-8 hours a night every night, interspersed with advertising and … One of the biggest hits was the Dubliners' "Seven Drunken Nights", which wouldn't have been a hit if Caroline North and South hadn't been playing it every hour every day for weeks. With no advertising revenue, slots on the playlist were sold, for about £100 a week. I told her that none of us smoked out there. It's not easy to get them. Walker is a consultant on the movie, and he has seen rushes, which has led him to conclude that those aboard The Boat That Rocked "definitely had a better time than we had - more drugs, more women...". Unlike at Stoke House, there were other boys there who appreciated pop music. O'Rahilly named his enterprise after Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the US president, who was six when he saw a photo of her in a magazine and considered her fresh and exciting - just the kind of image he was keen to promote. The choice on the radio was very limited: chart hits or middle of the road stuff. He anchored a ship in international waters off the Essex coast, where it escaped British legal jurisdiction, and hired DJs from British ballrooms and pop stations in the United States and Canada. As a listener you felt you were part of a secret club, under the bedclothes with your pop stars and your favourite jocks. What is the answer to the follow question : Who formed the 'Under the Bedclothes Club' on Radio Luxembourg? And remember, Radio Luxembourg being a commercial station, we will have to include some of those nostalgic radio advertisements, and teach everyone how to spell K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M, remembering that we listened to 208 on a transistor radio under the bedclothes… It's the first pirate station to broadcast solely in English. May also exist other answers and more update, the answer indicated above is indicative not be used for medical and legal or special purposes. Much used by my wife for listening to Radio Luxembourg under the bedclothes. September 1964 Keith Skues joins Radio Caroline. And three days after that, sackfuls of mail with Typhoo and Tetley in it.". The following texts are the property of their respective authors and we thank them for giving us the opportunity to share for free to students, teachers and users of the Web their texts will used only for illustrative educational and scientific purposes only. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use). "While you were broadcasting it was this really vibrant exciting place but if ever it went off air you realised you were just on this rusting hulk in the middle of the sea and you wanted to get off. Here, the original pirate DJs revisit their vivid lives of sex, drugs... and music, Staff of ship-based pirate radio station Radio London arrive at Felixstowe after the station's closure, 14th August 1967. "But everyone knew what would happen if the government legitimised an onshore radio station - it's what we got when Radio 1 started, a terrible station to begin with. I used to live with her in Kilburn on my week off, and one day she said, 'Johnnie, do you need some spliffs for the ship?' But I was pleased, because the station was quite patently crap compared to its heyday.". The Musicians' Union claimed that the ships were not only failing to "keep music live" but didn't even pay for the records they played. Radio Luxembourg played records and carried advertisements, but only after dark. ", On Caroline North, another popular DJ was seeing similar compromises. In the caption for the picture attached to this article we said the ship in question came ashore on the 15th August. The breakfast show is broadcast from Los Angeles, and last week featured an interview with Bill Nighy about his role in The Boat That Rocked (he said he used to be a fan of Caroline as a teenager, lapping up anything by the Rolling Stones). Walker tells a story that may have become amplified with repeated airings. At 21, he is the youngest DJ on British radio. I was amazed I could hear voices and music. Radio Caroline began out of self-interest - its founder was a chancing young Irish pop manager called Ronan O'Rahilly, frustrated by the lack of outlets for his new talents, but he soon realised what could be unleashed. He says that before the ban he was never told what to play ("The only memos from the office in London would be: 'There's a journalist coming out to the ship - don't be hanging out in your pyjamas.'"). "But this was before the bill came in. This is the ‘Shakin’ All Over’ list. July 1964 Tony Blackburn joins Radio Caroline. It is 40 years since he joined Radio 1, a decade since graduating to Radio 2, but his spliff stories are newly in demand. "I don't think that creating something that has provided harmless free enjoyment for millions of people for four decades could really be described as a waste. The record programmes, brought to you by each label in turn or by various shampoo and chocolate manufacturers, were very different from the American-style output of the “pirates” but still very cool. At night time, I would snuggle under the bedclothes to listen to Radio Luxembourg. Listened to for many a happy hour every night in the 60's. "So when it burst, it really burst, and it did scare the government. Idle is a former member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles, and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical Spamalot (based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail).. Complete with its original box, case and earphone. '", Walker got high with his friends and suddenly found himself popular. Idle stated that the two things that made his life bearable were listening to Radio Luxembourg under the bedclothes and watching the local football team, Wolverhampton Wanderers. So she rolled me up three joints, and I took them back to the ship. Radio Luxembourg played records and carried advertisements, but only after dark. Unsurprisingly, Whitehall did not see this as innocent pleasure. If you are the author of the text above and you not agree to share your knowledge for teaching, research, scholarship (for fair use as indicated in the United States copyrigh low) please send us an e-mail and we will remove your text quickly. He bought the record on to the station. "Unbeknown to me, Don has organised this big party at his house, and he's got radios in every room, and is telling people that 'my record is going to be on Radio Caroline'. ", Fellow DJ Tom Lodge once took his long-term partner on board, and she used to waft around the ship in a see-through negligee. Few people had a … The Boat That Rocked opens in the UK on 3 April. July 1949 The Wireless Telegraphy Act bans radio stations not sanctioned by the government or the BBC. But that's another story. Benn railed against the unlicensed use of wavelengths that might interfere with emergency signals and confuse ships at sea. It was better than Radio Luxembourg, which only played records in part, and whose DJs seemed emasculated. No wonder teenagers screamed at their idols at concerts: it was an orgiastic release, true unbound freedom even as they were being levered back into their seats. I don't think the little earphone is working. Subject: RE: Radio Luxembourg 208 From: Newport Boy Date: 26 Jun 12 - 05:51 AM My main recollection of Radio Luxembourg is on summer evenings in 1954/5, sitting under the trees on the (ex)golfcourse. Noel Edmonds continues the story of the original pop music station in the UK - Radio Luxembourg. ', "A quarter to eleven, still no record. Like a prizefighter who can't hear the bell, Radio Caroline is still going. The DJs worked two weeks on, one week off. BBC Radio 1 Listen to BBC Radio 1, home of the Official Chart, the Live Lounge and the world's greatest DJs including Nick Grimshaw, Scott Mills, Fearne Cotton, Greg … was too posh in those days to play such rubbish. "£25 a week, plus your on-shore leave paid for." He banned supplies to the ships from British ports, and his support strengthened in 1966 when a takeover dispute between the unlicensed stations Radio Atlanta and Radio City resulted in the fatal shooting of Radio City's owner. It provides for the legal, unlicensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author's work under a four-factor balancing test. We described how the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act forced "all stations" to close in August 1967. Then a myriad of groups sprang up, like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Animals, Spencer Davis Group who were predominately covering the songs of Black America – apart from the rock & roll we had been hearing for a few years, there was rhythm & blues, soul, Motown, jazz, blues. Radio Luxembourg 208 - Your Station of the Stars Noel Edmonds tells the story of Luxy, the original pop music station in the UK. 'My girlfriend in London was an Irish girl called DeeDee. In his new film The Boat That Rocked, Richard Curtis replays those heady days when music, fashion and youth were redefining British culture. Aboard Radio London, Kenny Everett developed his alter-egos and parodied Tony Benn; John Peel's The Perfumed Garden planted the seeds of bearded progressive rock. In a tame twist, the pirate spirit lives on at the BBC. Instead of 24-hour satellite television, there was the anarchic free-for-all of Saturday morning pictures and the Under The Bedclothes Club on Radio Luxembourg. I used to hide under the bedclothes and find John Peel's show. "She said, 'You've got to be kidding. In December 1965 he moves to Radio Luxembourg. Within 18 months, the Beatles, the Stones and the Who had thrown off not only post-war austerity and authority but also any notion that young people would ever be governable again. Former presenters Howard Pearce, Pete Murray, 94, David Jensen, 69, Timmy Mallett, 64, Mike Read, 72, Tony Prince, 75, Mark Wesley, 71, and Peter Anthony, 63, joined Luxembourg’s … O'Rahilly had discovered something intriguing: unlicensed ships in Europe with pirate transmitters playing music of their choosing to a tiny audience in the Netherlands and Scandinavia. No one had a more moralising grip on entertainment than the BBC, which rationed pop to a few hours a week on the Light Programme. In working order. Photograph: Terry Disney/Getty Images. Johnnie Walker begins his career here before moving to Radio Caroline. "Some of these Dutch sailors [who fished and cooked as the music played] would be on board the boat for three months at a time, so they were pretty horny, and it caused a lot of trouble; women were banned from then on.". He bought a transistor Many years ago, I used to listen to Radio Luxembourg under the bedclothes. ... find was this tiny little radio. Yesterday a blue plaque was unveiled at the station’s original London headquarters in Mayfair to celebrate almost 60 years of broadcasting to the British public. Who formed the 'Under the Bedclothes Club' on Radio Luxembourg? ', "So we're getting to half-ten, and where's your record, Don? If you may have a book or got some articles from the press, please let me know. But they went off-air mid-evening each day to make space for the granddaddy of popular music services: Radio Luxembourg. 'That's no good, let's try it at 33.' But it was goaded into action by the Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe and the postmaster-general, Anthony Wedgwood (Tony) Benn, and soon familiar battle lines were drawn: the suits versus the hairies. It was better than Radio Luxembourg, which only played records in part, and whose DJs seemed emasculated. Ten to eleven. I wonder if we can improve it by whipping it up to 78?' He said, 'What were you - a miner? If there's one radio station that has won a warm spot in the collective memory of European radio listeners, it's no doubt Radio Luxembourg. Those who joined Jimmy Saville's Under The Bedclothes club on Radio Luxembourg or tuned in to pirate stations such as Radio Caroline listened in spite of … In fact, Brian has been a long time resident broadcaster on Saturdays over the years on the BBC. A classic MW/LW transistor radio from the 1960s. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL. He left the Marquee Club in 1970 to take a job in the offices of Radio Luxembourg. “I grew up listening to Radio Luxembourg, having the transistor to my ear under the bedclothes.” His story takes place in 1984, “the last retro-futuristic year”, as he puts it. It did not die in the late 60s, and it has survived sinkings, seizures, numerous wavelength changes and parodies (Smashie and Nicey set their pirate years on Radio Geraldine). "We were infested with these awful records that had no right to be on the radio - pay for play," Tony "The Royal Ruler" Prince told me in the London office of his latest project, Wedding TV. Answer to the follow question : Who formed the 'Under the Bedclothes Club' on Radio Luxembourg? We knew the BBC were recording all our output from Caversham, and they were hoping we would get political and start having a go at Harold Wilson, but we never did. He threatened he'd break my legs. Walker now had to return to Caroline not from Harwich but via Dutch waters. There was a big farewell party in a ballroom with Procol Harum and many eager girls, but he always planned to return to the ship and defy the law. Initial output was dignified, with shows aimed at housewives and children home from school; they did play the Beatles, but also the Searchers and Ken Dodd. "I said to him, 'You made me unemployed, Mr Wilson.' By the 1960s, Radio Luxembourg, Your Station of the Stars, had embraced popular music in a way that even early BBC Radio 1 would never manage. When Radio Caroline began in March 1964, the world of British pop was a contradictory place.