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Radio Sutch & City Pictures - Part 1

Issue : 16 Updated: 1st April 2022

This series, not in any particular order is published as new material and information comes to light, bringing the history of radio broadcasting from on the abandoned WWII Army Forts on Shivering Sands off the North Kent coast

David Sutch & Reg Calvert

David Sutch with Reg Calvert (1963)

Pictured when he contested the Stratford-Upon-Avon by-election on 15th August 1963 caused by the resignation of John Profumo

David's National Teenage Party achieved 208 votes

Election Fever

David Sutch poses with fake Policeman (1963)

David Sutch publicity picture from 1964

Screaming Lord Sutch Publicity Photograph for Grimsby based Fan Club (1964)

The horror rock singer was soon to become a Pirate Radio operator

Barges at Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge from the banks of the River Thames in the heyday of Barge traffic

It was from here that Radio Sutch launched, aboard a 60' wooden trawler the Cornucopia, David "Screaming Lord" Sutch with trade mark Purple Cape with his backing band the Savages suitably clad in leopard skins set sail, most thought the whole thing was a publicity stunt staged with the help of his manager Reg Calvert

See the London registered Cornucopia LO21 in Sutch & City Part 5

Initially the scheme was nothing more than an elaborate publicity stunt to promote Screaming Lord Sutch

Shivering Sands Forts 1964

The abandonded Shivering Sands Army Fort (1964)

However, on 27th May 1964 Radio Sutch took over the Shivering Sands Fort

4 nautical (4.60) miles from Red Sands Fort, 8 nautical (9.2) miles from nearest land at Herne Bay, and 8.75 nautical (10.06) miles from Whitstable Harbour was to become the tendering port for the both sets of Army Forts

Transmitting initially as Radio Sutch, later Radio City the Offshore 'Pirate Radio' station had been set up by Pop Group Manager and Entrepreneur Reg Calvert

HM Thames Fort Locations HM Thames Fort Locations Press Cutting

Thames Estuary Fort Locations

With an MoD designated code of U7 Shivering Sands was a disused WW2 Army Fort in the Thames Estuary

Built in tandem with Nore (U5), Red Sands (U6) the Thames Estuary Forts were completed for action by December 1943

After WWII both Navy and Army Forts had caretaker crews aboard, finally of no further use they were abandoned by the MoD in 1958

Nore was dismantled in 1959/60, Shivering Sands, Red Sands survive in decay

The Naval Towers at Knock John is slowly disintegrating, Sunk Head was demolished by Royal engineers in 1967

Tongue, already badly damaged succumbed to storms and toppled over in 1996, disappearing without trace into a large hole that had underscoured the Tower since grounding, all that remains is the stump of the North Leg

Roughs, now the Principality of Sealand remains occupied

For more details on all the Thames Estuary Forts see Fort Fax

Three Army Forts of the same design were built in the Mersey for Liverpool Bay but had their crews re-deployed to the Thames Estuary in 1943, in the shifting sands of the bay became underscoured and so demolished in the 1950's

Shivering Sands forts in 1965

Shivering Sands Forts (May 1964)

Above the 'Scull and Crossbones' flying from a makeshift scaffold pole antenna fed by an ex-Halifax aircraft radio set, provided entertainment for fisherman, seagulls and the Isle of Sheppey, perhaps on a good day the towns on the North Kent and Essex Coast!

Gun Tower 1

Shivering Sands Forts Southern Gun Tower #1 from Control Tower Walkway (May 1964)

A technically crude set up, the station often closed without warning when the lorry batteries powering the Heath-Robinson equipment went flat

There's a detailed picture of the Radio Sutch transmitter in Sutch & City Part 4

Reg Calvert in Radio Sutch studio on Shivering Sands Fort

Reg Calvert on Radio Sutch (May 1964)

Reg Calvert known as 'uncle' by the radio crews, stangely the Forts were given the prefix U for Uncle, was Reg the original Man from UNCLE


Audio

Britains Teenage Radio Station Reg Calvert on Radio Sutch 197 MMW

For the musical history and life of Reg Calvert see David St John's excellent site

Smugglers Inn Herne Smugglers Inn Herne

The Smugglers Inn, Herne Village (3rd April 2019)

David Sutch stayed at the Smugglers Inn in Herne Village just outside of Herne Bay whilst ashore

Note the sign 'Pub Open' this is the original Micopub 'The Butchers Arms' reputedly the smallest free house in England run by visionary Martyn Hillier

Radio TV Guide

The Age TV & Radio Guide (14th - 20th August 1964) Large Image

Daily Mail 7th September 1964

Daily Mail (September 1964)

Sutch in Politics

Political Ambitions (The Age 24th September 1964)

By the end of September 1964 David Sutch had relenquished his interest in the Fort to his manager Reg Calvert, renamed Radio City tests began on 30th September using the same equipment

7 Denmark Street

Number 7 Denmark Street (1965)

Tin Pan Alley base of the Kings Agency opened by Reg Calvert with partner Terry Meacher given the name King

The austere office was the HQ for Radio City

Early Radio City Sticker

Early Radio City Sticker (1965)

Radio City tender Harvester 2 loaded with gear

Harvester II (1964)

Harvester II pushed off by owner skipper Fred Downs. Reg Calvert nearest the mast with engineer Don Witts by the port gunwale

Radio City tender Harvester 2 leaves Whitstable

Harvester II sets off to Shivering Sands (1964)

Laden with materials to construct the first real studio she sails from Whitstable for the Fort

Bottom Floor Fort Plan

The bottom floor plan of a Gun Tower

On Shivering Sands the G1 3.7" Gun Tower was used first, later operations expanded into the Control Tower

Man access was through a middle hatch set into the floor later the electric hoist was used

Cut off from the 30 kw wartime Gardner LV generators on the Searchlight Tower by the 'Ribersborg' collision of 1963 which demolished the G4 Gun Tower, lorry batteries powered Radio Sutch which were charged at night when the station had closed down

The latrines shown right on the bottom floor housed a pair of small of two cylinder Lister Generators, one of these was to go to Knock John. A Lister JP3 three cylinder Generator came aboard in 1965, followed by a Detroit flat head diesel fitted just inside the gantry doors

Intermediate Floor Fort Plan

The Intermediate floor plan

The Radio Sutch & City studio was in the bottom left of this floor in what was the NCO's recreation room

An additional door was fitted in an attempt to mute the noise of the generators but invariably the studio windows were open so the generators could easily be heard

The transmitter(s) were in the NCO sleeping quarters which could be monitored through a glass window put in the wall

Sleeping accommodation was in the magazine and half of the original men's sleeping quarters partitioned by curtains from the TV lounge complete with the old Radio Sutch transmitter for a shore link

The galley was in the men's recreation room

Gun Tower Top Floor Fort Plan

Gun Tower top floor (roof)

Harvester 2

Fred Downs on Harvester II (1965)

The most commonly used Fort tender which was in better order than Harvester I

The Harvesters were 36' clinker built ex-navy harbour service launches converted for fishing and fitted with Bolinder diesels, bought by the Leggatt brothers originally from Essex for £500 each

The Leggett family come to the town having been driven into the harbour by a storm they liked it and stayed

Both Harvesters were painted pale blue and white they were then arguably the tidiest boats in the Whitstable Harbour basin

I believe the Harvesters ended their days on the Medway after Fred was tragically drowned off the harbour in 1974

Shivering Sands Fort close up from 1965

Shivering Sands Fort (1965)

Showing 3 Gun Towers and the Control Tower which was later taken over for accommodation and the record library

Control Tower Bottom Floor Fort Plan

Control Tower bottom floor plan

See Sutch & City Part 2 for pictures & details

Control Tower Intermediate Floor Fort Plan

Control Tower intermediate level plan

Control Tower Fop Floor Fort Plan

Control Tower top floor (roof) on which the first run of the "washing line" ariel began and later the big 200' mast

Shivering Sands Group 1965

Ready to leave Shivering Sands; Unknown, Dick Dixon, Tony Pine & Don Witts (1965)

Harvester 2 from G1 Gun Tower Platform

Harvester II holds off (1965)

Viewed from the then only occupied southern G1 Gun Tower

Plan of Army Fort Layout

Plan of the Thames Army Forts

Drawings by J A Posford the fort builders from "The Construction of Britain's Sea Forts"

Radio City 299 mmw transmitter

Transmitter Room (1965)

Transformers, monitor tuner, oscilloscope, aerial loading and the old US Navy General Electric TCK-7 our 299 transmitter I was told came from an Aircraft Carrier

Radio City rig was based on the TCK series transmitter which feed a linear amplifier with 813 output stages as can be seen above

26/12/07 - The General Electric TCK medium wave TX covers 300 to 600kc, 837 master oscillator, 807 Intermediate power amplifier with a pair 813s in the final amplifier. CW and MCW modes, 400 watts output at 1800V on the plates - 73, Rob Flory


Audio

Paul Elvey, Bob Le-Roi & Chris Cross programme links from March 1965

Radio Sutch/City studio

The first real studio (1965)

Consisting a pair of Garrard SP25 turntables fitted with Decca Deram cartridges (No slip pads, we'd not learnt that trick yet!)

Not designed for cueing, needle changes were frequent and there was no pre-fade

Adverts were played from an open reel Brennell just visible in its scruffy home made wooden case, if you were lucky there was a working Ferrograph to play the religious tapes and record programmes when the station was off-air (there was only one studio)

The Pirate favored AKG D12 drum microphone was controlled by an elbow switch to the left, the foam pad on the mic' had the words 'aim here'

All fed into a 3 channel home made passive mixer with an Eagle meter glued to the wall above the consol gave some clue to modulation, an amplifier, to the left provided monitoring

Chris Cross at Brennel tape machine

Chris Cross (1965)

Chris Cross at the Brennel cues an advertisement from one of the 3" reels located in a rack above. We never ever had 'Spot Master' cartridge machines

Martin Green on air

Martin Green (1965)

Radio City's Dutch DJ on 5x4 the Beatles Vs Stones programme daily at 17.00

Martin Stevens on air

Martin Stevens (1965)

Martin Stevens a chance City DJ was the Offshore Radio photographer

Press Cutting

Daily Mirror (1st June 1965)

Publicity hype, despite little money to keep Radio City going Reg Calvert voiced plans for a TV Channel

Radio City carnival float in 1965

Radio City Whitstable Carnival Float (August 1965)

Leyland J4 lorry as the Radio City Carnival Float, with final adjustments being made at the stern by station manager Eric K Martin

Engineer Don Witts

Engineer Don Witts (1965)

Looks out from the gun platform to an occasional visitor

Trinity House ship "Patricia"

The Trinity House Harwich based service vessel the "Patricia" (1965)

She'd pick up the Shivering Sands Buoy check and clean them on site

Radio City poster

Reg Calvert designed City Poster (1965)

DJ's & engineers pose on gun tower G1 fort roof

On top of the G1 Gun Tower (1965)

Pictured Phil Perkins with Alexander Dee, Dick Dixon and Chris Cross in the foreground


Audio

David Sutch with Kent Messenger Reporter at Kings Hall, Herne Bay 1966

Screaming Lord Sutch founder of The National Teenage Party stood against PM Harold Wilson in his home constituency of Huyton in Lancashire in the General Election on 31st March 1966 where he achieved 518 votes

Continuing his political career David founded The Monster Raving Loony Party in 1983, he holds the record for losing all 40 of the elections in which he stood from 1963 - 1997

Calvert Sutch Agreement

Reg Calvert/David Sutch Agreement (8th March 1966)

N.B Phil Perkins a radio amateur (Ham) call sign G3OUV had previously been on Radio Invicta across at the Red Sands Fort where he was an Engineer sometimes heard using the name Tony Silver

This story continues from Sutch & City Part 2

Also be sure to share Paul Elvey's personal pictures Billericay Boy, Paul Elvey shares his photo album of his time with Radio Sutch & City from Paul Elvey 1

For great photographs from the Photo Journalist of the Pirates navigate from Martin Stevens

For the pictures of the 40th anniversary of Shivering Sand broadcasts see Sutch & City Re-Union

For the book of the solitary occupation by Artist Stephen Turner of the Searchlight Tower on Shivering Sands see Seafort Project

22/12/07 - I believe the transmitter pictured on the Radio Sutch page is actually a US Navy TCJ, rather than the TCK. The TCJ is the medium frequency brother to the TCK. Giveaway is 4 band positions on the \"unicontrol\" that sets the frequency. Cheers, Rob Flory

Your website most excellent. Congrats on a superb website. I've just spent far too long looking at it and enjoying the clips. What colour! Great Radio City pix. As for Eric Martin's VO... Almost as good as Roy Bates' for Channel Airways (which was complete with swooshing effects, as their Tiger Moth flew over!) Have I mentioned our new business site? Try www.zmedia.tv Regards
Gerry Zierler (Guy Hamilton - Radio Essex 222)

Last night we played again your documentary CD on the history of Radio Sutch/City I grew up in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. Radio City used to be received very well, nearly as loudly as Caroline South but not as loudly as Caroline North which belted in there. I often used to listen to you on City especially I think when I came home from school. I thought the Radio City DJs worked more as a team and were less distracted by personality contests etc than those on the bigger stations. While I was working as an apprentice joiner I was continually re-tuning a massive old mains radio away from Big L to Radio City and piping your output all round the joinery works. It was days before they realised there had been a switch, then it became a race between me and the factory engineer to get to the tuning knob first

Excel 2

'Excell II' at Neptunes Jetty Herne Bay (2002)

Trips to the Maunsell Sea Forts are arranged throughout the summer from Whitstable, Herne Bay and Queenborough in Kent