There's a new John Peel bootleg of a forty year old pirate radio show, I didn't realise the Folkestone connection before:
As he signed off his final late-night Perfumed Garden show, pirate DJ John Peel was convinced it was the end of his brief, subversive radio career.
Now, almost 40 years later, listeners will once again experience the dying murmurs of his show when the BBC puts his last Radio London programme back on the airwaves later this month.
Peel was forced off air when pirate stations - at the time the only outlet for pop music in the UK - were outlawed in 1967, leaving him high and dry. Luckily, within days he was rescued from obscurity and signed as a launch presenter for Radio 1 and became one of Britain's best-loved and respected broadcasters.
Peel would spend two of every three weeks aboard the Galaxy, moored off Folkestone, presenting his midnight show. Because the boat was in international waters, it was beyond the reach of British broadcasting restrictions until offshore stations too were outlawed in August 1967.
This is part of my site The FG that I built in a fury of excitement when I first moved to Folkestone sometime in 2004. I'd been a frequent visitor for a while previous to that so I am technically one of those DFLs you get nowadays. The site was a lot more dynamic with a gig calendar and voting for favourite places and things, and I hear it was a useful resource for those who were thinking of moving here. Now I've moved out of Folkestone again (though just to Hythe) it doesn't get as much love as it used to. Ironic really as Folkestone itself is now becoming the exciting place we always thought it was just about to. My name is not Gerald by the way, the name comes from a fake paper in an episode of Brasseye or something, the Portsmouth Gerald, and how there is a local paper here called the Folkestone Herald. Puns like this are GRATE aren't they? Do get in touch if you have something to contribute, email anythign @ this domain, or try @folkestone or @pauly on the twitter.