Prince Charles explains 'pebble theatre'.
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PEBBLE
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Don Pierson [right] explains how a young Prince Charles made a request to join the Radio London fan club. |
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Prince Charles explains 'pebble theatre'.
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PEBBLE
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Don Pierson [right] explains how a young Prince Charles made a request to join the Radio London fan club. |
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Weatherwell Limited embarked upon a new plan to build a new factory at Greenore, on the site of the old railway station and hotel. That plan which was underwritten by government loans, fell through. Then came 'Plan B' after getting approval to use those loans for another purpose. A container crane was bought and installed at the water's edge. Irish Customs moved back into their old office so that the Port of Greenore could reopen. Weatherwell Ltd entered into an agreement with Irish road transport CIE who had a cross-border agreement with British Road Services, and Weatherwell Ltd chartered a twice-a-week stop for a British container ship called mv Friendship to stop at Greenore and take Weatherwell export products to Preston, England. There was hope that Weatherwell Ltd could even get someone to take a lease and reopen the deserted hotel. The hope was on the future in mid-1960, but two years on at the end of 1962, and the story was back to doom and gloom. This is how the local newspaper summed-up the situation in the Greenore area at the beginning of 1963 where the only glimmer of hope was that Weatherwall Ltd could hang on, and even turn a corner allowing it to expand ....
![]() This is the newspaper article we referred to within an enlarged format, in Blog edition: Greenore, Ireland: 1960-1963, part 6 .... This report makes several things very clear: 1. Weatherwell Ltd., held a press conference in Dublin, because that company was situated on the outskirts of Dublin at Clondalkin. It was managed by Aodhagan (Aodogán) O'Rahilly who also lived at Clondalkin. 2. The quayside property that faced the water's edge at Greenore was owned by Weatherwell Ltd. 3. The press conference was held on Friday August 5. 1960, where it was announced that Irish Ferry Container Traffic Service had been created as a joint venture by Weatherwell Ltd., in conjunction with both C.I.E. in the Irish Republic, and British Road Services Ltd. (B.R.S.) in Northern Ireland. 4. C.I.E. and B.R.S. are both nationalized operations managed by each government, and for this purpose they will ensure door-to-door container service for "Irish firms exporting to any part of Britain." 5. To begin with there will be two sailings each week from the Port of Greenore. If businesses support this new export service, and that in turn creates a demand for more frequent sailings, they will be added. 6. This new venture called Irish Ferry Container Traffic Service is to be jointly managed by Weatherwell Ltd., and C.I.E., in the Irish Republic, and working in conjunction with B.R.S. in the United Kingdom. It is not a soley Weatherwell Ltd operation, but a new operation that is jointly owned and managed in the Republic of Ireland by Weatherwell Ltd and C.I.E. 7. The first sailing from Greenore carried 20 containers aboard the British ship mv Friendship, which was owned in 1960 by Mountwood Shipping Co. Ltd., of Liverpool. (See picture and details in: Greenore, Ireland: 1960-1963, part 4 .... ) 8. C.I.E. are responsible for bringing the containers by truck to the wharf where a new crane installed by Weatherwell Ltd. lifts the container from the truck and lowers it on board a ship tied up to the Weatherwell Ltd., property. 9. Managing the new Irish Ferry Container Traffic Service (I.F.C.T.S.) is Stanley Linehan, who was first employed by C.I.E. in 1946, and now works for C.I.E. in a new I.F.C.T.S. office at Greenore. 10. As previously noted, Irish Customs have also moved into their old office location at Greenore to enable the port to officially open. 11. Also as previously noted, the original plans by Weatherwell Ltd., to demolish the railway station and hotel in order to build a new factory, have been abandoned. Money that was borrowed for that purpose by Weatherwell Ltd., has enabled that company to build a new container crane on the wharf. 12. The Greenore Hotel had closed down shortly after the last train left Greenore station, but it can be reopened if the new port container service is a success. It is located next to the old railway station property, and both are now owned by Weatherwell Ltd. This new venture that did began in August 1960, did not go according to plan, and consequently Weatherwell Ltd. of Clondalkin (Dublin), was looking at heavy losses in investments at Greenore, which were not paying off. ![]() One year later in 1961, Ronan O'Rahilly showed up in London, England. Ronan O'Rahilly was a son of Aodogán O'Rahilly, managing director of Weatherwell Ltd. Lazy writers parroting the work of other lazy writers, have quoted Ronan O'Rahilly as a young man fleeing from the family business (Weatherwell Ltd.), who showed up in London looking for money. To cover his tracks and real purpose, a nonsense scenario has been invented that leads to the creation of Radio Caroline. That scenario is false. Ronan O'Rahilly came to London in 1961 on behalf of the business that his father managed, and we can prove it! Before continuing with our presentation of documented EVIDENCE which PROVES that Ronan O'Rahilly was a 'decoy duck'.
We also want to reveal why Paul Rusling and his vanity; print-on-demand book 'The Radio Caroline Bible' is nothing more than a con man seeking to poison inquiring minds. We want to remind our readers that instead of us having to prove what we are documenting is true, Ronan O'Rahilly's words should be reexamined using the same media-microscope technique that we are using here to see if they are true. Immediately that table is turned, readers discover the vast number of flaws which are embedded into the entire Ronan O'Rahilly scenario. For example: 1. The first Ronan O'Rahilly lie concerns the name of 'Radio Caroline'. We know that the myth about Caroline Kennedy was invented in New York City during March 1965 - one year after Radio Caroline first came on the air. We know who invented that lie and we know why they invented it. Not only that, but it is a story that is well documented and available in authentic book, magazine and newspaper formats, and the true story has been available for decades! 2. We know that no such person as 'Jimmy Ross' ever existed! We know who invented this silly story and why they invented it, and how it came to be fleshed-out with more-and-more deceit as time went by. We know all about Ian Cowper Ross and why he got involved, and what he was also concealing. He was another 'decoy duck'. His own initial reason for creating a cover-up and diversion, was different from the one that Ronan O'Rahilly was employed to create. However, as time went by they did embark upon a common cause mission to deceive. 3. Ronan O'Rahilly was not fleeing from the family business when he arrived in London during 1961. One of his sisters says that he had been to London in the late 1950s, and he may well have been. But his arrival in 1961 was not for pleasure, but to assist his father's struggling business. He succeeded. But then he went off the rails and was more-or-less kicked out by his father, because of the trouble that Ronan O'Rahilly could cause Weatherwell Ltd. 4. We also know all about the actors' studio he supposedly set-up and how he dragged Simon Dee into a criminal situation as a result of it. The claims made by Ronan O'Rahilly about the so-called actors' studio just don't hold-up under close examination. 5. Georgie Fame had EMI LP at the close of the year 1963, which is months before Radio Caroline first came on the air. 6. We have received first-hand information about who set-up the 'Scene' club and how Ronan O'Rahilly got involved as a bag man for the criminal underworld in London. They controlled several of these venues. Ronan O'Rahilly was a 'front' for that kind of criminal activity, which is another reason why his father had to cut him off. 7. Once the General Election of October 15, 1964 slammed the door on the immediate prospects of PYE seeing the introduction of licensed commercial radio, PYE backed away from its original plan. Then PYE began to tread water waiting to see what would happen next, since the Labour Party had won by such a slim majority. 8. In March 31, 1966, Labour won the next UK General Election by a landslide. So PYE pulled out of offshore radio and bided its time. Unfortunately that coincided with the demise of John Stanley (Charles Orr Stanley's son who was really 'Mr Big' behind 'Radio Caroline', although he was also acting on behalf of his father), when a shareholders' revolt at PYE caused John Stanley to resign. 9. Unlike the operation set-up by Burton Kanter for Don Pierson at Radio London, Radio Caroline was a flim-flam venture from the start because it was not intended to last, only to achieve one aim and that was to get the Tory government to license land-based sponsored commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. 10. In 1965, the Board of Trade conducted an on-the-ground investigation into who or what was behind Radio Caroline. They drew a blank. Unlike Radlon (Sales) Limited, there was no operating company registered in the UK for Radio Caroline. When the Board of Trade investigator managed to pin Ronan O'Rahilly to a figurative wall and demand answers, since Ronan O'Rahilly had held himself out to be 'Mr Big', then young Ronan O'Rahilly admitted that 'Caroline Sales Ltd' did not exist and he blamed it on a lawyer! 11. The year 1966 began a year of turmoil at Radio Caroline and this meant that It could not be put on a proper legal footing. After the 1966 General Election in March of that year, Ronan O'Rahilly emerged from the Radio Caroline managerial turmoil, and that is when all pretense of legal reality began to disappear. Yes, the ships existed, but their control was outside the remit of Ronan O'Rahilly. Yes, employees were being paid, but the methodology used was a circular route to obscure who had had operational financial control in order to deposit money in bank accounts, or to pay temporary staff out of a cash slush fund funneled through those Lichtenstein-Swiss bank accounts. Ronan O'Rahilly did not know much about them or how they were controlled. 12. Ronan O'Rahilly became a totally reckless gadfly, and both the business and political world distanced themselves from him. Kids were fed with nonsense about what Radio Caroline had supposedly been all about, and then they began a cloud cuckoo-land movement yelling "we love the pirate stations; hands off the pirate stations; please don't take them away." But on August 14, 1967 it was all over, and the two Caroline ships limped on to a final whimper in March 1968. What happened with offshore radio after August 14, 1967, had absolutely nothing in common with the original purpose behind the original Radio Caroline. There is more, much, much more that debunks the lies and stupidity of Ronan O'Rahilly. But our list includes only some of the key foundational issues upon which the mythology of Ronan O'Rahilly has been built. Those myths are lies. There is no way to turn them into facts, which is akin to an attempt at bashing a square peg into a round hole. However, not only did this story, the real story about Radio Caroline begin with PYE, it also ended with PYE. We knew how PYE had been the driving force behind the creation of ITA, and we knew why PYE had created Radio Caroline, but what we did not know until the other day, is what happened after August 14, 1967, although we had some clues to work with. While the kids went zooming off in one direction following Ronan O'Rahilly as a Pied-Piper of nonsense, and from which has emerged a cult for which Paul Rusling published his absurd 'bible', we have now discovered that the story that began with PYE, did not end. Although John Stanley was kicked-out of his management role in one of the PYE companies, the overall manufacturing business plan continued. PYE never had any intention of operating radio stations, except where they were means to an end, like Manx Radio. The PYE plan was to build and sell 'packaged' radio and televisions stations, and this it continued to do. So picking up where they began, PYE distanced themselves from offshore radio and worked towards morphing the ITA into the IBA. It was not something that they really wanted to do, because what they really wanted was the creation of a UK version of the USA Federal Communications Commission. But in the 1950s, instead of the 'FCC', they got the Independent Television Authority. ITA then became the Independent Broadcasting Authority when PYE finally succeeded in ushering in a form of licensed commercial radio was in the United Kingdom. What we now know is how this was achieved, and while the kids and their offshore dreams veered off in one direction, PYE stuck to its original plan. We found the key in the words of Alan Bednall, and the key to understanding his comments in a semi-obscure picture. All of this began to make sense once we divorced ourselves from the mythology of Ronan O'Rahilly, and like cold crime investigators we took out a blank sheet of paper and began again to microscopically analyze what is true. The results of our investigation (which is still ongoing), is what we are sharing with you on this Blog: free of charge. Clarity in actual reporting is not always the way in which newspapers relay information, because while the facts stated are true, due to pre-programming of the reader after reading fake news elsewhere, in hindsight, a fake 'spin' is often created on how that information is then interpreted in the mind of the reader. (See our comments below this article!) We have been repeatedly asked why we blast both Ronan O'Rahilly and Paul Rusling, and it is because of their enterprise of POISON which has polluted the minds of readers. It is their 'spin' which has been previously planted in the minds of anoraks, which then filters everything that these same people then read after reading O'Rahilly-Rusling poison.
The idea of having an 'open mind' to educational understanding has been taken away by O'Rahilly, and by his self-appointed propagandist Paul Rusling. While Ronan O'Rahilly was originally hired in 1963 to divert attention away from PYE, all that Rusling has done since 2019, is to divert attention to a tiny and insignificant little radio station in East Anglia which has adopted the name 'Radio Caroline'. That venture needs money from gullible supporters to finance a rust bucket hulk that was originally obtained by swindling American investors, and which then led to a criminal case involving Ronan O'Rahilly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In that case following trial, a con man was sentenced to a U.S. prison, while Ronan O'Rahilly stayed out of the USA! The reason for this preamble is to draw attention to what IS in the article above, and not what is imagined through interpretation to be in the article above. Tomorrow, what we now know about Aodogán O'Rahilly; Ronan O'Rahilly and Greenore, as of August 6, 1960, and the information provided in the news feature shown above. ![]() Frames from our video at: http://yesterdayneverhappened.com Today we found the last big piece of a puzzle. We are now well on our way to unmasking the fake history of Radio Caroline and the reason why it was created. It is the reason why we claim that "yesterday never happened", and why it is tied to the history of the British Post Office and how it is related to England's 'Act of Oblivion' of 1660. It is also the reason why we have been debunking the total and utter nonsense spun by Ronan O'Rahilly. His followers are akin to cult members of an extreme fringe religion, and no amount of evidence will ever convince them that they have been deceived, but the real story is far bigger than anything they ever imagined. We began to look for the real story when we stumbled across the mangled words of Alan Bednall, and his top secret work for John Stanley; son of Charles Orr Stanley who managed the Pye Group of companies: However, it was only when we made a decision to dump the spiel of Ronan O'Rahilly and throw it into a dustbin marked 'Lies and Deception', that it became possible for us to begin a search for the real story. While our investigation began back in 1985, this phase of our search did not begin until October 25, 2014.
Now that we have a new outline in place, we will continue to look for additional details and they will become part of a new series of books. The first book in that new series currently has the working title of: Dial 999 for Caroline We will keep you informed of our progress on this Blog. Since we know when our initial trek began, and how it began in a radio studio with an article by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo L. Black, we not only wanted to commemorate the date upon which this new phase of our search the real story began with the words of Alan Bednall, but the date upon which his "top secret work" was finally exposed. That date is today: Saturday, September 26, 2020. Now that we have the framework, we can begin looking for more details! In the meantime. we will continue documenting our investigation on this Blog, by using our existing methodology. ![]() Somewhere around the year 1512, Michaelangelo painted a fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. In one panel he supposedly depicts the finger of God giving life to the first human being. However, the two fingers do not touch each other, but instead, the finger of God points towards the finger of the human being that is supposedly made in the likeness of God. In Michaelangelo's example, which is based on the Biblical book of Genesis, the first human being is a doppelgänger of God, or the image of God, while not being God. Consequently their fingers do not touch in the fresco painting. What has this to do with debunking the many books (some illustrated above), that have promoted the myth that Ronan O'Rahilly created Radio Caroline which he claimed to have named after 5 years-old Caroline Kennedy, and then financed with money from a "Jimmy Ross"? The answer is everything. When we read on page 121 of Johns' book that Allan Crawford "rented offices in London that had been recently vacated by the defunct CNBC", we knew that Johns was trying to invent a fake timeline by connecting dots that did not exist. Having first-hand knowledge of Crawford's actual location, as well as the location of CNBC, we knew that one address was some distance from the other address on the other side of the same street. Other instances of Johns' resorting to fabrication also came to light. What he was doing was trying to provide an explanation to readers, when he did not know the explanation. More than this, Ronald Coase had become a major source of inspiration for Adrian Johns in that they had both decamped at the University of Chicago. Johns quoted Coase in an effort to support his own version of a fabricated economic thesis about the creation of offshore radio. On page 4 of Coase's book, we read about the "experimental broadcasts" that were taking place in the United Kingdom in the year 1920. Coase asked his readers: "Why did these experimental broadcasts stop? The reason appears to have been that the Post Office disapproved of them and refused to license further broadcasts. The Post Office derived this power to control wireless telephony in the early 1920's from the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1904." But from where did the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1904 derive its authority, and what on earth has wireless telegraphy got to do with posting hand-written letters and sticking a Post Office stamp on them after which they are deposited in a Post Box? We went in search of the answer to that question beginning around the year 1985, and that is when we stumbled across the life and times of Freeborn John Lilburne (c.1615-1657). That discovery led to our embarking upon our research as a trio, and that is why we later began to write and publish a series of academic monologues about this subject. Lilburne was a family-related ancestor of Thomas Jefferson, and Lilburne like Jefferson, was a promoter of individualism preserved by written law. Our research led us back to the year 1649, and the execution of King Charles I. His death terminated the monarchial dynasties of England, Scotland and Ireland and into his shoes stepped Oliver Cromwell. Lilburne ran afoul of Oliver Cromwell who proceeded to rule over England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland as a military dictator, by creating a constantly modified quasi-republic. However, Cromwell failed to extinguish the Crown corporation sole that gave the individual monarchies of England, Scotland and Ireland their source of power. This led to Lilburne turning on Cromwell and Cromwell retaliating by imprisoning Lilburne for the rest of his life. It was a showdown of dictatorship versus freeborn individualism that would later be revived in the days of Thomas Jefferson whose sister had married Charles Lilburne Lewis and named one their children Lilburne Lewis. Thomas Jefferson's brother Randolph named his son Lilburne Jefferson. Now deceased U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black and his associates, later produced a number of books claiming that John Lilburne is the true source of inspiration for the 1789 U.S. Constitution with it first ten amendments (the so-called 'Bill of Rights'). When Cromwell died in 1658 his nightmare died with him, but then a new nightmare began when a blanket censorship law was put in place to prop-up a new series of disunited kingdoms under a Charles II. That censored period of history is today known as the Interregnum, and its fake authenticity is concealed under the 1660 'Act of Oblivion'. See: http://foundthreads.com/03.html - Yesterday never happened! It was at this moment in time when the General Post Office was also created, and over time this institution that was begun to censor letters, came to censor everything else. See our video at: http://yesterdayneverhappened.com/ That is what Coase refrained from explaining! For our part we began documenting our research discoveries in a series of academic monologues, and you can read still read them here, free of charge : http://foundthreads.com/ ![]() As a result of our research, in 1986 we also made a recorded program in two segments that was promoted over KRQX and KZEW in Dallas, Texas. We called that recording the 'Story of Radio' and it was made years before our academic work was published. You can still hear it in two parts at: https://www.mixcloud.com/mervyn-hagger/4fws-1986-kzew-part-one-story-of-radio/ and: https://www.mixcloud.com/mervyn-hagger/4fws-1986-kzew-part-two-story-of-radio/ In the passage of time we continued our research, but unfortunately, back in 1986 when we made the 'Story of Radio', we also relied upon the documented fake history of offshore radio. It was a collection of lies and deceit which had been previously spread by Ronan O'Rahilly, using scripts written by Ian Cowper Ross.
The year before we made that recording called 'Story of Radio', Don Pierson had given us his legal and financial records relating to his creation of Wonderful Radio London; Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio. It is now clear to us that his documents show that back in 1964, Don Pierson had reacted in response to the fake news reporting emanating from England due to the lies and deceit of Ronan O'Rahilly and Ian Cowper Ross. It has taken us years to uncover the true story, and we are still working on it. But back in 1986 we still believed the Ronan O'Rahilly version which had been reported in various books, magazines, newspapers, as well as radio and television documentaries. We did not know that Ronan O'Rahilly was working with his father while being paid as a 'decoy duck' by others to obscure the real story. Now we know that everything that this man said was a polluted version of true events. Unfortunately, although we readily admit our mistakes, some like Paul Rusling have come along and stolen our research and then they have twisted it to prop-up the lies and deceit of Ronan O'Rahilly and Ian Cowper Ross. Why did Rusling do this? For personal financial gain at our expense, and to support the fake legacy of a tiny community licensed station which in 2020 is calling itself 'Radio Caroline'. While we do not claim to have uncovered every little detail concerning the real story behind the creation of the real Radio Caroline (1964-1967), we have uncovered enough to now press ahead with our new book. It still retains the working title of 'Dial 999 for Caroline' which becomes increasingly apropos the more we uncover the true story. Therefore it is still very likely that this will be the title that we will retain when the book is published later this year. Tomorrow, part 6 in the current series about Greenore. ![]() As we reported yesterday, on this date the hard work of Bernard Rafferty brought about the reopening of the Port at Greenore. Mr Rafferty was a member of Fianna Fáil, and from 1960 to 1967, he was Cathaoirleach promoting the interests of the County of Louth, in which the Port of Greenore is located. Bernard Rafferty brought together the State controlled CIÉ who had responsibility for all manner of transportation in the Republic of Ireland, and it was in liaison with its equivalent political body in Northern Ireland. The two agencies enabled cross-border transportation to take place. Back on April 23, 1958, the Dáil Éireann had approved the re-application of government-backed loans taken out by Weatherwell Ltd., for other use, after the initial Weatherwell plans failed to materialize. Those loans made the two Weatherwell purchases of property at Greenore (railway station and hotel), possible. In addition to the money angle, which, as we previously noted, also provided Weatherwell Ltd with operating expenses at Greenore, this money was used to build a container crane on the quay. It also enabled Weatherwell Ltd to enter into a shipping contract with Mountwood Shipping Company Ltd., of Liverpool, England. That company then began directing its motor vessel and container ship 'Friendship' to begin exporting products to England. Those initial products were made by Weatherwell Ltd. But lest we forget another key event that we microscopically detailed, and which also took place on this date, we will re-introduce it again here, together with other related information. Readers will then begin to understand the bigger picture which we liken to a pebble thrown into a pond that causes ripples to spread out in all directions. Now we ask you to turn back the pages of this Blog to 'Life & Times of Aodogán O'Rahilly, part 3 ....'. That edition which was dated 9/1/2020, explained: "This biographical sketch of Aodogán O'Rahilly's life will show that he was a businessman with a very clear idea of what he wanted to achieve, and it will also reveal how his lack of money and a downturn in his business had frustrated and thwarted his endeavors. It was during one such downturn that his son showed up on his father's doorstep with Allan James Crawford in tow." We also explained that: "....Charles Orr Stanley, (was) an Irishman with a home near Cork in the Republic of Ireland. His home was also 'next door' to a major shipyard where REM Island was constructed. Stanley was Chairman of the Pye Group of companies, and he owned several factories. One of them in Northern Ireland was in need of a better means of exporting its products to the island of Great Britain." We also explained that the: ".... Radio Atlanta project and its spin-off of Radio Caroline were co-based in both Ireland and Texas, in parallel with the REM Island venture! But REM Island construction was based in Cork, in the Republic of Ireland, while its master planners were based in Houston, Texas. The anoraks have focused upon the end-user who was based in the Netherlands. So this idea about the novelty of Greenore in the Republic of Ireland has more to do with the secrecy of Charles Orr Stanley and his colleagues in Texas, than it has to do with a quid-pro-quo arrangement between Ronan O'Rahilly and Allan James Crawford." Radio Caroline was a spin-off from Radio Atlanta, and it was necessitated by demands from Houston for a guinea-pig vessel to test the application of British law. That test had to take place before the mv Mi Amigo would be leased to Project Atlanta Limited. That is why another vessel named Fredericia was obtained. The Fredericia was originally bound for the Isle of Wight under the joint control of Captain De Jong Lanau of Wijsmuller, and Harry Spencer who had mast and rigging facilities on the Isle of Wight. But after the Fredericia left Rotterdam bound for the Isle of Wight, it was diverted to Greenore at the last minute. So here was Allan Crawford in company with Aodogán O'Rahilly's son Ronan. Crawford was seeking permission to tie-up both the Fredericia and later the Mi Amigo at the reopened Port of Greenore,. But remember, Aodogán O'Rahilly did not own the Port of Greenore. A company named Weatherwell Ltd based just outside Dublin had bought two adjoining properties at Greenore, and those purchases were made possible by government-backed loans. After permission had been granted to divert the use of additional funds, those reapplied loans were used to build the container crane that was later used to fit the masts on both the Fredericia and Mi Amigo. It was Bernard Rafferty who pulled together all of the players for the greater good of the County of Louth, and this included getting Irish Customs to reopen the Port and for Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ), to bring together the road transportation services that made it possible. As we will be explaining in future editions, the reopening of the Port of Greenore did not go as planned because in July 1960 the cross-channel business did not take off, and once again this left Aodogán O'Rahilly short of cash. Riding to Aodogán's financial rescue in early 1964 came his son Ronan with Allan Crawford in tow. At that moment in time the Fredericia needed to enter a port. It was then at sea and it had just been diverted from the Isle of Wight after leaving Rotterdam. Aodogán needed cash. A deal was struck to use the Greenore facility in strict secrecy. As we previously reported: "The last thing that Aodogán O'Rahilly could afford to do was upset and annoy the governments of either the Republic of Ireland or the United Kingdom. His future business relied upon help from both governments." But what kind of business was Ronan O'Rahilly bringing to his father? A pirate radio ship business, and it was a secret venture due to a failure of prior attempts to start a British offshore radio station. The last such attempt involved GBOK which had been foiled by the British General Post Office. Now the ship Fredericia and a second ship called Mi Amigo were a part of a new attempt, and they were bound to .generate fierce political debates in Parliament that would be splashed in headlines printed by the British press. Ronan O'Rahilly had been sent to London to whip-up business for Weatherwell Ltd., and this is what he had accomplished. Unfortunately it came with stings-attached, and they raised the flag of danger for Weatherwell Ltd and Aodogán O'Rahilly. So was this just a Crawford venture, or was there something far more substantial behind it that could have a common-link with cross-border container shipping? Crawford came to Aodogán O'Rahilly with links to wealthy people who then began to populate his company called Project Atlanta Limited. Crawford did not need money, he needed a port. Project Atlanta Limited had been registered in August 1963, but there was another company behind that company, and it controlled Project Atlanta Limited. This company, which we will be unravelling in due course, had a line that began in 1960 with Charles Orr Stanley. In that year Charles Orr Stanley had his own cross-border export problems at Larne in Northern Ireland, and they had erupted simultaneously in the press with the reopening of the Port of Greenore in the Republic of Ireland. Making all of this extremely complicated was the secret agenda of Charles Orr Stanley to overthrow the monopoly of the GPO-BBC who controlled both radio and television broadcasting in the United Kingdom. Stanley had succeeded in his second mission with the establishment of the Independent Television Authority (ITA) and its sponsored program contractors. But his first target, which tied back to the same people who had been involved in the pre-WWII undertakings of both Radio Normandie and Radio Luxembourg, remained elusive. Then in 1960 came the specter of Pilkington and so to force the Tory government's hand, Stanley had created the 'packaged radio station'. The first Pye 'package station' was built at the Royal Agricultural Show in Cambridge, and it was on the air between July 5 to July 8, 1960. Charles Orr Stanley represented money and a blueprint that also demanded secrecy because he was playing two sides against the middle. His long term goal was in getting the UK Tory government to license hundreds of local radio stations in the United Kingdom, but he could not tip his hand to show that he was also the person who was ultimately behind the creation of Radio Caroline!
The Pye Group of companies dominated by Charles Orr Stanley, had big government contracts to satisfy. They involving both military projects as well as broadcasting equipment ordered by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Charles Orr Stanley had just published the Pye 'Plan for Local Broadcasting in Britain', and his Cambridge station was part of his scheme to create a public demand for something that the British Establishment did not want to provide. With the BBC and ITA it could control political and religious speech, but if independent sponsored commercial radio came on the scene following the American pattern, then that power of control which had been exercised through its General Post Office since 1660, would be lost. Charles Orr Stanley was counting on political demand from the British electorate to smash down the barriers to licensing and open the doors to his ready-to-go 'packaged radio stations' like Radio Cambridge. Stanley was not trying to program anything, but he was linked to Ross Radio Productions whose job it was to make sponsored radio progams. Again as previously stated: "Aodogán O'Rahilly was thus in a difficult position. He wanted investment money, and this does appear to be the real reason why his son Ronan had been sent to London in the first place." But this web of deceit and misdirection involved much more than just British offshore radio, and the project known as REM island. The real story involves discovering how various threads link like a pebble dropped into a still lake to send out ripples in all directions. That lake is a body of law, and its study has revealed a gigantic and hitherto undiscovered core story which has only recently come to light via this research project. Tomorrow, we will continue to unravel more about the surrounding contemporary events in the period from 1960 to 1963, although the full story will only be told in context within 'Dial 999 for Caroline', later this year. Note that while Weatherwell Ltd was the first customer, the Port has been officially opened by Irish Customs with input by CIÉ, and it has all been brought together politically by Bernard Rafferty. The ship was owned by a British firm based in Liverpool. Meanwhile, up the coast in Northern Ireland, one of the Pye Group of companies was also complaining about the lack of export services that were available to take Pye products from their factory in Larne, to the mainland of the United Kingdom: ![]() Cross-border transportation was also an area of concern that CIÉ had inherited from the days of the cross-border rail service from Dublin to Belfast, and it shared those concerns with its opposite number in the Northern Ireland government. When all of the factors are addressed, it is clear that while Weatherwall Ltd had bought the hotel and railway station at Greenore, and thus the land to the water's edge, it had not bought the port itself, because that could only be controlled by Irish Customs and CIÉ. As previously noted, Weatherwell Ltd., was not flush with money and both its purchases of the hotel and former railway station, together with operating costs, had come from government-backed loans for a project that never took off. Consequently this first export shipment from the reopened Port of Greenore, was for Weatherwell products exported to England. The ship taking them there was chartered for that purpose from a company based in Liverpool. Greenore Ferry Services had become an additional trading name of Weatherwell Ltd. The most that can be said in praise of this small step to revive the economy of Greenore is that it was a tentative step taken on a financial shoestring. However, it did give Aodogán O'Rahilly cause to wonder if this new activity could also help to revive the now derelict Greenore hotel which Weatherwell Ltd had also bought. This stumbling start in 1960 almost fizzled before it gained momentum, due to a lackluster economy. Aodogán O'Rahilly needed both cash and customers for his chancy investments at Greenore to turn around. It was at this moment in time during the following year, that his son Ronan O'Rahilly appeared in London, and he was looking for opportunities. As we shall see, Ronan O'Rahilly had by no means deserted the family business, and this is how he came into contact with a world where money was being made and then reinvested in unconventional ways by unconventional people. It was not a world of hippies but a societal world controlled by layers of aristocratic snobbery; laissez faire business, and a segment of the Establishment. ![]() Unlike Aodogán O'Rahilly who was born in 1904 at Hove, England, Charles Orr Stanley {left) was born in 1899 at Cappoquin, County Waterford, Ireland, and Charles Orr Stanley is the real unsung hero of British broadcasting and offshore radio, as we shall be showing the world in this Blog, and in the book 'Dial 999 for Caroline'. This report is from a Belfast newspaper, and across the border in Northern Ireland, an area which had a financial interest in seeing this port reopened.
Notice that Eire Customs are in charge and moving into an office at Greenore, which they abandoned "about 12 years ago". That was when the cargo service was terminated at the Port of Greenore, but the passenger ferry service had been terminated long before that. The last train left Greenore at the close of 1951 and gradually everything at Greenore, including its hotel had been abandoned. Into this void stepped Weatherwell Ltd of Clondalkin near Dublin. This company received government-backed loans to buy various properties with a view to creating a new manufacturing plant at Greenore, after demolishing the existing structures. That did not happen. Then Bernard Rafferty (who we have highlighted in earlier editions of this Blog), stepped in and began beating a drum and drawing attention to the economic plight of Dundalk and Greenore. It was Bernard Rafferty who got the ball rolling by highlighting the poor state of roads that linked the Republic of Ireland with Northern Ireland. He also noted the diminished railway system and the closed port at Greenore. After the Dáil had debated (as far back as April 23, 1958), the question of whether the loans taken out by Weatherwell Ltd could be used for another purpose (see this Blog for 9/18/2020), and then given the okay, a way was clear to use that money to establish new dockside fixtures at Greenore. Then the port could be reopened to commercial traffic, rather than being restricted to Weatherwell Ltd. To accomplish this, Weatherwell Ltd had to allow the Irish Customs to return and use property now owned by Weatherwell Ltd., and also get the backing of Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ). As previously noted, this entity originally gained power under the Transport Act of 1932. Then CIÉ was able to compulsorily acquire the road haulage business that competed with that part of the Great Northern Railway which operated within the Republic, but it was not until 1958 that CIÉ gained control of that part of the Great Northern Railway as well. That was the same year that the Dáil approved the use of loans given to Weatherwell Ltd., to be used for purposes other than those originally stated. Within approximately two years from that date a new Master Plan was conceived and put into play with very little new money. To add any additional value to its property purchases at Greenore, Weatherwell Ltd needed a contract with CIÉ and the services of Irish Customs. Bringing all of that together was Bernard Rafferty who became an increasingly important man in the life of Aodogán O'Rahilly who was the managing director of Weatherwell Ltd. Following years of disappointing commercial downturns and investments in properties at Greenore that had little commercial value at the time, this new venture had the hallmarks of turning around the fortunes of Weatherwell Ltd., and Aodogán O'Rahilly personally. Other writers have not attempted to untangle this complicated series of events, but they have carelessly thrown around terms which make it appear that Aodogán O'Rahilly had thought out his future and the future of Greenore from the word "go". Such was not the case, and in mid-1960 the beginning of the end of disappointments was now dawning for the O'Rahilly family. While CIÉ and Irish Customs put their seal of approval on the reopening of the Port of Greenore, and the re-appropriation of funds allowed Weatherwell Ltd to install new infrastructure on the site of the old railway station, the business necessary to make it all work came from across the border in Northern Ireland. We will explain that link tomorrow, because it relates to the future creation of Radio Caroline, four years later. ![]() The answer to yesterday's Blog editorial about C.I.E. is in part bound-up with the reason why we have taken a microscopic-media approach to explain how Greenore became so important, and why Radio Caroline was created, and who created it. The problem we have faced is three-fold. First, the books and magazines and newspapers, as well as the television and radio documentaries that all want to tell the world about Radio Caroline, have had no concern for the facts = NONE!
Some, like Paul Rusling have actually stolen our research which we paid for in time and money, and then he rushed ahead with a vanity publication called 'The Radio Caroline Bible'. Because Rusling did not understand the subject; nor was he interested in research and the tedious study of old documents; he married fact with existing fiction to keep the silly story of 'Jimmy Ross' alive, while propping up lies and distortions about a con man named Ronan O'Rahilly. Second, the people who have a specialized interest in both the histories of Ireland and Northern Ireland, have also mixed fact with fiction in order to tell their versions of a story. They have relied upon generalizations but they have not paid attention to details. In so doing they have also made a total mess of history. Third, another story, a back-story which is really key to understanding the origins of British offshore radio, has become obfuscated by Dutch anoraks. They have tried to deal with offshore broadcasting off Holland as if it was a self-contained national story, and in so doing they have also concealed the revelation of what is undoubtedly the biggest factor of all: international law. Yes, they have addressed that issue, but they have done so with a limited perspective, but the key to understanding that subject was published by an industry unrelated to offshore broadcasting. We will will have a lot more to say about this in the book 'Dial 999 for Caroline' which we still intend to publish before the end of this present year. But in addition to all of the above is another problem. It has to do with the promotion of a story about Ronan O'Rahilly's grandfather and the seizing of a 1916 series of events, and marrying them to a 1964 series of events. The two are not connected in any way. However, Ronan was assisted in his storytelling by his father who wrote a book about his father, who was of course Ronan's grandfather. By mixing that distant fable with the fable created by Ian Cowper Ross concerning his father, to which was added yet another fable about a 5 years-old girl called Caroline Kennedy, the entire story of Radio Caroline has been totally obliterated from view. Now add one more (there are actually several more) layer of misinformation to this pile of total deceit, and this one concerns yet another book published by yet another son and grandson of two individuals who are at the core of the true story about Radio Caroline. It is no wonder that no one knows what really happened on February 27, 1964. We now have a pretty good idea, which is not to say that we know all of the fine details, because we don't. But we now do have access to enough details that form the central theme of the true story. Finally, there is the man Aodogán O'Rahilly and the manufacturing company that he managed called Weatherwell, Limited. Aodogán was born in England and he married an American citizen. He dallied at school with communism, but not to the extent that he got himself barred from going to the USA in the aftermath of World War II when the Cold War was just getting ramped-up. Aodogán was seeking U.S. financial help which was being dished-out to nations under the Marshall Plan. Aodogán O'Rahilly was a capitalist. He was not a nationalist who got blinded by a political cause that precluded him from seeing the wood for the trees. There is no doubt that Aodogán O'Rahilly became a loyal supporter of an independent Ireland, but then, so are we. Our academic monologues have spelled-out the ruthless domination of the British Crown which has attempted to rule the world from London, England. But Aodogán O'Rahilly was also an astute businessman who could see that he needed to stay on the politically correct side of all of the governments that he was deaTing with, and they included the Republic of Ireland; Northern Ireland; the United Kingdom ruled from London, England, and the United States of America. Aodogán O'Rahilly received money to buy property and the working capital that came with it, from government-backed loans. For Aodogán to attack any government connected to that money would have been financial suicide. His son Ronan may have been stupid, but his father was not. When Aodogán O'Rahilly discovered what was really going on at Greenore concerning the two radio ships, which seems to be after the mv Fredericia had departed, he told Harry Spencer who was still working on the mv Mi Amigo, to get out. That situation was agrevated by a Granada TV film crew who upset the locals even more when their program called 'World in Action', was televised. This preamble brings us back to the question we raised yesterday about C.I.E. because it gives the impression that everything began on July 30, 1960, when that story about C.I.E. was published by the press. In reality, the year is right, but there were important events that led up to July 30 which we will also address in tomorrow's Blog. However, we promised to explain what C.I.E. was in 1960, and we will do that now by letting C.I.E. provide their own answers which you can also find in more detail at: https://www.cie.ie/Who-We-Are/History-of-CIE "Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ), was founded on 1st January 1945 under the Transport Act 1944. It united the Great Southern Railways (GSR) and the Dublin United Tramway Company (DUTC). The GSR operated rail, bus and lorry services. It had come into existence in 1925 when all the railway companies lying wholly within the Free State were amalgamated into one concern. Under the Transport Acts of 1932 and 1933 the GSR was given the right to compulsorily acquire its road competition. It’s most notable acquisition was the Irish Omnibus Company - the ancestor of Bus Éireann. The DUTC was established in 1896 and rapidly established a network of electric tram services throughout the capital city. From the early thirties it built up a network of bus routes which gradually displaced the tram services. To this day most Bus Átha Cliath routes between 1 and 30 are former tram routes. CIÉ ran Dublin trams until 1949, when the last trams were replaced by buses. The DUTC became the Dublin City Services sector of CIE and its route network expanded with the city. CIÉ commenced operations on 1st January 1945 as private company with shares traded on the Dublin stock exchange. The Transport Act 1950 transformed CIÉ into a semi state body, and in the process absorbed the Grand Canal Company. In 1958 CIÉ absorbed the road and rail services of the Great Northern Railway, which lay within the republic. This company had previously operated as a cross border body jointly managed by the two governments. The fifties and sixties witnessed a mixture of modernisation and downsizing. The railway replaced steam locomotives with diesel locomotives, being one of the first companies in Europe to do so. The bus fleet was modernised. Some railway lines were closed and replaced with CIÉ bus and lorry services." Tomorrow: Unfolding the interwoven interests in Greenore during the year 1960 .... |
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