The trustees of the Pharos Trust along with the management of Radio Mi Amigo are saddened to hear of the passing of Johnnie Walker who has been the Patron of The Trust for two decades.
Johnnie’s illustrious career intersected with the LV18 during his many Pirate BBC Essex broadcasts. Those broadcasts were a part of our own foundation and paved the way for the success of our own projects.
It was our privilege to receive a phone call for Johnnie on the 11th of August 2024 where he spoke live on Radio Mi Amigo with his former Radio Caroline and BBC colleague Keith ‘Cardboard Shoes’ Skues.
Our thoughts are with his wife, Tiggy and his family at this sad time. He will be missed by all aboard the LV18.
We broadcast the following obituary at 2200 & 2300 on New Years Eve.
Keith Skues (left) and Stephen Foster (right) in the LV18 Studio at Easter 2024
What a year!
Retreating back into 2023 briefly: We had been able to refit our studio in mid to late 2023 and this persuaded the team that a 24/7 online radio station was viable. That launched with a live event at Christmas 2023.
Neon Nancy in the studio
Just two months later an arson attack on the LV18 caused havoc and our fledgling station was off the air. We were then faced with writing off the entire studio equipment having only just managed to configure it how we wanted it.
Almost two weeks later we established a temporary studio off the ship and put Radio Mi Amigo back on the air.
Somehow we managed to clean the ship so that a planned Radio Caroline 60th Anniversary event at Easter went ahead.
The studio equipment that had been running from a temporary location was rebuilt on the ship just a day before the studio was broadcasting live shows.
We were joined in the studio by Roger ‘Twiggy’ Day (top, left) and Keith Skues, both veterans of Radio Caroline in the 1960s
Steve Scruton did a live BBC Essex broadcast from the LV18 on Easter Saturday.
A special live event was held on 23rd June, hosted in the Mi Amigo studio by Garry Lee. This was the first time anyone had openly discussed the arson attack on our station.
We reconvened in the studio for our August live event. This was held the weekend before the 14/08 anniversary, and ran 9th to the 11th.
On the 11th, however, Keith Skues received a call from Johnny Walker during his Sunday afternoon show. That call has been recorded and is available on this site.
There were a number of special radio shows during the late summer and autumn, including an August 14th special and a themed Halloween night which included a show from Stephen ‘Foz’ Foster.
One of the biggest events of the year was the Radio London 60th Anniversary in December. This took several months of planning in order to secure all the relevant permissions.
Radio Mi Amigo was one year old at Christmas 2024 but remains focussed on providing the best music content of the 60s and 70s whilst remembering the important role that the pirates played in UK media.Station personnel at December 2024:
Station Manager – Tony O’Neil
Programme Director – Heather O’Neil
Studio Engineer – Shiraz Turvey
Email studio@lv18radio.uk
From 1958, when the LV18 was first deployed by Trinity House until 1994 when the LV18 was retired, the vessel’s primary role was as a lightvessel – a floating lighthouse – to help protect ships from undersea hazards. A secondary role was weather reporting. The LV18 was equipped with radios but these were only for ship to ship and ship to shore communication.
The LV18 was first used for radio broadcasting in 1999, at the time the ship was owned by Sea Containers Ltd, who owned and operated Parkeston Quay (Harwich International). Tony O’Neil hired the LV18 and used it for a number of radio broadcasts under temporary UK government broadcasting licences.
First used in 1999 as a mother ship for revival broadcasts of offshore radio, including Radio North Sea International off Clacton.
2000 Radio Caroline, for one month off Harwich.
2001 Radio Mi Amigo off Harwich.
2002 Radio Mi Amigo and Harwich Community Radio.
In 2002 the Pharos Trust was established as a charity to own, preserve and exhibit LV18. Work started to restore the LV18 after 8 years of neglect. The LV18 was kept on a mooring in the River Stour when not needed elsewhere.
In 2004 BBC Essex wanted to mark the 40th anniversary of the launch of Radio Atlanta, Radio Caroline, Radio London etc and they used the LV18 as a base, anchored off Harwich. This was repeated in 2007 for the 40th anniversary of the Marine Offences (etc) Act of 14 August 1967. Many of the former pirate DJs took part, most of whom had also been BBC employees at this point. The broadcast was called “Pirate BBC Essex“. By this time, Johnnie Walker had agreed to be patron of the Pharos Trust.
In 2008 the LV18 was chartered by the producers of the “Boat That Rocked” movie (“Pirate Radio” movie in the US). This took the LV18 to Portland Bay and the ship gained a new paint scheme on one side. It was billed as “Radio Sunshine, the Home of Happy Hits”.
Pirate BBC Essex came back to the LV18 in 2009 and the ship was moored alongside Ha’Penny Pier for the first time during this broadcast before returning to its river mooring.
Dave CashJohnnie Walker
In 2011 the Pharos Trust received a grant from the local authourities, Tendring District & Essex County Councils, that enabled a permanent berth to be constructed between Harwich Quay and Ha’Penny Pier. This allowed easy daily public access for the first time in the ship’s history.
Between 2012 and 2017 the LV18 was used annually for pirate radio revivals under the Radio Mi Amigo brand – but with an Ofcom licence!
In 2017 the BBC returned and hosted an event marking the 50th anniversary of the Marine Offences (etc) Act. Many former pirates gathered on the LV18 including Johnnie Walker, Roger Day, Keith Skues, Norman St John and Tom Edwards.
Johnnie WalkerRoger ‘Twiggy’ DayKeith Skues & Norman St JohnTom Edwards
From 2018 to 2023 the LV18 hosted licensed Radio Mi Amigo broadcasts from our permanent berth and during this time rebuilt the studio.
At Christmas 2023 we launched Radio Mi Amigo as a full time online station.
An arson attack took our station off-air on 2nd Feb 2024 but this was restored from a temporary studio the same month and returned to the ship’s studio at the end of March 2024 with a live event that included Roger Day and Keith Skues.
Roger Day and Keith Skues
Further live studio events took place during August and December 2024. On 11 August, during Keith Skues’ show, Johnnie Walker phoned in and asked to speak to Keith live on the air. That conversation is available on this site.
The following was sent to the Harwich & Manningtree Standard for the 5th April 2024 edition.
Radio Mi Amigo was broadcast from historic light vessel LV18 in Harwich Harbour over Easter Weekend, with fans flocking to Harwich to help mark the 60th anniversary of offshore broadcasting. Radio Caroline started the radio revolution in 1964 just off the coast of Harwich, and were soon joined by other ships. The guest DJs, on board the LV18, for the weekend included Keith ‘Cardboard Shoes’ Skues and Roger ‘Twiggy’ Day who were both on Radio Caroline, and other ships, in the mid 1960s.
Radio Mi Amigo was also supported by visiting DJs Stephen ‘Foz’ Foster, Garry Lee, Olly Kinvig, Paul Windsor, Chris Cooper, Rick Marks, Dave Kent and Duke Anthony. Duke had arrived in Harwich to help put the studio together but ended up in the studio chair hosting several shows!
One highlight of the weekend was when Keith Skues and Roger Day shared the studio to talk about their lives afloat sixty years ago, before they headed to the Electric Palace as guests of BBC Essex presenters Steve Scruton and Ian Wyatt. The proceeds of that show will be donated to the LV18 Restoration Fund, along with a donation from the Electric Palace Trust from film revenue over the Easter Weekend’s 1960s film festival.
BBC Essex was broadcast live from the LV18 on Easter Saturday, with Steve Scruton interviewing the DJs, fans who had gathered on the quayside and members of the public.
The Pharos Trust, which owns and operates the LV18, also hosted a visit by three member of the Tendring District Council Economic Development team, which has been working with the Trust on a community radio project over the past six months.
It is hoped that the ship will re-open to the public by the end of May, once the immediate restoration work and clean-up have been completed. A further live radio weekend is being planned for August.
The Pharos Trust thanks everyone who helped put together the wonderful weekend in the LV18’s floating studio and would especially like to thank those who helped raise money for the continuing Restoration Fund.
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
Sat 12th August
Ray Clark (BBC Essex) live O/B 9-11am from H’penny Pier and deck of LV18.
Pirate Radio Exhibition on the H’penny Pier opens at 10am (until 5pm)
Meet the Pirates talk at the Electric Palace Cinema 5.30pm till 7pm with Roger Day, Alan Turner, Steve Scruton, Ian Wyatt.
Sunday 13th
Exhibition opens 10 – 5
9 am BBC Essex Quest programme starts from Harwich
Meet the Pirates talk at the Electric Palace Cinema 5.30 – 7pm with Roger Day, Keith Skues, Tom Edwards, Norman St John followed by film The Boat That Rocked 7 – 9.30pm
Pirate BBC Essex starts broadcast 10 pm – 1am With Keith Skues and all former dj’s in Harwich.
Monday 14th
Exhibition opens 10 – 4pm
9 am Pirate BBC Essex re-starts with Roger Day
10.30 Norman St John
12 noon Tom Edwards
1.30 Johnnie Walker
3pm Switch to Ross Revenge for Ray Clark until 4 pm Closedown
Details have now been announced of two shows, at Harwich’s historic Electric Palace cinema, during Pirate BBC Essex.
On Saturday 12th August, there will be an opportunity to meet the 1960s pirates. Meet live in the Electric Palace some of the Pirate DJs who have come down to broadcast on Pirate BBC Essex. The price is £7 NC. Starts 5.30pm.
On Sunday 13th August, another chance to meet the pirates followed by a showing of The Boat That Rocked. The price for both is £10 NC. Starts 5.30pm.
Wednesday lunchtime and a pair of special guests arrived in the radio studio. Steve Scruton and Ian Wyatt are, during the day, BBC Essex presenters, but every few years they play with Pirate Radio.
Hear the guys talk with Alan ‘Neddy’ Turner about past adventures on the LV18 with Pirate BBC as well as the forthcoming broadcast (13 & 14th August)
