MARY AND CHRIS'S REVIEW OF 2007

WOW what a year! The site celebrated its eighth birthday, but there were so many 40th anniversaries that we could hardly keep up with all the commemorations! Here is a run-down of the major events of 2007, with links to Radio London's coverage of them.

The end of the Knees Club's 40th Anniversary year was marked by a feature about the Club Song 'Knees' by Kenny and Cash and its lyricist, David Cummings.

Wijnand Brak very kindly sent us a parcel of memorabilia that he had managed to rescue many years earlier from the mv Galaxy.

The Fab Forties have been regularly updated with new information throughout the year. A major addition was the anniversary of Radio London obtaining its famous exclusive preview of the Sgt Pepper album and a supplement of singles released in the UK in July 1967.

A major site addition was a huge collection of newspaper clippings about the events leading up to August 14th 1967 and the aftermath.

August 4th saw the Radio Academy of the UK, host its successful Celebration of Offshore Radio in London. We have twelve pages of photos to enjoy, but the one on the left of Graham Webb flying the flag for Australia, is our favourite. In fact we think it's the Photo of the Year!

Between August 9th and 14th the world was treated to another Pirate BBC Essex, broadcasting from the restored lightship LV18 in Harwich harbour. Many ex-offshore personnel participated and we are pleased to offer seven pages of photos. August 14th was of course a sad date, marking the close-down of Big L and most of the other offshore stations, but the Radio London webmasters were cheered considerably to be awarded Website of the Day by Miles Mendoza of Radio 2's Steve Wright in the Afternoon.

In September, the bell from the USS Density (later mv Galaxy) was presented to the Museum of the Pacific War in Texas by the ship's surviving WWII crew-members.

On November 8th, the 29th Radio Day was held in Amsterdam. It incorporated a Radio England reunion, a post Marine-Offences panel and the inaugural 'Radi' Awards. Two pages of photos here (look for links at the top of the page).

Both Wycombe Radio and Radio West Middlesex, two of the the four hospital radio stations that Chris founded with friends, celebrated 40 years on air. Radio West Mid held a dinner in October and had an RSL broadcast in November. (See 'Happenings' for October/November/December 07)

Radio London took over the Caroline Charts from Jempi Laevaert of the Stonewashed Collection. Jempi could no longer continue with the project, but naturally wished the project on which he had worked so hard to continue to have a home on the internet. Because it has been such an incredibly busy year, it has so far not been possible for us to update them.

Oldies Project has received so many requests to repeat its incredibly popular broadcasts of the Big L Fab Forties that they will recommence in January, starting with late January 1965.

Wishing you all the best for the festive season and a great 2008 and if you are new to the site, don't forget to enjoy our collection of Offshore Christmas Annuals.

Thank you for visiting our site – we appreciate all your nice comments.

Mary and Chris Payne



All photos are copyright Mary Payne at Radio London

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