Thirty years ago Channel Four presented a documentary recounting the events of  'The Profumo Affair'  and I quote "including contemporary interviews with protagonists Christine Keeler and Johnny Edgecombe, plus Lord Denning, along with archive interview clips of Mandy Rice-Davis, Stephen Ward and Lord Hailsham) and the protracted struggle to make it into first a TV mini-series and eventually a film (including interviews with script-writer Michael Thomas, TV executives Linda Agran and Brian Cowgill, plus film producers Stephen Wooley & Joe Boyd, and stars John Hurt, Ian McKellern and, briefly, Joanne Whalley and Bridget Fonda). Also various authors and journalists".

With The Trial Of Christine Keeler now appearing on BBC (I have not viewed it yet) I was prompted to do some digging and quickly found this old documentary. What really struck me is how little has changed in terms of how MI5, the civil service hierarchy, and ruling governments operate. The latter part of this documentary could be talking about events today. In fact when the story of how MI5 and MI6 were involved in spying on a U.S president prior too and after becoming elected (I have been waiting since 2017 for this to enter the British public domain, however my sources are legit and in the USA many already know the facts) the reality is that the state, the media and particularly the BBC are more controlled by the elite than ever before, and many intelligent personnel operate without the elected governments consent or knowing.

Don't believe me? Then watch this documentary and fast forward to 2019. Whats changed? What has got better (and don't say freedom of information act, as I tend to laugh so much I get hiccups). Even Radio Caroline's local community radio service is subject to the checks and balances of gray faceless individuals who are accountable to themselves and their civil service masters. Free radio? It has only happened on land and the raids continue month after month. But don't worry, you don't like their music and lets face it, on zero evidence you know they are all drug dealers. 

As you are likely to know, Radio Nord was a Swedish offshore commercial station that operated briefly from 8 March 1961 to 30 June 1962 from a ship anchored in international waters of the Baltic Sea off Stockholm, Sweden. Behind the station was Gordon McLendon who is credited by most broadcast historians with having established the first mobile news units in American radio, the first traffic reports, the first jingles, the first all-news radio station, and the first "easy-listening" programming.  He also helped develop Top Forty radio into a successful and popular business model. The McLendon family built a communications empire that included radio stations across the United States. In addition to KLIF, McLendon owned KNUS–FM in Dallas, KOST in Los Angeles, WYSL–AM and FM in Chicago, WWWW–FM in Detroit, WAKY in Louisville, KABL in Oakland, KABL–FM in San Francisco, KILT in Houston, KTSA in San Antonio, and KELP in El Paso. He owned television station KCND in Pembina, North Dakota, which broadcast into Canada.

So with all that was happening in the USA at that time why bother with Radio Nord?  McLendon's Radio Nord venture was funded by Clint Murchison Jr who was a businessman and founder of the Dallas Cowboys football team. A son of Clint Murchison Sr., who made his first fortune in oil exploration and became notorious for exploiting the sale of "hot oil", Clint and his surviving brother inherited their father's wealth and business interests to which Clint Jr. added ventures of his own.  Again he was busy with so many ventures why would Radio Nord with all the financial risks and legal unknowns be worth putting money into?

Two other US people involved were  Bob Thomson and Jim Foster. Jim was a schoolmate with financiers Gordon McLendon and Bob Thompson and was named "marine expert" in the company, though without any major expertise in the field. It was Jim who decided that German m / s Olga (later Bon Jour) would be used.  The focal person for Radio Nord was Swede Jack S Kotschack (1915-1988) who acted as radio manager. He was head of Radio Reklam Produktions AB, which had the task of producing radio programs as well as producing and selling advertising. The whole operation was professional however had so many personnel (seventy plus involved with Radio Nord) it's hard to see where any profit would come from. The station even ceased broadcast a month before the Swedish Governments legislation came into effect.

It has been suggested elsewhere that Radio Nord had a secondary target audience namely the Baltic States, Certainly from an anchorage off Stockholm the signal had a clear water path to Estonia and Latvia. Interestingly from that location the signal would also have a similar path across the Gulf of Finland all the way to St Petersburg in Russia. Sometimes the conspiracy theories are hiding in plain site.

The Beatles were once a little bit rock & roll, just consider their days living in Hamburg in the early 1960's. Not just the leather jackets & denim jeans along with a little bit of that Scouser attitude, no these guys were becoming rock & roll rebels, playing in all manner of dodgy venues, George was deported for lying about his age, Paul arrested for arson. And then there were the pills for this and that, yep you might say they were a tiny bit towards living life on the edge.

Fast forward a year or so and the world had become their suited & carefully crafted mop topped oyster. Rubbing shoulders with their new establishment friends, winning awards from the same folk, meeting the new Prime Minister (Harold) and be very well behaved, a little light banter, but not a whiff of rock and roll.

With Harold now in Number Ten, the new offshore rebel pirates had to come up with a Plan B as the power shift would see The Pilkington Report gain further traction (The Report recommended that the BBC should extend its activities to the creation of local radio stations in order to prevent the introduction of commercial radio). Perhaps Radio Caroline should become a little less rock and roll and a little more establishment sounding? However there was a problem! Radio Caroline wasn't really rock & roll to start with, more a template for how commercial radio might sound if it was adopted in the UK. Listening to recordings from those first few months of broadcasting and the whole thing sounded rather sanitised, more like the Light Programme without needle time restrictions than the radio boom taking place in Australia and the USA.

1964 was an eventful old year, but not really one for rock & roll mavericks, just different parts of the same establishment ensuring normal service would resume as soon as possible. Go on then rip this to pieces if you should choose....

The saga of Madeleine McCann continues right up until now and on into the future (poor child). The point of this piece is to do a few things. Firstly do you remember back in the day when both BBC and ITV did investigative journalism? Not always brilliant and sometimes flawed by individual opinion, it was nonetheless something that often trod on feet(s) pulled some punches and raised as many questions as they answered. Point one is that really is now in the past, these days unless your debating the rights of Trangender people, applauding celebrities or relishing in their downfall, maybe doing a light as a feather interview or whatever mainstream media has lost both it's teeth and it moral compass. 

Someone mocked in a comment here not to long ago that an interview was good enough for youtube but not TV as if that really matters anymore. In a sense and by looking at the amount of censorship being applied by Youtube to non 'woke' material, my second point is that the MSM is now individual journalism on line, every bit as much as it is, the likes of CNN and BBC News 24 & their biased unprincipled bilge that pretends to inform but rather dumbs down and brainwashes so many.

My third point is that if you can take your blinkers off and do a little of your own investigation there are plenty of people challenging the status quo of perceived journalistic norms, and doing a whole lot better on budgets that are a fraction of the ever bloated BBC. So back to the McCanns as they make a good example of just how many have been spoon fed a narrative that not only beggers belief but demonstrates just how in bed the BBC are, with the Government, Police and anyone who can take their license fee away. Finally I acknowledge there is also plenty of conspiracy garbage online and some well meaning people who just copy and paste other's misinformation (sound familiar?). However a couple of individuals who have earned my respect in recent times are Shaun Attwood whose interviews are so informative. Secondly we have his interviewee Sonia Poulton and two of her videos referenced in the interview.

This tells a very different story from the MSM and as I say in the title also raises so many unanswered questions, especially from Mr & Mrs McCann.

As I watched this documentary made in 1991, I did a couple of things. First I followed & noted the timeline of events particularly for the late 1950's through to the early 1960's. Secondly I looked at Joe Meek's interaction with the big record labels and the events that unfolded in that respect. It's clear he was both creative and had a determination to get his own way, he was the forerunner of the indie music scene and also has a musical legacy that is well remembered getting on for sixty years later. It's also clear he was perhaps not the best with handling money and running a business, led perhaps more by emotion than sound business logic. Although Joe Meek using Radio Luxembourg for his Triumph record label is not mentioned in this documentary it is clearly documented elsewhere and falls into the time line logically.

It raised a few questions though and some of these events run parallel with the story Ronan O'Rahilly has told regarding his own supposed experience's with the music industry at that time. First of all as The Radio Caroline Bible alleges that Ronan was a part player in the management of Georgie Fame who had a professional backer, so what was O'Rahilly doing in the first place going to Radio Luxembourg trying to get an acetate played? O'Rahilly has an Acetate to share, so what was that, a demo (hardly what you would want played on the radio) or a studio recording in which case that would have been expensive (see the Meek documentary) and which recording studio did he use? More importantly if Georgie Fame did not have a record label contract, what an earth was O'Rahilly doing trying to get him airtime?

It was the long established norm in the early sixties that promoters wanted a recording contract through which you recorded a product to then market using the music press, live appearances, and of course your own labels output on Radio Luxembourg if it suited that format. Finally don't forget Georgie Fame was actually signed with a label in 1963. Joe Meek's documentary gives valuable incite into that era and regardless of the man himself, how the music business functioned, something any aspiring promoter would have clearly understood. Georgie Fame was clearly talented and popular in the London club scene way before O'Rahilly arrived, his music was suited to that era, he was a natural for getting a recording contract, which he did and went on to significant success, something an acetate and no record to sell would surely only held him back.

OK so lets lighten the mood just a tiny amount, whilst the various pirate & free radio forums appear to have either nodded off again or been censored into submission. I knew the CIA had used acid for  a couple of decades in various mind control experiments (for experiment read abuse of vulnerable helpless people), however these British soldiers made the whole thing something else, eat your heart out Timothy Leary our Marines were turned on, tuned in and dropping out, back in 1964 & way ahead of your hippy happenings. 

Next up we have Simon Dee again in 1964 (I know some anoraks will be familiar with this video) contemplating a rather straight interviewer & smiling as he pretends he doesn't know how much he is being paid, mind you if Ronan's later antics are anything to go by, perhaps he was put in charge of the payroll right from the start! (One for you - ten for me)...

Next we have Screaming Lord Sutch performing Jack The Ripper (again in 1964) now this man and his band could have been so much bigger (perhaps he was ironically retro & yet ahead of his time). I saw him live at Flashback 77 where the drum kit ended up on fire whilst the band played on, much more fun than Ronan & his hangers on strutting around with self importance.

Finally we have some audio of Caroline from 1964 (what a coincidence) however for those searching for detail & improved anorak credentials, note Simon Dee giving out their mailing address, it ain't Chesterfield Gardens, or Caroline House.  

For those wanting to watch the video live, then please look away now (do you remember BBC doing that with football scores on a Saturday afternoon?) any how for the rest of you, send your requests to Radio Caroline, 54-62, Regent Street, London, W1.

Turns out it's no better in Australia when it comes to facts versus fiction. Still before that lets catch up with today's local fake news.

Starting with our Anorak Reporter Frederick Rant who informs us that...  You will discover for yourself that it was Jim who started digging at Paul's involvement with IoMIB. I AM NOT Admin or Moderator - i took exception to one individual using 'Weebly' forum to post many FALSE comments about Radio Caroline I have NEVER published because the same person has Venomous hatred & outright jealousy of Peter Moore having community radio licence on 648kHz following substantial application in October 2016.

We ran this through our stupidity checker and it scored a perfect ten, but sadly our spontaneous rant monitor is beyond repair (and for new visitors here Peter Moore does not exist - it's a fake name).

Next up with have the three week attendee of the 'how not to do radio academy' the pro himself who tells us.... For the avoidance of doubt, I did not place the locked post at the top of here. I should think the Admins did so after they too simply had enough of me being an Aunt Sally for the bully boys? The pitching of unrelated questions about my earnings while casting insolent aspersions about my qualifications and experience (and then expecting an answer) is outrageous behaviour.

The text in the forum's top post is something I think I wrote, but clearly it was many weeks ago. I'm grateful for all publicity for the book, and publicly thank the Admins for putting that up. I'll continue to answer reasonable questions, but won't be intimidated by jeers and heckling from anyone who seems to be too ashamed to identify themselves. Save your keystrokes & bandwidth; the garbage strewn about the threads is a bit like flytipping - a scourge.

We have used Google Translate applying the selective memory filter, and the monumental ego reduction resistance mode to modify this news item as follows --- For the avoidance of ridicule, I did not place the locked post at the top of Mount Everest. I should think the Censors did so after they too simply had enough of me being a target by the truth seekers. The pitching of unrelated questions about my knowledge and sources while casting insolent aspersions about my lack of spelling qualifications and in-experience (and then expecting honesty) is normal behaviour.

The text in the forum's top post is something I think I wrote, but clearly it was many weeks ago. (thankfully my recall from three weeks at sea in 1973 in practically perfect) I'm grateful for all publicity and money for the book, and publicly thank the Admins for putting up with that up. I'll continue to answer chosen and ego boosting questions, but won't be intimidated by jeers and heckling from anyone who seems to be to want factual answers about the glaring errors. Save your keystrokes & bandwidth; the garbage strewn about the threads is a bit like fly fishing - a Trout.

Anyway lets take a trip down under and see if the Southern Hemisphere has escaped the Fiction Lovers, it appears not.

"Now & Then have been contacted by Brian Spoons and we are pleased to announce that he will be providing a book review for us in a few days time. Brian is an experienced literary critic, who majors in non fiction analysis and has a reputation for his no nonsense and sometimes quite bruising commentary.

For those unfamiliar with Brian, he was recently censored on the newly labelled 'even bigger joke board (EBJB)' where individuals posing as administrators seemingly delete anything they don't like or disagree with. Brian raised a rather obvious question to the author of a surprisingly expensive new book, questioning the logic of setting up a brand new radio station at sea (with all the extra costs such a venture must have, versus a land based operation), rather than just buying airtime as Joe Meek (owner of a small 1961 record label) had done on Radio Luxembourg. The author who is found plying his new book on the EBJB forum was absent in replying to this very legitimate question which after a few hours was censored without good cause or explanation.

It seems that individual contributors to the forum enjoy calling for censorship for example "I think Admin need to remove these irrelevant posts because some of us are making usefull cross-connections on thread topic, but others now just Deliberately making Your forum a Laughing stock!"

Others mock and get away with it, as Brian Spoons noticed with this being cruelly suggested about him " Steve Wrights BBC R1 character "Mr Spoons" jingle
"Talk about a man who make you delirious,
(missing line... not that serious?)
the man on the bus with a vacant stare,
Tap him on the forehead?
there's Nothing there!
Mister Spoons, Mister Spoons
Mister Spoons
(repeat to fade)

Clearly the EBJB forum has many double standards, it's owner openly washing his hands of any responsibility, we quote him earlier today stating "As we all know this place has a large team of admin! Who have my greatest respect both for their time, and dedication and as such I support their decisions at all times. We are all individual with varying tolerances hence why depending on who moderates at the time may take an action the next may not". Whilst Brian is giving consideration to any redress he may be due, I am pleased to reaffirm that Now & Then maintains a consistent approach to any comments left, resisting any censorship except where obscene language and identifiable hate speech are involved. We also have contact details on our About page for anyone to use & normally can respond within four working days.

Step aside lightweights here comes a real nutter. No bus pass required unless your an anorak, in which case your bus left in 1991. The replacement bus service is a fake, but your all old enough for a pass. Go square the circle. My thanks to Brian Spoons who asked the only reasonable question regarding the Caroline Blah blah bull, and was ignored by the author.  Joe Meek versus "lets pretend" and Joe wins by a landslide!