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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This is where we play 'catch-up', by following other events that led up to the closure and advertised sale of just about everything at Greenore, as the year 1952 dawned.
The first and most important of these foundational events occurred at the conclusion of World War II. That primeval event was the British General Election held on July 5, 1945. When final votes were counted, it resulted in a Labour win of 393 seats out of the 640 seats available in the House of Commons. With 321 seats needed for a win, the Labour Party had a sufficient majority to push through is political agenda of nationalization. In their sites were the electricity; gas; coal; steel and railway industries, with the latter tied to the ferry industry. Prior to nationalization there were four major railway companies, each one dominating a geographic area. On January 1, 1948, the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission (BTC) took over the assets of these railway companies and eventually subdivided their administration into five regional authorities. However, shipping was not a part of their nationalization program, yet, because the railways which were heavily in debt when they were acquired, the assets of both the ferry services and the railways became co-mingled and in many instances in the hands of the Labour government. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), was the largest of the big four railway companies, and it controlled over 120 smaller railway companies which made LMS the largest commercial undertaking in the British Empire, and second largest employer after the Post Office. In 1950, there were a number of ferry companies that were not directly controlled by BTC and its operating arm of British Railways. One of them was a part of the LMS absorption which maintained a service from Hollyhead in Anglesey, Wales to Dun Laoghaire, a coastal town in the County of Dublin, and Greenore on Carlingford Lough in County Louth, Republic of Ireland. Service to Greenore was sporadic and it was restricted to cargo and livestock, but passenger service had been terminated earlier. This of course was the penultimate year before disaster struck Greenore where everything was put up for sale. Included in the sweeping nationalization program by BTC in 1948, were canals; bus services; hotels; ferries; ports and the road haulage industry. However, in October 1951 the Tories won the General Election and began to denationalize the road haulage industry. But the aging fleet of ferries were mainly bound for the scrap heap, and there was no money in the government kitty to buy new ships. The story of Greenore continues tomorrow. This project is now being synchronized to incorporate new changes to our style-sheet. These changes have become necessary in order to bring this blog and its associated pages into line with a new series of publications in book format. Details about the first of these books will be announced later this year. Additional changes will follow those that have already taken place. However, this blog will continue to proceed with the unraveling of the total media hoax that presently surrounds the origins and purpose behind the creation of Radio Caroline on March 27, 1964; which officially ended on August 14, 1967, and then faded away after that date into total oblivion when its two radio ships were finally towed away on March 4, 1968. All comments are now being redirected to the Radio Now & Then: Conversation Central site.
Based upon the dismal education that most people in the United Kingdom receive about what the United Kingdom is, and what it isn't, and the total lack of comprehension about what the Crown is, and what it isn't, and our constant references to the Republic of Ireland, we found a video lesson made some time ago, before the UK decided that it would leave the European Union, that will explain it all. So, keeping in mind that it was made before Brexit, here is a geopolitical lesson for everyone who fell asleep in boring geography and civics brainwashing during those sleep-inducing propaganda pulpit lessons that were no doubt delivered by an idiot who wasn't a teacher because that person did not understand what they were mouthing. We had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of this video, but its makers get top marks from us in just about every way imaginable, and those are compliments for its information, and the rocket-speed in which it is delivered. It should please all you adults who were once kids with ants-in-their-pants, and could not sit still for more than a minute or two. Now pay attention, it will be over before you have time to yawn ... In case you missed this reference a couple of days ago concerning the visit by Aodogán O'Rahilly to New York (see Part 4), and the reference to the 'Economic Cooperation Administration', please note these words in the illustration to the left: "Irish Importers of ECA-financed machinery and equipment from the United States." Its relevance will become self-evident why Aodogán O'Rahilly was not aiding and abetting international political problems between nations. He was drawn into a problem as a result of a secretive business quid-pro-quo arrangement that turned into a nightmare when what was supposed to be kept quiet, was then splashed in print and on a derogatory Grenada TV show called 'World in Action'. Crawford did not go to see Aodogán O'Rahilly in order to hit him up for investment money, but to solve an emergency problem in exchange for Allan Crawford paying Aodogán O'Rahilly! But the cash that greased the payment, did not come from Crawford, but from the underwriter who was behind the entire Radio Caroline project. When Jocelyn Stevens claimed on that same Granada TV show that there was no 'Mister Big' in Eastern Europe, he was telling a geographical truth. Mister Big came from near Cork in the Republic of Ireland, and his base of worldwide operations was in Cambridge, England. Contrary to a lot of nonsense from the plagiarizing fingers of Paul Rusling, we were not the first to notice that the mv Fredericia was originally bound for the Isle of Wight after leaving Rotterdam, Holland, and not for the Republic of Ireland. However, while looking for other documentation today, we stumbled across an email from a well-known and reputable offshore radio authority who had previously brought this matter to our attention! On Saturday, September 29, 1951, 'The Argus' newspaper ran this article .... On that same Saturday, September 29, 1951, edition of 'The Argus', and on the very same page as the article which is shown above concerning a drive to revive the area of Greenore - which included its then closed port, the entire village of Greenore was put up for sale at public auction by the Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway Company. The property being offered included not only the 18-hole golf course; but village houses and the Railway Hotel. The next month on Friday, November 16, 1951, that hotel was hosting the cast of the BBC Home Service program called 'Workers' Playtime'. It was broadcast from a canteen in Newry, County Down in Northern Ireland. The Railway Hotel is in the Republic of Ireland. In 1951, this was the confused and depressed state of affairs at Greenore. Tomorrow, how and why Aodogán O'Rahilly "came to the rescue"! Aodogán O'Rahilly arrived in New York in January 1946, and the next month a man he will go into business with in Kingscourt, Ireland, also shows up in New York. This is the beginning of diversification for Aodogán O'Rahilly. According to Shaun Boylan [see Part 4], he states that Aodogán O'Rahily had decided to diversify by adding the manufacture of plasterboard to his concrete tile business. Meanwhile, Aodogán's brother, the man who wanted Nazi Germany to defeat the United Kindgdom, was also in the news. He was a barrister practicing law who was also known by the name of 'The O'Rahilly'. But Aodogán was not out to antagonize anyone, he was an Englishman by birth, living in Ireland who was married to a U.S. citizen. He was out to make money the legitimate American way of free enterprise, which is why he also sought financial help from the USA. Those Post-War years of the late Nineteen Forties were dominated by the after-effects of a speech made on June 5, 1947 at Harvard University. That speech was delivered by George C Marshall and its subject matter became known as the 'Marshall Plan'. It was intended as a starting point to repair and restore war-torn Europe. The U.S. commemorative postage stamp above, represents the targeted area of the Marshall Plan which the USSR refused to endorse. It set up a rival operation. Of the sixteen countries that did sign-up to participate, one of them was Ireland. In Europe A 'Committee of European Economic Cooperation (CEEC) was established to administer the application of those funds, and in the USA its counterpart was called the 'Economic Cooperation Administration'. It was this kind of assistance that Aodogán O'Rahilly was after, and he had credentials from the Irish government to confirm his abilities. Aodogán O'Rahilly was not a reckless rebel without a cause. He was a patriotic Irish businessman trying to succeed in a world of commercial competition. His son Ronan on the other hand was not a chip off the old block. Ronan was a sponge soaking up the lives of other people and hurting many in the process. MWhen the railway service closed down at Greenore in 1951, the links to both Newry in Northern Ireland, and Dublin in the Republic of Ireland were severed, and consequently the entire village of Greenore was cut off from the rest of the world.
The village faced Carlingford Lough on one side; the Irish Sea flanked by a deserted port faced another side, while a very poor road service connected the remaining sides to the outside world. In addition to its deserted port and abandoned railway terminal, Greenore had an ex-railway hotel that struggled to stay in business by attracting golfers to the course that was attached to the village and its derelict facilities. Everything economically was going downhill. More, tomorrow. Even during years of World War II, the political and business stature of Aodogán O'Rahilly within Irish bureaucracy continued to grow in importance, as shown in this news report. In the aftermath of WWII, Aodogán O'Rahilly and the managing director of Bord na Móna, (former TDB), visited Sweden to inspect that country's process of producing turf-coal for use in gas works. This business visit was in addition to their pre-WWII excursions to the USSR and Nazi Germany. However, they rejected the Swedish idea and turned instead to producing peat as a fuel to be burned at Ireland's electricity generating stations, and their plan was then put into effect in Ireland over the following decades. While we now have more documented information about Aodogán O'Rahilly's personal and business life, compared to next to nothing that will authentically illustrate the life of his son Ronan O'Rahilly, our account is still somewhat sketchy, but will continue to add to his biography as more information becomes available. Therefore we now move on to the Post-WWII years when much the built-up infrastructure of Europe lay in rubble. For Ireland which had played the hand of neutrality, its economic condition had more to do with British use and abuse of both its people and its land, that it did with Nazi Germany, which had now been laid waste. Into this void stepped the movers and shakers of business and politics in the United States of America. That which they had been asked to help destroy by being "over there" once again, they now set out to finance its reconstruction, in turn that provided an opportunity for Aodogán O'Rahily to further his own agenda. As you can see, Aodogán arrived in New York during January 1946, where he was hoping to conclude a deal, or two with American companies. According to Shaun Boylan [see Part 1], he states that Aodogán O'Rahily had decided to diversify by adding the manufacture of plasterboard to his concrete tile business. Unfortunately, again according to Shaun, Aodogán's sales pitch was not successful because he "....met with resistance from American firms, who held the worldwide patent for the machinery to manufacture plasterboard." Shaun then states that Aodogán "overcame that problem by designing and making his own machinery." More tomorrow, including details of how Aodogán gained control of the old railway station; hotel and dock facility at Greenore. Although Shaun Boylan's biographical sketch of Aodogán O'Rahilly's life [see Part 1], is very useful, it has too many gaps and too few dates to create a full account of his business life. But from the helpful information provided by Shaun, we can now plug-in more of that missing information from other sources. One reason for building this biographical timeline is so that we can also plug-in the scanty and heavily redacted life of his well publicized son Ronan, because we can then plug-in information concerning Ronan's life and his claims. Most of Ronan's claims were either untrue or totally exaggerated beyond recognition of a truthful account. This is especially true of the claims that center around the creation of Radio Caroline. 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. The hoax version is that Crawford went to Dublin to meet Aodogán to get him to invest in Radio Atlanta. Since Crawford is on film telling the world that he first met Ronan in "early 1963", it would mean that Crawford had already lost the mortgage on his ship THV Satellite when he went to see Aodogán O'Rahilly, because John Delaney who had been Crawford's financial backer, had already pulled out. So at that moment in time Crawford had no ship and no financial backing. What the myth-makers want you to believe is that Crawford went with Ronan O'Rahilly to see Ronan's father in order to start all over again, and that all he had to show with regards to his request for money, was a unique business plan. Crawford hoped that Ronan's father would offer him both a financial investment in Radio Atlanta, and the use of a 'port' which Ronan said that his father controlled. The problem with that myth is that Crawford's business plan was not of his own making, and second, it was not unique. The idea of having interlocking companies and trust funds scattered among various nations in order to start an offshore broadcasting station, had been used many times before by other groups. But in the United Kingdom, the inward looking planners had not been so imaginative, and they had ignored the dangers of operating in the open and under the nose of the British Crown and its GPO. In the instance of the 'Voice of Slough' and its spin-off 'GBOK' venture on board a hulk tied-up to a dock at Sheerness, this had led to a raid that not only put that venture out of business, but caused its con-man promoter Arnold Swanson to flee from England across the Atlantic where he eventually ended up in prison. Yet that venture had attracted two elements of use to Allan Crawford. The first of these was the pioneering drive of Charles Orr Stanley, 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. Another factory was at Sheerness where the 'GBOK' venture had been based. The second element in the Stanley offshore radio arsenal was the employment of two ex-BBC engineers Alfred Nicholas Thomas and John Howard Gilman. The grandson of Charles Orr Stanley discovered that his grandfather had then switched to backing the Radio Caroline venture, although for a variety of reasons, he chose to deliberately obfuscate the details. By careful research we have uncovered the original documents upon which this information is based. Unfortunately they are also lacking in specific details, so this entire project becomes a massive jigsaw puzzle which we are reconstructing. We also have to make sure that the correct pieces are then fit together. That is why an accurate biography of Aodogán O'Rahilly is so important and why Shaun's outline is so helpful. From sources in Texas we have gleaned a lot of first-hand information unobtainable anywhere else. Until Rusling decided to steal some of this data, it had not appeared in any book. What we learned is very specific. We know that Ronan O'Rahilly went to Houston in June 1963, but Ronan O'Rahilly never admitted that. Neither can Rusling document his claims without revealing his sources of information to be our research published in the now defunct 'Caroline Investigation Newletter'. What Ronan O'Rahilly did claim in public, is that he flew at some time prior January 1964 to New York in order to buy transmitters for Radio Caroline. In other places he claimed to have bought them in Galveston, which is an island in the Gulf of Mexico and part of the State of Texas. It was while on that flight that he claimed to have read an article about five years old Caroline Kennedy who was prancing around the Oval Office in the White House. It was the picture of her under the President's desk he claimed, that 'inspired' him to name 'his' new radio station Radio Caroline. Well we now know that the 'Caroline Kennedy' hoax story was not created until the Spring of 1965, which is one year after Radio Caroline first went on the air. We also know that the transmitters for Radio Nord had been made in Dallas, Texas, and then shipped, first to New York, and then from New York by an export company to Europe. This was to avoid confrontation with U.S. Customs. Again, Rusling has no explanation as to how the transmitters used by Radio Caroline got on board the mv Fredericia, and again he cannot explain his claims without revealing his theft of intellectual property. What anoraks do not seem to understand is 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. In fact, the evidence points to the intended original outfitting location for the mv Fredericia being somewhere close to East Cowes on the Isle of Wight, after it left Rotterdam. It was at East Cowes where Crawford's original ship called THV Satellite, had been docked. That is also where Harry Spencer had his Yard, and it is how Harry Spencer came to know Allan James Crawford. A tip-off at the last moment diverted the mv Fredericia from its Isle of Wight destination to Greenore in the Republic of Ireland. It was that tip-off which prompted Allan James Crawford to go with Ronan O'Rahilly to see Aodogán O'Rahilly in Dublin, and they probably left in a panic. Crawford needed to get permission to use the seldom used and under financed dock facility at Greenore, which was owned by Weatherwell Limited and managed by Aodogán O'Rahilly. Crawford needed a dock in a hurry, and Aodogán O'Rahilly was short of cash. A deal was struck to use the Greenore facility but in strict secrecy, because 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. However, the action taken by Crawford in going to see Aodogán O'Rahilly concerning the immediate problem concerning the mv Fredericia, was also tied to his upcoming problem with the mv Mi Amigo, because Crawford's leased use of that ship was conditional. It depended upon the mv Fredericia passing a test to see how the British Crown would react to a British offshore commercial radio station. Gluing all of this together was Charlies Orr Stanley who was playing two sides against the middle. His long term goal was in getting the UK Tory government to licence hundreds of local radio stations in the United Kingdom. He had previously been behind the drive to push the Tory government into creating the Independent Television Authority (ITA), and then leasing time to independent television program contractors. Stanley's first attempt to create public demand for local radio was in setting up Radio Cambridge as an unlicensed station at the 1960 Royal Agricultural Show at Cambridge. This station was a demonstration built and operated in support of the Pye 'Plan for Local Broadcasting in Britain' which was published later the same year. Both the 1960 radio station and the publication, were part of the campaign to gain licenses for the nearly 200 local, and many of them commercial stations that had been formed.
Many of the applicants were newspaper groups, but others were companies such as the Rank Organization who branded many of their applications with the prefix: 'Voice of ...." This is where John Thompson got the name for his own Voice of Slough Limited. As for Pye, it was interested in the manufacturing end of supplying these new stations, it had no direct plan to operate any of them. Radio Caroline was in Charles Orr Stanley's mind to be a short term venture. Having been rebuffed by the Pilkington Committee, which claimed that there was no demand for local radio stations in commercial hands, it was Charles and his son John who came to the rescue of Allan James Crawford. Their idea was to use Radio Caroline as a battering ram to force the Tory government into issuing those land-based licenses. This plan also failed with the General Election of October 15, 1964 and the Labour government which then took office. For Crawford, whose interests were centered upon independent record sales and music licensing, he could not lease the mv Mi Amigo until the mv Fredericia had proved that the UK would not seize it, despite it being anchored in international waters. The key to Crawford's belief that the UK would not seize the mv Mi Amigo, was in his research of the so-called UK 'Hovering Acts' of the Nineteenth Century. But Gordon McLendon who had a controlling interest in ownership of the mv Mi Amigo, was not convinced. During the late Fifties he had been part of a competing team which included Charles Orr Stanley in trying to get the Republic of Ireland to award his company with the contract to build Ireland's television stations. In return, he expected the Irish government to award him with another license to build and operate a super-power 'Radio Luxembourg' type of station which would blanket the British Isles and much of Western Europe. 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. Clearly Crawford lacked money because he had lost his main backer, and clearly his plans revolved around leasing the mv Mi Amigo, but that entire issue became very complicated when Alfred Nicholas Thomas and John Howard Gilman who both worked for Charles Orr Stanley, came into Crawford's life. They offered a solution but in so doing, they created a lot of involved headaches which Crawford had never thought about. We will extrapolate those details later, but right now we are gong to return to documenting the life of Aodogán O'Rahilly after World War II. That is when Ronan was a mere five years old. Our recital will resume tomorrow. |
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