Radio and TV - Memories and Favourites

Thanks MR, it must be my birthday or so I thought, all the 'Greats' on that link. I am off to make a cuppa and have a looksee !

Oh thank you Midland Red .... that phrase still has the tears rolling down my face .......

Did anyone actually win anything using Horace Batchelor's infamous "infra-draw method" as advertised on Radio Luxembourg? .... to this day I know how to spell KEYNSHAM... it was repeated so often.... and I can still recite We are the Ovaltinies word for word..... and tell the time with my H Samuel 'Everite' watch.

Horace Batchelor on Wikipedia There's a great site about Radio Luxembourg here

We lived in Luxembourg for a couple of years at the end of the 70's. when we had been there a few months Radio Luxembourg started a local radio station in English every afternoon. It was so good to be able to listen to something I did not have to try and translate. Barry Alldis used to do a regular slot and I entered a competition once and won an LP, Daryl Hall and John Oates. I believe he died not long after we came home. Another DJ who was on regularly was Steve Wright.

He always introduced himself as "Your DJ, BA"

The Infradraw System was revealed to one and all sometime in the 80s. If Horace could get, say 100,000 people using his system and suppose that each punter paid him £1 then Horace would have £100,000 to play with and suppose betting was a penny a line the probability of getting multiple small and larger winnings was very likely. I think that Horace was on 10% commission so he had a nice little earner going for him. Football results like the lottery are totally random so there never can be a foolproof system that will stand the test of time. Yes. We are the Ovaltinies happy girls and boys. At work and play we are more than keen. No happier children could be seen. Because we all drink Ovaltine we are happy girls and boys. What a load of hog wash, Norman.

To me he was a tipster and like most tipsters gave different numbers to different people, thus someone won and made him money like Ras Prince Monolulu, in the fifties tipsters,the con men,the three pot game, all travelled on their own coach from London to the race tracks, and so did the beef sandwich guy. The best money game of the fifties was the fixed odds on three draws, started at 48/1 dropped to 40 then 33 down to no score draw not included, by that time the bottom had dropped out. In the fifties it was found out that a horse could line up in the Grand National without ever jumping a fence in public so they changed the rules. Batchelor's system was no different than a bookmaker, take in a huge sum of money, take out at least 10 per cent or more. Norman, do you remember a horse called Hill House, won the Schweppes, trainer called before the stewards, trainer proved it made its own dope, case dismissed.

I was watching a lady trying to sell an ancient bakelite radio on the TV recently and it brought back memories of when I was about 12 or 13. It was before the pirate radio stations began, so I used to listen to Radio Luxembourg. We had a large bakelite radio downstairs on the sideboard, so when everyone had gone to bed I used to sneak downstairs, unplug the unwieldy thing, and cart it off to my bedroom so I could listen late at night with the volume really low so I wouldn't get found out. The annoying thing was, if you were listening to a favourite pop tune, the sound would fade out from time to time, always when a good one was playing. I think Keith Fordyce was one of the DJs. There was an advert for the pools or a way of winning money giving the address and ending with Keynsham, Bristol ... spelt K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M which I used to find really irritating. Eventually a boyfriend who worked at the GEC made me a super portable radio and I was in my element with that - no more sneaking off with the old mains set then!

Janey - look above to post #93 onwards regarding Horace Batchelor!

Yes Janey.. and look who wrote it.. Ha ha.

I see Radio Luxembourg has got a mention on here and I also think Radio Caroline. Did anybody hear of Radio Slough? Have just dug out from my wife`s papers the following telegram dated 16th December 1961 269 3.43 SLOUGH T 24 MISS DAVIDSON 100 GRANGEMOUTH RD RADFORD COVENTRY. PLEASE POSTPONE VISIT UNTIL NEW YEAR STOP AM WRITING TO EXPLAIN = JOHN THOMPSON PIRATE Heather, had submitted a demo-tape and I remember taking her down to Slough early Jan 62 to have it out with the Mr.Thompson and recover the tape, as she wanted to submit it to Midland Montage the TV magazine programme - she did hear from the TV company, but nothing more from Radio Slough - I don`t think they actually got going. She studied Speech and Drama in Coventry under Tess Randall and got a Gold Medal. I haven`t heard much more of Tess Randall, but I know she put on productions at the Tech and something tells me she was connected with the University of Warwick theatre (funnily enough I had a hand in building that being the on-site Surveyor for Gleesons)

The years that have gone are not lost to me. Their magic lingers on, their life leaps across the gulf of time. The likes of Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and many others were the first of jazz, right from the mid-twenties and thirties, the music filtered through and caught the imagination. It was a startling advance in radio, gramophone, and talking pictures in our history.

Dreamtime, I don't think I'm in favour of the fountain of youth, I can still recall the vivid horrors of that old film "Shang-ri-la" Received my renewal contract this morning for another twelve months of running about five acres of a garden estate, including four hundred grape vines. "The answer lies in the soil" now what old comedian was that? Post copied from topic When you know you have got old on 3rd Feb 2016 6:19 pm

Hi Kaga, Kenneth Williams as Arthur Fallowfield in "Beyond Our Ken"