Those of our viewers who heard
Frank Ifield being interviewed on Stewpot's BBC Radio Two show of Sunday 14th
May 2000, will not be aware that the Radio London website was instrumental in
linking Stewpot to Frank.
John Preston (from the Australian branch of the Big L family) alerted us to
the fact that he had seen a TV news item concerning the unfortunate predicament
of Graham 'Spider' Webb. I immediately thought that many of Graham's old colleagues
might like to send him messages of support, but as far as we were aware, Spider
was not on the worldwide web. However, our friend Pauline Halford is Frank Ifield's
biographer and Frank is an old pal of Graham's. We figured that if people e-mailed
me, I could forward their messages to Pauline and she could fax them to Frank,
who would pass them on to Graham! Somewhat convoluted, but it would be nice
for Graham to know that friends were thinking of him. I sent a generic e-mail
to all ex-offshore personnel who might have known Graham, and explained that
messages would be forwarded to him via Frank Ifield. Fortunately, in the meantime,
intrepid detective John Preston tracked Spider down, and discovered that he
was on the web after all. Some of the good wishes that I was able to forward
are included on Graham's own Radio London Webb
Page.
One of the recipients of my generic message was Ed Stewpot. Soon afterwards,
I received an e-mail from Stewpot's broadcast assistant, Lynne Holden, asking
if I could help her get in touch with Frank, as Ed wanted to chat to him on
the programme. I e-mailed Pauline, she faxed Frank, and eventually, an interview
was arranged.