To mark the 50th anniversary of the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act coming into force, a new book looks at the forces behind the establishment and operation of the ships (and forts) that rocked.
In 1967, after a long delay, the government acted to close down the dozen or so pirate radio stations which had sprung up around the British coast. Many of the stories about those ships and offshore forts, and the personalities involved, are well known, but this book asks intriguing questions about what was really going on behind the scenes.
Offshore unlicensed radio stations were not a new idea, they had existed in different forms elsewhere for decades, so why did the phenomenon blossom in the UK when it did?
The list of players in this story ranges from a Texan oil millionaire, a wealthy American evangelist preacher and the wife of a US president to the managers of struggling UK pop groups and notorious London gangsters. And, throughout it all, there’s the shadowy presence of various state security agencies ranging from the CIA and MI5 to the East German Stasi.
Pirate Gold shines a light on the social, political and technological background to the rise of the UK offshore pirate stations and their lasting effect on British radio broadcasting.
The book is now available to order online as a paperback or eBook. See pirategold.uk for more details.
