Press Release – for immediate use
The pirates are coming!
Over three days Harwich will be awash with former radio pirates who revolutionised pop music in the 1960s. The BBC will be broadcasting from the LV18 Lightvessel on Harwich Quay on Sunday 13th and Monday 14th August with veteran broadcasters Johnny Walker, Roger ‘Twiggy’ Day, Keith Skues, Ray Clark, Tom Edwards and Norman St John, under the banner of ‘Pirate BBC Essex’.
Ray Clark will be in Harwich on Saturday 12th august, broadcasting live from the LV18 and Ha’Penny Pier. Local girl, Liana Bridges, along with former Radio Caroline pirate Barry Lewis, will be at the LV18 on Sunday morning at 9am and will be heard on BBC Essex.
Keith Skues will be in the LV18 studio on the Sunday night (13th) for his three hour regional show, which will include guest Roger ‘Twiggy’ Day.
The LV18 studio will be live from 9am to 3pm on Monday 14th, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Marine Offences Act which shut down all bar one of the pirate radio stations in 1967.
The BBC and the Pharos Trust will also host an exhibition of Pirate Radio Memorabilia on Ha’Penny Pier between Saturday 12th & Monday 14th August. The exhibition will include recently discovered and unique photographs from fifty years ago of the pirate radio ships Galaxy (Radio London) and Mi Amigo (Radio Caroline).
Many of the radio pirates will also be appearing at the Electric Palace cinema in Harwich on the Saturday and Sunday evening for ‘Meet The Pirates’, Sunday’s event includes a showing of ‘The Boat That Rocked’, introduced by the DJs.
During the morning of August 14th, the ashes of the late Dave Cash, a 1960s radio pirate and latterly BBC radio presenter, will be scattered from the Harwich Lifeboat by his widow Sara Cash. Those wishing to pay respects should gather on Ha’Penny Pier from 10.30am.
Notes for editors
This is the fourth ‘Pirate BBC Essex’ event and the LV18 has been the home for each of the previous events in 2004, 2007 & 2009. The BBC have announced that this will be the last such event.
The station can be received on 95.3FM, 103.5FM and DAB across Essex as well as via the BBC IPlayer, ensuring global reception.
The Pirate Radio Exhibition will include previously unseen photographs from the widow of the captain of the Mi Amigo, the Radio Caroline ship.
The LV18 Lightvessel is a former Trinity House lightvessel which was decommissioned in 1994. It hosts regular radio stations and most recently was the home for Radio Mi Amigo, which includes shows by Roger ‘Twiggy’ Day. BBC Essex’s Liana Bridges and Barry Lewis also presented a show and that is now available to hear on www.lv18radio.uk
