Pirate closedowns

The story of the UK’s offshore 1960s pirates is well-documented in, thankfully, both words and audio. In a country which enjoyed so little pop music radio in a decade which boasted such rich musical pickings and one in which a generation found its voice, the tide of pirate stations from ships and North Sea forts were a welcome distraction.

It all crashed to a halt in August 1967. Legislation was passed which outlawed working or supplying materials to these ‘illegitimate’ stations regardless of whether they were inside or outside territorial waters. At various stages until 15th August 1967, stations duly uttered their last breaths, apart from the ever-disruptive Radio Caroline, the station which had started the whole thing in the UK four years before.

Enjoy here some news soundtrack just before Radio London ended, then its valedictory words, just before Radio Scotland and Radio 270 also say farewell. Then, Johnnie Walker issues his defiant ‘Caroline continues’ recital.