HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - somewhat different & 'off the wall'...
Just finished reading a trilogy on the life of Reg & Dorothy Calvert, written by their oldest daughter, Reg turned down The Beatles when they asked him to be their manager, when they were just a backing band for one of his singers.
He went on to be shot death by someone looking to muscle in on his 60s offshore pirate radio station, based on an ex-army fort in the Thames Estuary.
It's a truly fascinating true life story, that involves the likes of their involvement with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Fortunes, Screaming Lord Sutch, and turning down a business proposal from Reggie Kray. It was Reg Calvert's idea that 'Lord Sutch' should first stand for election as a publicity stunt, at first for the 'Teenagers Party', which later became the 'Official Raving Loony Party'.
Reg was the 'ideas' man, but Dorothy was very much the brains that held his projects together, which was hard for a woman back in the 60s, and the book covers her frustrations of being a woman in a man's world, as it was back then.
1 -
Popcorn to Rock 'n' Roll covers their early life, falling in love just after WW2, money was tight, Reg brought an old bus & converted it into a home. When he hears Bill Haley's 'Rock Around the Clock', he decides to bring Rock 'n' Roll to the UK, and so the story begins, as they embark on forming groups & putting on dance nights.
2 -
Clifton Hall - the School of Rock 'n' Roll covers the period when they brought an old mansion near Rugby & moved in various musicians that formed their bands, and played at their dances, with regular visits from many chart topping groups that also used to perform at their dances, including The Beatles. This extraordinary household was the home of much music, fun, laughter, massive explosions (crazy home made fireworks & battles), and sadly some heartbreak in the family.
This is when Reg moved into music publishing & managing acts like The Fortunes & Screaming Lord Sutch, although he never actually got around to earning anything out of Sutch, they were friends, interestingly he always paid his musicians well & never did contracts, allowing them freedom to come & go.
He was a good guy [overall] in the music industry, refusing to accept record contracts for his 'boys', when it would involve them having to bend-over and take a shafting. Although, he did make a mistake, that he later regretted, when he passed on an offer to one of his female singers (the one The Beatles had been backing) that basically involved sex. He was both a good guy & a bit of a bastard too, especially at times towards his wife.
3 -
Shivering Sands - Pirate Radio covers Reg & Sutch taking over a former army fort, Shivering Sands, in the Thames Estuary to launch Radio Sutch as a publicity stunt, when Sutch got bored, Reg brought him out & re-launched it as Radio City, which did well, but was ever as popular as the big two pirates - Radios Caroline & London.
The success of Radio City was such that a former investor in another pirate station, Major Oliver Smedley - former vice-chairman of the Liberal Party, decided to muscle in, and sent out a gang of armed boarders to take over the fort & force the station off-air, to give him an negotiating advantage. When Reg went to comfort him at his home in Essex, he was shot dead, and somehow due to establishment connections, Smedley got off scot-free! The chapters on the court cases, how badly the prosecution conducted themselves, and the shear injustice of it all, made me very angry.
After that, Dorothy took-over running Radio City, and was approached by Reggie Kray, who wanted the station to be part of the Kray's empire, she, being a absolutely amazing woman, was brave enough to refuse his offer!
The death of Reg forced the government to bring forward plans to force all the offshore pirate stations off air, with the Marine, etc, [Broadcasting] Offences Act.
I admit, it was the pirate radio connection that interested me, but that was actually only part of what has been
a most fascinating read, so much covered, love, life struggles, the bands, the music, pirate radio, the politics of the time, and so much more.
If you are looking for something a bit different, and 'off the wall', I would highly recommend reading these books, they are truly griping.
* Book 1 is on Amazon, whilst books 2 & 3 were combined & re-published in hardback under the title 'Life and Death of a Pirate' - available from the
Radio Caroline web-shop.
The home of Radio Such & later Radio City...
