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The Pirate Radio Hall
Of Fame needs your |
Tony Allan was born in London on 22nd September 1949 and educated
at Sloane Street School. He was keen to work in offshore radio but was consistently told he was too young. Finally Radio
Scotland relented and Tony joined the crew on the Comet. He referred to himself as “your mighty mouse on the
wireless” and his theme tune was Flamingo by Herb Alpert. When Radio Scotland closed down in August 1967 he
worked as a continuity announcer for a number of television stations, including Granada and Grampian. Tony returned to
sea with Radio Northsea International in February 1971. He also spent a great deal of time with Radio Caroline during
the seventies and was an early presenter on Israel's first offshore station The Voice of Peace. (See
The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame ‘Seventies
Supplement’.) In 1975 he joined Edinburgh's Radio Forth to present an afternoon show but soon returned
to Caroline. In 1979 he moved to Ireland where he stayed for many years working on a number of stations there, mainly as
a commercial producer and voice-over. He returned to the UK when diagnosed as suffering from throat cancer and
lived in London while undergoing a debilitating and painful treatment. Despite being weak and frequently in pain, he
continued to live life as much to the full as possible, and without complaint. On 19th August 2001 he made a public
appearance on Radio Caroline's ship, the Ross Revenge, followed by a visit to a nearby hostelry and a programme
on the satellite service from the Maidstone studio. There are some excellent photos of the occasion, taken by Steve
Szmidt, on Martin van der Ven's Radio
Caroline web-site. In March 2004 Tony attended Caroline's 40th birthday party. There is a picture
here. Tony managed to fight the cancer for longer than many of the specialists had predicted
but sadly and inevitably he could not fight it forever. He died on the morning of 9th July 2004. There is a page devoted
to the life and career of this highly talented broadcaster here. (Photo courtesy of
the Radio Scotland page of The Ultimate
Cockup and Virtual Boredom Site.)
Tony Allan getting confused about what month it is on the Swing Across Midday show
on Radio Scotland from July 1967. The recording is courtesy of James Hutchinson and the
Offshore Multimedia
CD-ROM (duration 1 minute 59 seconds)
Tony Allan on Destination Midnight from Radio Scotland, 10th July 1967. Tony gave a tape of this studio recording
to Raoul Verolleman who was visiting the ship at the time of the programme (and appears on the show). A copy of
the tape was kindly forwarded to The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame by Manfred Steinkrauss.
Our thanks to both Raoul and Manfred (duration 4 minutes 13 seconds)
Tony Allan's last few words on Radio Scotland, 14th August 1967. The recording is from
Martin Lynch's collection and has been kindly donated by Lynne Sims (duration 42
seconds)
Ted Allbeury Born in Manchester on 24th October 1917,
brought up in Birmingham, Ted was a draughtsman before joining the army. During the war he served in intelligence,
later working in the advertising industry before buying a Kent farm. In 1965 a mutual acquaintance introduced
him to a man called David Lye. Lye had invested in a small offshore station called King Radio which was losing
money. He wanted advice from someone who knew about the advertising business. Ted suggested that the station needed
a more coherent programming policy and a considerably better signal. He became fascinated by the project and
wanted to get involved. A new company was set up with Ted as managing director. Most of the big offshore operations
were pop-based. His plan was to launch a middle-of-the-road station, aimed at the housewife market.
Funds were raised, a more powerful transmitter was bought and new studios were built. Originally Ted wanted to call
the new station Radio Eve but a last minute change of plan saw it launch as Radio 390. It was an immediate success.
As well as running 390, Ted also found time to present a weekly programme and, as a broadcaster, is therefore eligible
for inclusion in The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame. Named after the war-time fort
on which the station was based, he hosted Red Sands Rendezvous every Sunday night. In February 1967 Ted left
Radio 390 after a disagreement with his fellow directors. He took over the ailing Britain Radio which he relaunched as
Radio 355. He did not present regular programmes on this new station but did make one last appearance during its final
closedown show. Following his offshore days Ted found great success as a novelist, writing under his own name and as
both Richard Butler and Patrick Kelly. He published more than forty titles, many available from Amazon. He died on 4th
December 2005 aged 88. There are obituaries on The Times and Guardian web sites, and an interview on the Offshore Echos site.
Ted Allbeury discussing the Postmaster General's attitude towards offshore radio and the recent issue of a summons against
Radio 390 on an edition of Red Sands Rendezvous. This clip is probably from around September 1966 and has been
kindly provided by Nigel Fell (duration 4 minutes 9 seconds)
Ted Allbeury on an edition of Red Sands Rendezvous from early 1967. Many thanks to
Nick Widdows for the recording (duration 2 minutes 25 seconds)
Don Allen Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, on 8th March 1939,
Don attended broadcasting school in Chicago and his first radio job was in north Manitoba. He worked throughout
Canada, the USA and Mexico before coming to Britain to meet his English wife's family. He became interested
in the offshore stations and was quickly snapped up by Caroline, where he started on the South ship. Sea-sickness
intervened and he transferred to a shore-based job in Caroline House. The following year there were some
vacancies on the North ship and Don was asked to help out temporarily. He found the larger ship much more stable
and comfortable and ended up staying until the station close-down in March 1968. As well as hosting his own
Big Wide Wonderful World of Daffy Don Allen, he also took over the Country and Western Jamboree when
Jim Murphy left. He used a number of different theme tunes, including Trumpet
Tramoure by Stan Reynolds, Romance on the North Sea by Alan Haven, Quite A Party by The Fireballs
and, for the country show, Runaway Bunion by Phil Coulter. Svenn Martinsen writes from Norway to say that
Don also used Homer and The Barnstormers' version of Cumberland Gap for that popular weekly programme.
Don was Senior DJ up until Caroline's closure when he joined Manx Radio. He was also heard on BBC Radio Merseyside.
During the seventies he returned to sea with Radio Northsea International as senior DJ / Programme Director.
(See The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame ‘Seventies
Supplement’.) During the eighties he moved to Ireland and was on a number of stations there, his last
being Radio 3 Tullamore. He died on 13th.May 1995 following a heart attack. There are some mementoes from throughout
Don's career on Svenn Martinsen's Northern
Star International site. Don took a lot of photos during his time on Caroline and many of them have been kindly
donated to The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame by Norah Barnes
and Kenny Tosh. For more photos and recordings, check out Spotlight On
“Daffy” Don Allen. (Thanks to Steve Kirby and Kenny Tosh for providing some of the above information.)
Don Allen on Radio Caroline North's Big Line Up from November 1965, soon
after he joined the station. The tape has been kindly provided by
Ray Andrews (duration 2 minutes 13 seconds)
Don Allen closing down Radio Caroline North International for the night, near the end of
his time with the station. Thanks to Steve Kirby for this recording (duration 1
minute)
Mike Allen No relation to the Mike Allen who has been heard on
Capital Radio, LBC and Talk Radio, this Mike Allen was born Alan Zeffertt on 15th May 1931 in Portsmouth. He was a
songwriter and record producer for Merit Music. Together with his writing partner Tony Day they composed songs for a
number of artistes, ranging from “Screaming” Lord Sutch (a song called
Dracula's Daughter) to Cleo Laine (Stablemates). Merit Music was run by Allan Crawford
who was also Managing Director of Radio Atlanta and both the songwriters joined his station as DJs. Alan Zeffert took the
name “Mike Allen” and Tony Day became “Eddie Anthony.” They joined Radio Atlanta at the end of June
1964, just before it changed its name to Radio Caroline South, but stayed on with the new station. Mike presented a
specialist jazz programme, Downbeat, as well as his normal daily shows. He was one of the Caroline “Good
Guys” during 1965 (see the entry on Roger Gale for more details). He left
the ship in October 1965 but continued to be heard for a time on pre-recorded interviews and shows like Star
Choice which were taped on land. Mike later presented a series for the BBC Light Programme called Triple Crown.
He also carried on composing and in 1971 a song he co-wrote with another Caroline colleague,
Bob Walton, was released by a band called Mandarin Kraze. Since then he has run a rare
record business and now lives in Portsmouth, where he works as a freelance writer and broadcaster. There are more
pictures of Mike in Robbie Dale's and Paul Noble's photo
albums.
Mike Allen and Tony Blackburn co-hosting The Caroline Club Request Show on
Sunday 25th October 1964. The first voice is Tony's. Recording kindly provided by Rick Rickard (duration 2
minutes 28 seconds)Rob Allen Real name Alan Roberts, he was born on 19th July 1946 in Maidenhead, Berkshire. In the summer of 1966 Alan was working as DJ at a dance hall in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, when he heard of a job going on the Britain Radio / Radio England operation, covering for a presenter on leave. He went for it and got it. Like many others, he was expected to use a name from an existing American jingle package. He remembers: “I actually used the name Rob Allen (on Radio England). It was ironic that the name was so near my own.... For the odd couple of programmes I also managed for sister station, Britain Radio, I got to use my own name.” Like another DJ who joined the station later he also presented shows as Boom Boom Brannigan. Rob did not enjoy his time on the station: “I found a lot of the US crew quite hostile which was quite intimidating for a very young bloke (I was about 19)”. He did not stay long, just a couple of weeks, but this was not the end of his radio career. While working in Scandinavia he became a producer with Denmark Radio, later broadcasting from another ship, the Voice of Peace, off the coast of Israel. Since then he has been heard on BBC Radio Oxford, GWR, Swansea Sound, Severn Sound, the World Service and produced programmes for the World Service and Radio Two. He now freelances as a presenter and voice over. For more details, see Alan's page at ukscreen.com. (With thanks to Alan for his help.)
Vince “Rusty” Allen was born in 1937. He had served in
the forces as a paratrooper, run a cinema and managed a band before joining Radio Essex at its start in 1965. The
smallest of all the offshore stations, Radio Essex was based on the Knock John anti-aircraft fort in the Thames
estuary. In April 1967 Vince moved north to become joint Programme Controller on Radio 270, broadcasting from off the
coast of Yorkshire. He ran one DJ shift while Ed Moreno looked after the other one.
Vince's theme tune was Duane Eddy's Deep In The Heart Of Texas. He presented the station's last
programme on 14th August 1967, the day Radio 270 was closed down by the introduction of the government's Marine
Offences Act. It is believed that he worked for Southend Council Amenities Department until the early eighties but his
present whereabouts are unknown. There are more pictures of Vince in Guy Hamilton's and
Roger Scott's photo albums.
Vince Allen describing Radio Essex in the early days of the station. Recording kindly donated by Nigel Fell
(duration 1 minute 51 seconds)
Vince Allen announcing that Radio 270 will be closing down in one months's time. Tape kindly provided by Thule
Thulesen who recorded it in Denmark, about 1000 kilometres from the ship, in July 1967 (duration 3 minutes 34
seconds)
a couple of extracts from Vince's last show on Radio 270, 14th August 1967. The “Mike, Mike and Paul” that
he refers to were the three DJs on shore-leave at the time - Mike Hayes,
Mike Barron and Paul Kramer. They had hoped to go back out to
the ship for the last day but were prevented by bad weather. Tape courtesy of Ray Andrews
(duration 2 minutes 16 seconds)
Andy Archer is the only DJ to have worked offshore in the sixties,
seventies and eighties. Born on 22nd.January 1946 in Terrington St.Clement, Norfolk, he worked briefly on Radio City as
“Terrible” Terry Dawson before signing up with the RAF. In late October 1967, having
left the forces, he joined Caroline South, quickly establishing himself in the 9-noon slot. His theme tune was Herb
Alpert's Flamingo. After Caroline's 1968 closure he worked in clubs but during the seventies was heard
again on Radio Northsea International and the returning Caroline. (See The Pirate Radio Hall
Of Fame ‘Seventies Supplement’.) Andy has been credited with
inventing the term “anorak” to describe an enthusiastic, if slightly obsessive, fan. It dates from May 1974
when three boat loads of listeners went out on an excursion to visit the three radio ships then anchored off the Dutch
coast. On Radio Caroline it was decided that they would mark the occasion by presenting a programme not from inside the
studio as normal but from out on the deck to give the fans something to see. It was a chilly day and the visitors had
sensibly wrapped up warm against the elements. The listeners heard Andy say that he was delighted that “so many
anoraks” had come out to see the ship. From this one, off-the-cuff, remark, thousands of enthusiasts
across Europe came to be known as anoraks and a new example of modern English usage was born. In 1974 Andy joined
Tyne-Tees Television as a continuity announcer, later moving to Radio Orwell in Ipswich. In September 1975 he was
one of the first people to be prosecuted under the Marine Offences Act and was fined for having worked on Caroline.
As well as Orwell, he was heard on Devonair in Exeter, Dublin's Radio Nova and Leicester's Centre Radio.
When Radio Caroline launched its new ship in 1983 Andy was there but, again, was caught coming ashore and fined. Since
his offshore days he has worked on a number of stations including Invicta, Mellow 1557, CNFM, North Norfolk Radio and
BBC Radio Norfolk. Andy has recently published his online diary of 1974, telling the fascinating story of Radio
Caroline's return to the air from off the Dutch coast. You can find it at www.adroberts.net/andy/andyspages.htm. (The site contains video and audio, as well as
numerous photographs. A broadband connection is recommended to appreciate it fully.) Now retired, he is also
writing his memoirs. These are being published in instalments by offshore historian Hans Knot (see
www.hansknot.com). There is a photo of Andy on board
Radio Caroline South here.
Andy Archer sitting in for Robbie Dale on Radio Caroline South on the 9-noon show, 17th
December 1967. The tape has been kindly provided by Ray Andrews (duration 1 minute
53 seconds)
Andy Archer playing a record by his Caroline colleague Stevi Merike and chatting to him
about it. The recording is thought to be from early 1968 and is courtesy of Lars Holm (duration 2 minutes 43
seconds)
Simon Ashley Real name Barry Hoy, he was one of the first offshore
broadcasters and, tragically, also the first to lose his life. He worked on Radio Invicta the low-powered sweet music
station which began operating from Red Sands Fort in July 1964. Simon presented a show called Pot Luck a request
show with a difference: the listeners did not know what they were requesting! To disguise the fact that Invicta
only had a small record library, Programme Controller Ed Moreno came up with the idea of
asking the listeners to write in with their lucky numbers instead of asking for particular songs. In that way Simon could
play anything he liked from the library and claim it matched their chosen number. On 7th November 1964 Radio Invicta
broadcast an SOS requesting medical assistance. A doctor was rushed out to the fort to see Simon who was suffering from
suspected appendicitis. He was brought ashore and taken to hospital for treatment, later returning to the station. On
17th December station owner Tom Pepper turned up in his boat, The David, to take Simon and engineer
Martin Shaw off for a week's leave. On the journey back to land the tender hit a
sudden storm. It began to take in water; the pump failed, Pepper tied himself to a life-raft but froze in the
icy sea. His two passengers were both lost overboard. Martin Shaw was 18, Simon Ashley was 21. It was sometimes easy for
the listeners to forget that behind the fun of their favourite programmes, the offshore broadcasters were taking risks
every day. There were not many accidents, fortunately, but the loss of Tom Pepper and his two young associates was a
clear reminder of the ever-present dangers.
Simon Ashley on the Afternoon Spin programme from Radio Invicta in 1964. Simon's joke at the end of this
clip has a special poignancy considering how he was to lose his life. Recording kindly provided by Geoff Gilham
(duration 2 minutes 57 seconds)
John Aston was born in March 1943 in Maidenhead, Berkshire, and
worked on a number of pirates under a variety of guises. He was first heard in 1965 on the low-powered sweet music
station King Radio where he called himself John Stewart. He stayed on as this station was
replaced by the much more powerful and successful Radio 390 but he had to change his name when he applied to join Equity,
the actors' union. They already had a John Stewart on their books so he became known as Chris
Stewart. In November 1965 he replaced Vince Allen as Programme Controller on Radio Essex,
moving to Caroline North as a newsreader in May the following year. This prompted a further name change because Caroline
already had a broadcaster called Bob Stewart and the two names were considered too similar.
John took the identity he was to stick with for the rest of his career: John Aston. After a time selling advertising
for Radio England and a stint on Caroline South he joined Radio 270, where he was known as “Action” John Aston.
In April 1967 he transferred to the short-lived but much loved middle-of-the-road station Radio 355.
John now works in the film industry, producing special effects. He can also be heard every Monday afternoon, 2 to 4pm, on
Blast 1386, Thames Valley University Reading Campus Radio.
There is a video of John broadcasting on Radio 355 here. For some recent photos of John, see
those taken at Caroline's 40th birthday party, Radio Essex's
fortieth anniversary boat trip and the Olga Patricia DJs 40th anniversary reunion, among others.
Bob Le Roi's site
includes a picture of John as ‘Chris Stewart’ in the Radio Essex studio. John has kindly donated some documents
he has saved from his days on Caroline. You can see them here. As well as the recordings below,
you can hear more of John on the page of Mark Hammerton's tapes and one of
memories of Radio 270.
John Aston reading the news on Radio Caroline South in studio quality. Many thanks to John
himself for supplying the recording (duration 1 minute 57 seconds)
John Aston on Radio 355 from August 1967. Tape kindly provided by Nick Widdows
(duration 2 minutes 11 seconds)
