In 1966, most of us would have been oblivious of there being any controversy at all over the lyrics of this week's top single, but apparently there was, and Manfred Mann felt it necessary to leap to the song's defence and refute any rumours. Of course, it could all have been a publicity stunt...

36 19 Love Ya Illya Angela & the Fans PYE 7N 17108 Mint copies of Love Ya Illya change hands for around £20. (Click on the picture of the Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide for an Amazon link to more information) The song was actually composed and sung by Alma Cogan, who sadly passed away that same year, aged only 34. Alma had scored more hits in the Fifties than any other female vocalist and her last national chart entry under her own name was Cowboy Jimmy Joe, in 1961. (Right) "Put those guns down before you have someone's eye out!" Mr Waverly is not impressed by the glamour boys' weapon skills. The 'Illya' in question was, of course, Illya Kuryakin, the character from hit TV spy series, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. played by David McCallum. In 1966, golden-haired Illya and his raven-locked co-agent Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) had female knees a-trembling. Being besotted by the series, and particularly the charms of Illya, I wrote a spoof spy serial for our Knees Club magazine, Knees Monthly, called 'The Knee From A.N.K.L.E.', starring Napoleon Unaccompanied and Illya Kuryankle. Their boss, (in the series, Mr Waverley, played by Les Carroll) was called Mr Notelets. Anyone named Angela and indeed, all fans of avuncular secret agents should investigate Clint's 'Sixties City', where their favourite U.N.C.L.E.s have been given a section all to themselves. A much less successful spin-off series, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. co-starred Fab Forty artist Noel Harrison, who had been in the chart in January with A Young Girl of Sixteen.

Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders had by this time gone their separate ways, but came together again with their individual releases appearing in this week's Big L chart. Wayne held the #11 position, and the Mindbenders were new in at #25.

Aboard the Galaxy this week:

May 1st 1966
Between 1445 and 1500, Everett of England presented the 15-minute Top Deck Time, sponsored by the makers of Top Deck Shandy – owned at the time by Beecham's and marketed as – 'a low-alcohol drink marketed to children' according to the product's Wikipedia entry.

It is unclear how many of these Top Deck shows were recorded, but Brian Long in 'The London Sound' gives the first Big L on-air date as May 1st. The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame has a complete episode on its '...and now a word from our sponsor' page.

The show (theme tune 'Jada') promoted a new soft drink called 'Rumba' which was 'flavoured with real Jamaican Rum'. (These are drinks for children? It seems more likely that target consumers were teenagers.) A competition during the programme asked listeners to name the recording artist of 'Shotgun Wedding', with the first 5 correct entries set to win a case of Rumba. 'Shotgun Wedding' was released April 22nd and picked as a climber that week; it entered the Fab Forty the following week. It would have been a pointless move for a then-unknown singer and a single that had not yet received any airplay, to have been selected for a 'name the artist' competition, but come May 1st, Roy C's single had hit #5 and would have been heard regularly. Release dates for two of the other tracks played in the show were this week's #2, 'Sloop John B ' and a track from the Rolling Stones' 'Aftermath' LP are both listed as 15/4/66.

Kenny Everett had prerecorded the Top Deck show. He was, in fact, working that day at Tiles Cub in Oxford Street, while in exile from Radio London and hosting shows on Radio Luxembourg. (See our feature in Mini-memories.) Following his sacking the previous November, Kenny would not resume broadcasting from the Galaxy till June 6th. Apart from the jingles added to the front and the end of 'Top Deck Time', there is no reference to the station name and nothing in the show to indicate that it was exclusive to Radio London. Presumably the jingles were added once the recording reached the ship. The address given for the competition is not 17 Curzon Street, but one connected to the sponsor's advertising agency The London Press Exchange, in St Martin's Lane.

Unit 4 Plus 2 recorded a jingle for the programme along the lines of 'There's a new style in drinks...start livin' it up, Top Deck style." They had a new single due out on May 13th which became Stewpot's climber for next week, 8th May. On another occasion, Kenny referred to the band as being friends of his.

(Thanks to Jon Myer and Alan Field)

On other ocean waves Meanwhile, just a few ocean waves away, a new ship had appeared, mv Laissez Faire, formerly known as Olga Patricia. She was home to Don Pierson's new station, Radio England and her sister broadcaster Britain Radio. When they went on air on May 3rd, among the cast of DJs were green recruits Roger Day and the newly-christened Johnnie Walker. Long John Baldry, then the vocalist with Steampacket, assisted with the launch

Ashore:

May 1st 1966, was also the date of the NME Pollwinners' Concert at the Empire Pool, Wembley, which turned out to be the Beatles' last UK concert. Apart from the Fab Four, starring pollwinners included the Stones, (TW had Paint It Black as his climber this week), Herman's Hermits, Fourmost, Small Faces, Yardbirds, Cliff and the Shadows, Roy Orbison, Dusty Springfield and the Spencer Davis Group.

I (Mary) went on a coach trip to the concert with my best friends and Knees Club Officials, Jenny Royal and Mozz Walker. My diary entry reads: "Concert was great except for screaming kids behind us. (at sixteen, I now considered myself too old to be among the ranks of 'screaming kids'). The weather was so hot it reached about 80 degrees."

It's incredible to think I went to see the above line-up of top acts, probably THE line-up of the decade, and wrote about the weather! Probably, at the time I thought the event was unforgettable and therefore, unnecessary to put into words.

I didn't regularly wear specs in those days, only needing them for distance-viewing. In 1966, the frames available were hideous and hardly a top teenage fashion accessory, so I couldn't bear being seen wearing them. However, if I didn't wear them, I couldn't see the stage. Jenny recalls that the event was being filmed for TV, and I was rushing to remove my glasses whenever I thought the camera might be on me!

Naturally, I took my faithful trannie with me so that we could listen to the Fab Forty during the interval.

Notice that this week's Climbers include several mega-hits. They certainly knew how to pick 'em!