The Bernard Doherty Story who started as Alan Day (with IDEA)

by Alan Lawrie

The headline news was brought to the press by Bernhard Doherty, Press Officer and Publicist for the Stones, Tina Turner and Paul McCartney. You don’t get bigger in the music industry than Bernhard. But did you know his career started with IDEA as Alan Day?

I remember Bernard as ALAN DAY, and this was the first picture he presented me with. He was one of the very first DJ’s I booked in the early days of my IDEA agency back in 1969. He was tall, always cheerful and bristled with confidence and humour. He was great fun to work with and I recall the legendary rock club CUE CLUB.in Gothenburg, Sweden where I had contracted him loved him and wanted more DJs like him. He worked Circle Club in Copenhagen and then toured for the best part of a year in Scandinavia and then disappeared to London where he took up new challenges.

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Bernard writes

I arrived in Copers for the first time (booked into Tivoli gardens by Neils Wenkens ) ... very soon after that you took me on. I remember your office in Nyhaven ... you had a Danish partner at that time can’t recall his name but he was very funny. Names of DJs around then: . Micky Lee mad person , Andy Rose ,who went on to be a big wig in Satelite TV in the UK ..we became good pals sadly died 6 years ago. Another long term pal local lad who worked at Bristol Music record shop Kent Munch who went on to be top record company man in London ..his son lived in my first flat in Greenwich around 1981

I lost touch with him until recently, but here is his story told by a journalist, Chris Scott. (I quote, with Bernhard’s permission)

Described by business partner Claire Singers as ‘6’4” of great fun’, there’s something of the entertainer about LD Publicity CEO Bernhard Doherty. A self-confessed music obsessive, he speaks with a dulcet southern tone reminiscent of a generation of rock legends, many of whom he has worked with, and many more of whom are competently impersonated in his repertoire of anecdotes.

Growing up in a musical environment (his parents taught ballroom dancing, his brother played guitar in a band), Doherty devoted hours of his youth to hanging around clubs and record shops, building up a huge and diverse musical knowledge. However, on leaving school with one O level, he found himself, ‘like everyone else in Chelmsford’, working at the Essex country town’s Marconi factory.

At the age of 18, an application for a job as a DJ in Copenhagen, advertised in Melody Maker, presented Doherty with the opportunity to foresake a life of making nuts and bolts.Working the club circuit in Scandinavia, he became associated with the overseas tours of a variety of progressive rock bands: ‘I was the guy who used to show them the best clubs and places to go.’

On his return to London, he brought with him a huge address book of managers and promoters, as well as an ‘obsession’ with working in the music industry. A spell of odd-jobbing and work as a roadie led to a job as a runner with Island Records. It was from there he graduated to working as a tour publicist, travelling the world trying to break bands in different territories.

After a stint at Hannibal Records, Doherty made the leap into agency work when a vacancy arose with Rogers and Cowan. Enlisted to set up the firm’s music department, the move from Indie label to transatlantic agency came as something of a culture shock: ‘they were like Rolls Royce. They had suits, they had expense accounts, they had an office! People in there actually had assistants, and cake on Fridays!’

Starting with David Bowie as a client, Paul McCartney and Tina Turner were soon added to the roster. ‘I went from doing obscure world music and little punk bands to - OMG - world dominating bands and selling out stadia. It was a huge learning curve.’

The romance ended in 1988, when Shandwick bought up the agency, and Doherty found the new owners not to his liking. ‘Rogers and Cowan had been lots of departments having a great time, but then we had to start form filling if we spent ten minutes working on Tina Turner and so on. I couldn’t deal with it. I was completely disillusioned.’

It was when he met Singers that the ‘idea in his head’ began to become something more tangible. The duo teamed up with Wendy Laister, using Doherty’s profile in the music industry to expand her five-year-old Laister-Dixon PR firm. In a period of six months following his arrival, the agency signed Guns ’n’ Roses and Aerosmith, before ‘Mick Jagger and Keith Richards phoned me up and said ‘We’re with you Bernard.’ (The impersonation of the frazzled rock stars is impeccable). Tina Turner soon Followed, before the firm got taken on to handle the BRIT AWARDS.

BRITs executive producer Lisa Anderson first encountered Doherty in her role as MD of RCA records in the 1980s. when she moved to handle the Brit Awards, LD was her first choice to handle the event: ‘Bernard has been a key player in reinventing the perception of the show. I trust his judgement on all PR on the show, whether in fair weather or foul! If something is going awry, Bernard is my first call!’

The rebranding of the ceremony from the ‘in joke’ of the slapstick early ceremonies into the slick event of today is cited as one of his proudest achievements, including nurturing Oasis versus Blur battle of the mid-1990s.

Perhaps one of the most ambitious projects undertaken by the agency occurred towards the end of last year (article written 2001) when LD undertook a mammoth promotional tour for the Back Street Boy’s Black and Blue album involving a private jet, a film crew, and four continents.

The agency’s roster is admirably diverse, ranging from Limp Bizkit to Elvia. Yet Doherty does not believe it necessary to to be a fan of an artist to publicise them. ‘If you love Italian food worked in an Italian restaurant and it was all you saw all day, you’d soon develop a taste for Chinese or Thai. It’s the same sort of thing with music.’

Career highlights include 1983 Joining Rogers and Cowan, 1985 Working on Live Aid, 1989 Joining LLaister-Dixon (now LD Publicity) and 1991 winning BRITs account.

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Alan Lawrie writes

After a fifty year break, I finally reconnected with Bernhard with a long, fascinating phone call just a few months ago (Dec 21). He had just returned from L.A. having done the publicity on the latest Rolling Stones tour of USA. When Charlie Watts died, the news , of course, was headline his picture in every newspaper and the Rolling Stones publicist - Bernhard Doherty announcing the sad news. I thought then I must get in touch. Today, Bernard has retired as CEO for LD Publicity and can be heard on Planet Rock Radio every Friday night.

Interview With John West

And, how he founded the greatest Karaoke company in the world.

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Hi John, where do you come from, where you born?

I come from the industrial north of England, Born in Blackburn.

You just told me that when it snowed up there, the snow turned black!

Yes, back in the day Blackburn was the world capital of the cotton industry because the environment is pretty harsh and very damp, and cotton needed to be kept in a damp state which made it good for spinning.

The spinning and all the industrialisation and mechanisation was built around the cotton industry. All the cotton factories and mills, had great big chimney stacks hence the pollution.

Interesting, I didn’t know about that.

We can get to the Karaoke bit later, but you told that you and Doug Styles bought BLUE HEAVEN in Esbjerg, Denmark? What is the story behind that?

Well Doug was working as a DJ obviously for Gerry Coard, your competitor, he managed to work his way into managing a night club called TARANTELLA in Skien, Norway, he then ended up buying one of the old IDEA gigs, Chinatown in Skien. When he took it over he asked me to be the DJ there. That led us to start a small entertainment agency where we brought lookalikes/soundalike artists and dance troupes from the U.K. Pans People type dancers and sold these shows to clubs in Norway.

I never even heard about this…

Yes, I think it was Bim Bollen who replaced me some years later, or whenever I left.

When was this?

It must have been about 84 or 85. It was quite successful and a lot of fun. So, then Doug, who was together with a Danish girl - don’t know quite what happened in Skien - decided to relocate to Esbjerg. BLUE HEAVEN was quite a legendary club back in the 70s and 80s. Doug called me one day and asked me if I would be interested in coming in with me taking over BLUE HEAVEN in Esbjerg? I thought it was a nice challenge and so off I went, we took over the place and renamed it BOGARTS. It didn’t quite work out, but we made a good fist of it for a while.

So to bridge the gap between BLUE HEAVEN and…. this is so noisy here!

(Deafening roar of a lorry thundering past) whilst we are recording this in The Lanes, Brighton, hence the noise on a hot summer Friday Night……So to bridge the gap to Karaoke, where did you first see it and how did it all start? When did you first see Karaoke and recognise it would be the next big thing and that you wanted to be part of it?

Right so, BLUE HEAVEN or BOGARTS as it was named, failed, and I left there with about 15 kroner (under £2). I was with my new Danish model girlfriend at that time, not the best start to the relationship! The only thing I could do was to DJ again. I knew John Gee from NorBooking so I called him, I was desperate and broke in Denmark, I said, can you get me a gig anywhere, I need to work. Yes, he said, I can send you to Horten in Norway, a new club called LACE which turned out to be amazing. My girlfriend was working internationally at that time so she was in and out of Scandinavia and working mostly in London. We thought it might be a good idea to bring some of the clothing back that she was modelling from London to Oslo where I had moved on to a residency at the SAS Hotel nightclub “Galaxy”, so as a sideline, each time she came back from London she brought new clothes that we started selling quite successfully for good money.

That got me back on my feet financially and the guy she was working regularly for in London ultimately became my partner in the karaoke business, which I will explain more of later! My Oslo residency was through a Norwegian Agent, namely Eivind Solberg. One day I went into his office, and he had a laser disc karaoke system there, the first I had ever seen. I had used laser disc player in clubs to play music videos, but apparently this player sings to you! I thought it maybe a language difficulty the way he explained it?

We have one in a bar in Oslo, go and see it if you want, he said, I don’t know what to do with it. It’s made by PIONEER, I am a PIONEER agent, and they want me to sell it but don’t know if I can. I went to the bar and saw how it worked and thought it was amazing! People were singing with it and in all places - Norway! You don’t normally associate Norwegians with outgoing personalities! I thought if you put this in flight-cases, based on mobile discos, and went round the places I worked in Norway I am pretty sure I could sell it. The morning after, I went back to Eivind Solberg and said I think I can do something with this equipment. And, he said, ‘Brilliant, do you want to buy it?’ ‘No’ I replied ‘I’ll rent it off you, I think I can bring you in some business’. So, I rented it off him, put it in flight cases, called up a lot of venues around Norway that I had played in and charged them quite a lot of money, similar to what a band would cost them, and it worked, within three months I had three different karaoke shows touring Norway.

The tracks that were sent, did they have the text underneath?

Yes, Pioneer were great, they brought that concept to Europe but with a very Japanese spin.

My first concept of Karaoke was a news item I saw, about the latest trend from Tokyo featuring stressed out executives in some back street bar singing “MY WAY” into a microphone, as a form of therapy, certainly not entertainment. Dreadful sound, and this was how Japanese businessmen de-stressed.

That’s not far removed with Japan being such a conservative society, this is why they had these private rooms, with volume levels quite low and not to bring attention to themselves. In the west, it’s the opposite! Over there it was quite twee, you had no lights on you, pretty low-key, a kind of anonymous experience really. You had a wireless microphone which is handed round the table with no focus on the person singing at all!

So, this was the start of it, how did SUNFLY get started?

Well I was doing shows with the PIONEER equipment and the Pioneer songs which were made in Japan - they had ‘Michelle, my belle’, Carpenters “Every Sha la la la”, nice, pleasant non offensive kind of melodies, and whilst I was doing shows in Scandinavia, I thought what if we had Guns & Roses, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Phil Collins etc, who were massive stars at the time, to use on the shows, that’s what was being played in all the bars and night clubs? Unfortunately, those songs were not available, so I started making enquiries on how I could do this with the music publishers. This proved to be very difficult, also I would have to use the laserdisc format if I was going to produce, and laserdiscs were only made in Japan - apart from one other place - Blackburn, Lancashire where I came from! Amazingly Blackburn had a Philips factory who had just created a laserdisc manufacturing plant there, which was kind of bizarre and fortuitous too!

I had a breakthrough on getting licenses with the songs I thought would work. All I needed was to make the music videos and record the soundtracks! I discussed my ideas with the guy in London who my girlfriend modelled for, as I remember him telling me his brother was a video cameraman and I needed a cameraman! We had a mutual friend whom I had met a couple of times, who was a genius musician for Phil Collins and Mike and the Mechanics and I needed a music producer! So, we got together and formed a partnership in what became SUNFLY, and we made a lot of amazing soundtracks and videos. The music producer who was doing all our production knew a lot of major league rock stars and he got them in playing guitars, drums, etc and doing all kinds of backing vocals and he then did the mastering.

All the backing tracks had to be original! And did you own all the recordings?

Yes. And because of our very good and prominent connection with Genesis and Phil Collins we ended up doing all the mastering in Genesis’s studio which was absolutely state of the art! One of of the things the producer said when comparing the mastering on Pioneer laserdisc productions, was that they were audio mastered at a very low level (8-bit ) but we could redline our productions and go (16-bit) take the volume all the way up, so when they played a Sunfly produced song compared with a Pioneer song the Sunfly quality and value of the new songs would be significantly better. That became the power of SUNFLY and what helped build the brand and reputation.

So, this was the 90s? You were the King of Karaoke and had the world market?

Yes, beginning 91, 92. Not only did we have the market, but we also had the licences which most of our competitors didn’t have. Many competitors were cowboys from the off, but Sunfly paid significant royalties to do it right and stay onside with the publishers, which is why we are still alive today!

I do remember you telling me once, that apart from your fabulous success in the 90s. along came the piracy

Yes, the format changed. It was called CD +G (cd plus graphic) no video. Not many people could make video because it was very, very expensive to produce. CD + G arrived, it was just a black background on a CD with lyrics. That made it easy for pirates to produce and that compromised Sunfly significantly. Having said that, we just increased our production output during those times and whilst it hit us in one way, we took advantage in another way, we knew how to produce, we had the brand; we had the reputation, and by upping the production it actually increased our presence worldwide and increased the number of songs in our catalogue as we didn’t have to wait for our songs to be made on laserdisc, which took up to 3 months to make 15 songs! With the CDG format we could make two to three hundred tracks per month on that format and get it out to market very quickly.

How many new songs are you doing a month now?

At the moment now as we’ve got a joint venture with another company in Holland, called SUNVIG and between the two companies we are producing 200/300 songs each month. We are particularly focusing on making them in several languages including Arabic, Japanese, Korean and several as well as our mainstream U.S/U.K. productions.

You are an ideas person, where did you get the idea of making Karaoke cabins to Karaoke rooms?

And so successfully.

I saw some rooms in Japan back in the day and got approached by a company called LUCKY VOICE.

(Incidentally, John and I met for this interview in Lucky Voice, Brighton) who were owned by Martha Lane Fox who sold out her business lastminute.com for close to a billion dollars. That business meant she was often in Japan where she had seen how private karaoke rooms worked over there and brought that idea back to the U.K. in 2006 and started Lucky Voice. Now most cities have these rooms, not only in the U.K. but all over Europe and U.S.A.

By 2010 I was thinking I wanted to open private rooms using the Sunfly brand. I was working on doing this in Copenhagen, unfortunately that fell through at the last minute, however an opportunity came up in Oslo with an old colleague so I committed to invest in a bar in Oslo with the sole intention of creating private karaoke rooms and we established the Brighton Pub. I lost my nerve with the rooms concept though, what if I built the rooms and nobody came, with the costs and the rents at Oslo prices, I kind of bottled it. Yes, we did build a bar it but instead of it becoming an out and out private room karaoke venue it became a daytime bar (karaoke bar at nighttime) with a night club & DJ downstairs. After running that for 7 years, our landlords wanted to take back the property and compensated us for our investment. That was in 2017.

Just before COVID broke out in late 2019, I got a visit from a company from Holland called VIGO ENTERTAINMENT. They were quite a small company, but the guy who owned it was pretty innovative and sharp. We were discussing all things karaoke, I mentioned that I had seen these Karaoke cabins in China that were unique, and that I was considering creating a Sunfly version of them. They look very similar to telephone boxes, except with two seats in them and a built in karaoke system. I thought there could be good business to be had for them in Europe if we could place them in family entertainment centres, shopping malls airports, etc. Just as he was leaving I showed him a picture of these cabins from China, he started laughing and I said, what’s funny? He got out his phone and he said I am also interested in this concept and showed me a picture of a similar cabin already in his warehouse in Holland! However, he continued, the quality, the build and everything about it would never meet the safety or insurance requirements of the EU. I said if you are as interested as I am, we could maybe design and manufacture our own cabins. A couple of weeks later he called me and said he knew of a metal factory that produce all kinds of things out of metal, juke boxes, slot machines and so on, they think they can make this type of cabin. We came up with a design and eventually created a safe and unique product, and formed a joint venture company between Sunfly Karaoke and Vigo Entertainment and SUNVIG was born in 2019!

Are these cabins operating anywhere?

Yes, in Holland they are, however the COVID pandemic prevented us going to other markets.

In Amsterdam, there is even a customised Karaoke private coach service. Sing your heart out and see the sights!

During COVID lockdown, SUNVIG, decided not only manufacture cabins but to use the resources and innovations we had created to create a turnkey solution to create bespoke private karaoke rooms. This we developed very successfully and we are now probably world leaders with this concept.

As you said every pub has some storeroom they don’t use…and every hotel room has to earn a certain amount of money. With your approach, you show them that your Karaoke room concept can make them great profits, how do you convince management they can make better money?

They make their money by us refitting a room or rooms and installing our karaoke systems. We create a cool intimate place, a totally private room where, depending on size you can seat six, eight, ten or twelve people or more in them. The rooms are sold as an experience, which they certainly are complete with a self service karaoke system, nice furnishings, great audio visuals, even a call button that will call the waiter to come and serve drinks. The business model comes from each person paying on average £10, £12 or £15 per hour with a minimum room hire of two hours, for their own private karaoke party, (Typically, 8 guests for those two hours at £12 per hour returns £196 per room to the Hotel/Venue/Bar plus drinks - and those room(s) are likely to be booked for several hours a day. The clientele are usually groups of friends, families, work colleagues, and create a very intimate experience, and now with public awareness of things like COVID these rooms provide a safe and fun environment in the company of people that you know.

All the rooms are cleaned after each session, even the microphone have hygienic disposable covers on them.

You are going to leisure centres, resorts, cruise ships and with your performance data and corporate videos you say you can turn rooms into a highly profitable money-making business and it is growing in popularity. I believe you have just got into Richard Branson’s cruise ships.

Yes, we have the SCARLET LADY, and VALIANT LADY the new Virgin Cruise Ships, as well as other major cruise lines including Disney!

You must have felt, well, that’s it. I’ve made it now.

It wasn’t that easy, I had to go to Florida to learn the security protocols that have to be followed very strictly. Everything has to be supervised and done in accordance with the cruise companies security. We have other major cruise lines wanting our systems, we are the first in the world to install our systems onto a private jet, in doing so we had to create a whole new system for private jets to comply with aviation regulations! We’ve even done a bus that tours around where you can sing, drink and see the sights at the same time. Like a hop on hop off attraction. A sightseeing bar with karaoke (see picture)!

When I started with karaoke more than thirty years ago it was kind of embarrassing to be involved in it, there was no kudos in karaoke at all. Going from being an international DJ to fronting embryonic karaoke was the uncoolest thing ever.

When people did ask what I did back then, and I told them I own a Karaoke company, they generally tended to be dismissive and of the opinion was that it would never take off in the west, but gradually with the advent of show like POP IDOL, X-FACTOR, BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT etc, it suddenly started to gain credibility as a lot of the contestants came from karaoke bars.

It was still deemed little bit naff until perhaps the last five years, but it has now finally gained credibility as mainstream entertainment. You’ve got the movies, you’ve got the restaurants, you’ve got the Night Clubs and now you’ve got karaoke!

So here is the big question we all want to know, John, have you yourself been behind the microphone?

Oh yes, it’s not great. Some producers can’t sing so I class myself with them, but I have got good ears in terms of production values, in terms of singing, not the best!

I think this is a wonderful story and it is going to go in the book, THAT’S HOW IT WAS, but there is just one last question I think people would like to know. When we had a recent DJ Reunion back in March 22 you were down on the list to attend but suddenly you reported ‘Sorry guys, I can’t be with you, I have to be at the GRAMMY AWARDS in Los Angeles. So why did you have to go there?

Well, through the network of musicians I had met working with karaoke I got an unexpected invitation from Cristian Larrosa, of Larrosa Music Group to go to the Grammy’s and through his connections I got to know some very important musicians and producers over there including a 19 times Grammy winner, who has produced so many rock stars as well as many major Latin artists and actually attending both the Latin Grammy’s and the American Grammy’s and meeting some of the singers, musicians and producers over there that were heroes of mine was pretty amazing, some who have now become friends.

You also have quite an extensive publishing company too?

It was something I started as an offshoot of my karaoke business. I own Gung Ho Music Group Ltd, which is a music library that produces music for TV shows, movies, commercials etc.

Looking back, is there anything you regret?

Not really, no, I’ve got a lot to be thankful for. If I hadn’t taken that step from growing up in the north of England, where I was working in local government at the time, training as an accountant by day and deejaying by night. I got connected with IDEA and given the chance to be an international deejay which seemed very glamorous, and I jumped at the opportunity. My boss and chief accountant was horrified when I announced my career change and that I was going to work in a nightclub in Copenhagen. “What about your pension” he questioned (I was 20 years old) that was the clincher and removed any doubts about leaving, working 40 years to get a good pension or join IDEA!

Life is a journey not a destination!

Exactly, I found that out very quickly after I turning up up at my first venue working for you!

What is the most exciting thing you’ve ever done? What’s given you the biggest high?

There have been some pretty big highs on my journey, too many to mention in this interview, but having 3 beautiful daughters has been difficult to beat!

Barry Perrins - From Turntables to Ocean Adventurer

Some of you may remember Barry Perrins from his time in Norway in the mid 80s where he worked mainly in the North, however it is his iconic sailing adventures around the world ‘Adventures of an Old Seadog’ that this story is about. The switch and defining moment came when “in my 40s I didn’t really connect to playing music to 20 year olds anymore and whilst many of my peers were still behind a microphone I felt I needed new challenges.”

If you are like me you might enjoy thrilling, gripping television series on Netflix etc like ‘Breaking Bad’, ‘Vikings’ and BBC’s ‘ The Capture’. Binge-watchable. Brilliant productions, great scripts and acting, cutting edge technology producing it - but, of course, you know it is not real.

Barry’s ‘Adventures of an Old Seadog’ has made it into You Tube’s top 100 Adventure series of all time quoting ‘This is as exciting as it gets. A cruising adventure web series that is gritty, down to earth with videos, sailing singlehanded across the globe. Showing the bad as well as the good, the heartaches and triumphs of one man’s quest to living is dream’

All this is real time, filming as it happened, no green screening, no clever photoshopping, - raw, brutal and at times frightening footage. Through his filming and witty commentary, he will take you through the fascinating procedure of a small boat going through the Panama canal. You will see the actual island where the ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ took place and why it happened. The history of the ports that Drake and Columbus made famous. The perils and survival at sea and much more.

He talks to you about the problems and dangers on board in total honesty as if you are also there sharing the suspense, and tension wondering how he will resolve this one. With over 200 videos, you will frequently hear “I’m genuinely shit scared’ and ‘What can possibly go wrong ‘(when everything is idyllic).

So, here is an Interview with Barry Perrins with extracts from his published blogs on Facebook.

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One of the things I wanted to ask you, obviously you have had a passion for the sea a very long time, when did you switch from being a broadcaster to an adventurer?

Yes, well I always wanted to do sailing in my life. When I started out I wanted to do what nowadays are called media, write songs, make films and play music, then I discovered DJ’ing. I started doing gigs in England in the 70’s and a lot of international work from the North of Norway, Italy and down to Israel (Voice of Peace - see photo top left) But in my 40s I didn’t really connect to playing music to 20 year olds and whilst many of my peers were still behind a microphone I felt I needed new challenges so I took up Scuba Diving and was a diving instructor for four years in the Red Sea around the mid 90s. Then my parents passed away and I inherited their house which I sold and realised I could now do anything that I really wanted to do. I could buy a very expensive car or buy a modest boat and sail around the world. That was in 2014. I’ve always travelled and I’ve always loved to travel. My grandfather was a sailor and built his own boats.

So, Barry, tell me about your boat, what type is it?

It’s 11 metre - 36’, Van Der Stadt a steel boat, halfway between a diver’s boat and a Seatramp.

Built in 2004, I bought it from one previous owner, an Englishman, in Portimao, Portugal in 2014.

The Hull is brought up to a height that gives standing room below deck without a long coach-roof. The compact form and large area both on and below deck appeals to many sailors. The high freeboard ensures that less water comes on deck. The roomy interior offers a completely separate aft cabin which is safely reached below deck.

How have you managed to fund yourself?

I have always had an interest in IT and publishing which has changed so much over the last 15 years. From my uploading videos and blogs on You Tube I now have more than 100,000 subscribers. This platform has allowed more interaction with the community which in turn created its own business opportunity, and so it helps a lot with expenses and that sort of thing.

And You Tube changed from community put-up-a-video sharing to a business model.

Also from my Patreon account, whose vital donations have allowed me to fund the very high recurring expense of maintaining and repairing the boat, replacing faulty navigation equipment, outrageous marina charges in some ports (one mooring bill in Portimao was very frightening ) and obtaining spare parts to keep White Shadow afloat on some remote islands which can be up to 300% of mainland prices.

I’ve just read your terrible experience a week or two ago (December 2022) when you were stranded outside Australia and you had to be rescued and you were worried about having to get a new engine or very expensive repairs. Was that your most scary moment on the high seas? Pretty hairy, wasn’t it?

It was, but out of that frightening experience which I uploaded I raised a lot of donations from the community so that made me feel very good. Its was not the best moment in my life calling for help. It’s all about having a way out, a plan b or c, having options. My options had all run out and I needed that help. After a long hard battle in the worst weather that I’d ever experienced and with engine failure and with only 5 miles to go, I was spent.

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Here is the full account Barry uploaded to his Facebook page

RESCUED AT SEA

This is the story…

All of us have things we regret or would rather forget. Mistakes bad choices or just bad luck.

Last week I was ending my long 3 week passage to Australia. I knew it would be slow as the weather had been patchy with 3 sets of doldrums and unsettled conditions. I didn’t mind and had good spirts as I neared Bundaberg. It wasn’t until I got close to land a huge storm front got picked up by my satellite system. It was blowing hard from the south and would push me off course if I didn’t get into port quickly. Nothing happens on my boat quickly so I had to have a plan. The front was huge and spread over hundreds of miles. My first plan was to escape by turning back the way I’d come to escape its path. Having done that and having re done my sums, it became obvious that I couldn’t avoid what was coming. I turned back on course to land. My weather prediction showed that there would be a lull enough for me to get into port. This turned out not to be true . . and thats when it went wrong.

Heading Southwest beating into the wind conditions got worse and became a full gale. At least 47 knots and swell off 4 metre plus,( I think it was more 5 metre plus where I was). I got in touch via radio (Pan pan) to the emergency services just to let them know that I was there and could they watch me. I fought my way close to land and prepared to start the engine to cover the final 5 miles as it would be dead into wind.

The engine wouldn’t start, the wind came up again, the seas got humongous. I got thrown across the cabin and hurt my arm. I struggled to keep control of the boat. I had 3 reefs in the mainsail but now I had to get it down as even that was too much. A frightening 20 mins later it was done but I still could not control the boat as she kept wanting to head for the reefs close to land. Had I been far out to sea I could have hung on, but that wasn’t the case. A passing fishing boat diverted to rescue me. We had a merry dance in wild weather trying in vain to get a tow rope across. The Skipper broke his arm and had to give up. Wishing me well he departed and was soon out of sight in the maelstrom. I had not slept for two days and after fighting the situation for a further . . I don’t know how long . . I was physically and mentally spent . . decided to call for help.

The Volunteer Marine Rescue service is similar to the British Offshore lifeboat service that I worked for. (RNLI in Plymouth for ten years prior to my dream of sailing around the world) They are both crewed by volunteers who in this case left the safety of dry land one a long passage though hell to reach me. I felt for them as they came 20 miles to get me. I’d drifted that far down range and there was nothing I could do.

After several hours I saw their lights approach. It was like the hand of an angel about to pull me from the jaws of hell, I then knew for the first time that I wasn’t going to die that night.

After breaking two tow ropes we managed to secure a third made from an anchor rope. I think this was now about 9 or 10 at night. Water was being forced into the boat under pressure, from waves made more powerful by being towed into them, everything was wet. Cold and tired I managed to rest a little wedged under the cockpit cover.

9 o’clock in the morning we docked. The nightmare was over.

I swore that I’d do something for those brave people who came out in the worst weather that I have ever seen to safe my life. I never ask but I’m asking you now. As ‘Volunteer rescue Bundaberg’ are not funded by the government, it relies on donations to do the lifesaving work it does. I want to say thank you to them by raising a little money.

I'd like to thank the skipper and his wife of the fishing boat that came to assist and the risks that they took to do so. I will catch up with them after the weekend to thank them face to face. But most of all a HUGE thank you to the crew and personnel at Bundaburg volunteer rescue for their outstanding work in saving my pommy arse. Went to see them today but just missed them. Hope to see them later. Meantime dropped off some refreshments at the boathouse.

I’m still a bit banged up with a sore arm after being thrown across the cabin. A few cuts and stiff joints but mostly exhausted.

Met some viewers of the channel who have helped me out today and finally got my internet connections sorted.

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(Diary account back then…)

Monday I'll start thinking of my next plan and how or ‘if’ to fix the engine.

Thank you to all for your concern.

Big thank you to Dave Milford (Plymouth RNLI) for being my Eyes on shore and watching my back. Thanks to Cuz Malcolm for also being on the team with his sailing knowledge put into the mix. Sorry to Tina (sister) for putting her though a worrying and stressful time.

Wed 8th dec.22
The river I’m on is fast flowing and brown. It also has Bull Sharks in it. I had a lot of rope trapped under the boat in the form of broken tow lines. Sent camera on a stick down to see the situation but the viz was nil. Eventually I had to dive it. By touch alone I freed the rope.

But the big thing is . . . I FIXED THE ENGINE. Turned out to be a broken fuel line. What a relief, instead of a new engine and or a cost of thousands of Pounds, that I’d been expecting, the price was about £60!

Ha ha Bull Sharks 0

Gods of Mayhem and Destruction 0

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That is some of the flavour, raw emotion, impossible challenges Barry faced as a lone sailor on hostile seas in appalling conditions. Now, more on the perils and thrills of the yachting life, here is an interview with a fellow sailor adventurer, Magnus, (whose boat is ‘Life on a Nutshell’)

We are on White Shadow in Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas (a string of atolls in Polynesia), having coffee with Barry, the old salty SeaDog himself.

I am a bit salty and a bit old, that’s true.

Drinking coffee, incidentally, not even laced with any rum! Having a bit of a chat about his lone voyage which was truly epic.

We went out last night for a pizza I said to Barry, I'd love to chat to you about crossing because those of you out there that don't know Barry would not be aware he had a bit of an eventful trip from Panama over to Marquesas. We knew he had left Panama and no one had heard from him. So tell us about your trip.

What happened? Actually, I set off with good intentions from Panama, and, we were at the Pearl Islands, Easy Mike (Fellow sailor and Olympic Champion Snowboarder in the 90s - his Yacht called ‘Easy’) and I, him on his boat, me on mine. He shot up to Colombia I think it was with some friends and set off across the Pacific. The wind went down, weather forecast was OK, and, as you know, you can only really tell for about six days. I estimated the crossing should take around 57 days. Then the weather just turned bad on me, the winds would not let me go towards Galapagos.

The plan was never to go to the Galapagos.

So you were heading north or south?

North because the lack of wind, I looked at the currents and that said - and a lot of people agreed with me - if you sort of snake around and follow the current they’ll whip you around the top of Galapagos and down to the Trades.That was the plan and it didn’t happen. It took me 19 days just to get to Galapagos. I crossed the equator Christmas Day as it were and that was a biggie for me. First time I’ve crossed the equator. Then things started to go wrong. The weather was up the wind was down. The sea had prominence over the wind, and the boat was at the behest of the waves. The weather was coming from behind. I have hydravane which is brilliant but no wind vane system will work with wind from behind the boat. So, I had to manually steer at night. And, of course, I had the boat and had to eat too. That was pretty much the whole trip.

Nothing went wrong with the rigging? You weren’t actually in danger?

No, nothing terrible happened, the worst thing that did happen was I noticed the pin that holds the foresail up which holds the mast up. That was coming loose, it was within half an inch of coming out of its fittings., so I was that close to losing the mast. That would have changed the situation from being hunker-down-bear it to a question of survival. Food and water wise, I stocked up for weeks in advance to continue on past where we are now in the Marquesas. So I was safe and sound, and this boat is a great boat, solid and heavy. Great in rough weather but she sails like a bus with wobbly wheels. No wind! There was also growth on the bottom of the boat, four inches of it.

Must have been like a botanical garden down there. You had a whole micro system down there that you carried across from the northern hemisphere to the south. that really must have slowed you down a lot. Halved your speed, I reckon.

Whatever I did, I couldn’t get the boat to move. I tried everything. Sails been up and down more often that a bad girl’s underwear. You can only sail when the wind is in the right direction. When they did come they were in the wrong direction. There was huge swell for about four or five weeks. Just constant rolling swell. Three to five metres I reckon from directly behind me, and a two knot current coming past me. I averaged 2.5 knots in 71 days. I did 4800 miles. I could have swum it faster. I will next time.

Wow, an epic journey. Now I have forgotten what I was going to say.

Magnus is an old friend. It’s not that I have known him a long time. He is a friend and he is old.

Now I know, what’s this about an aeroplane that came out and spotted you?

Back home, in Plymouth, I have friend of mine who is coxswain, skipper of a lifeboat back in England who is my eyes on shore and tracks my progress. I told him 50 days and, of course, by sixty something days, he and my family were worried, and contacted the emergency services in England, Falmouth - which is like an International Rescue Centre - and they contacted the French Authorities here which then sent out a LEAR jet. So, I’m sitting below feeling sorrow for myself and I heard the massive roar overhead. I heard this voice over the radio basically asking if I was OK.

And that was your first contact?

No, I talked to two helicopters that flew over Galapagos and also one fishing boat captain.

But the Lear jet pilot was the first contact in over 50 days. It was tremendously emotional.

But it was comforting to know that everyone was thinking about you.

And I didn’t feel alone anymore. You may have a schedule but the weather is the weather. You can’t do anything about it. You sail to the weather and not as scheduled. If I am running several days late and I am in the middle of an ocean with no communication or internet I get very stressed and worried not for myself but for the people monitoring me being lost at sea.

The main thing was that ‘rescue mission’ relieved every one back home. I used to work for the RNLI emergency services for many years, so I knew what I had to tell the crew of the Lear Jet whose task was to locate me. I told the guys I was fine but I was embarrassed that I caused all this kerfuffle, but glad of it. I was concerned about the expense. It costs a fortune to fly someone out.

I am thinking are they going to send me the fuel bill? Flying two hundred miles out and two hundred miles back.

It probably only took them about three minutes! Maybe just a little Sunday exercise.

That’s a wonderful story. Of course, what we heard was that you were lost at sea and that came from our own viewers and they were concerned. You hadn’t shown up. But all that changed when you made contact on radio and via the Cruiser Network which is like the grapevine of the world. If someone farts in the Falklands you hear about it in New Guinea within seconds.

Is that the title of your book when you retire - Fart in the Falklands? (All fall about laughing.)

Back to the interview: Barry, on those long voyages when you don’t see anyone for weeks, do you get lonely? What keeps you going?

‘I count myself as a fairly well balanced person anyway.

I have to be very disciplined, keep my mind on track. I have always spent my life by myself, I never got married, so I am used to being by myself. The music that I write and the videos that I do, it’s about keeping busy. On the boat there is an endless list of tasks to do, maintenance, repair work and cleaning.’

Then there is this eerie feeling of being totally cut off with dead slow internet if any at all, no undersea cable, no radio contact, no communications whatsoever in the middle of the oceans. - but not totally isolated. His eyes on the shore, David Milford back in Plymouth, tracks his course and when there was a panic - Lost at Sea - he sent out that Lear jet to check up on him. At that point he has sailed 4000 nautical miles in 71 days at sea - a good 20 days more than plotted. His concern then was for everyone else who getting stressed out and worried for him just because he was running three weeks late.

His fellow yachties who share the same risks, thrills and life at sea, look out for him, and mention their concerns on their own You tube channel ‘White Shadow lost at sea?’ so thousands of armchair sailors back home also get worried for his safety. Out at sea, the internet is sketchy at best and uploading new videos can only be done with a good connection. At sea, Barry maintains his social life with daily updates on social media with two way messaging with his family, friends and patreons without whom financing the adventures could barely continue.

On Shaddy, Barry talks about inanimate objects and personifies them. He sees a squall looming up on the horizon and refers to it as that nasty fellow over there. Trying to undo something that won’t budge he’ll say ‘this fella is giving me a hard time’. Or, ‘that little guy over there needs attention’. And, for good company there is Wilson (see picture) who listens attentively and never answers back (distant relative from Tom Hank’s Castaway film).

If Sailing and Music are Barry’s two greatest loves, then Beer and Pizza are the runners up. He’s not alone with that preference. In most of the videos onshore or in anchorage. It’s down to crates of beer, pizzas, impromptu playing and singing with fellow musicians, and somehow most of these older mariners eventually manage to look the same.

The sailing community the world over is very close. With so many common challenges and adventures it is bound to be, sharing beers in local bars, catching up with new friends and old is the lifestyle but Barry warns, with a twinkle in his eye, the less said about boat parties the better.

There is one amusing instance of that fellowship when in late 22 Barry was struck down with COVID. Worse than the illness was the enforced isolation of NO BEER. Ingeniously, faster than sending a message in a bottle, he attached an urgent pleading message onto his drone which he guided towards his fellow yachties in the bar who sorted him out in no time.

He says ‘Yes, that’s important, vital to socialise, I need the company. When I get to shore I crave people’s company. You won’t find me on these lonely, lovely beaches. It’s all about interacting with different people, different countries, experiencing all that - that’s what I like.’

It’s not all plain sailing…

You find an attractive anchorage by a tropical island. Lush greenery, white sands and what looks like a ramshackle bar that would have that soothing, ice-cold beer you are craving. You drag your dinghy up the shore and stroll across to the bar which is open and you are in paradise. You do a recce and eventually wander back to your dinghy - which isn’t there!. That almost happened to Barry but he caught the would be thieves just in time. Reality check - this happens.

A You Tube viewer posted the following warning about Martinique. As with many islands, there is a double whammy with dinghy theft. If it is stolen you need a Police report in order to claim on the insurance. When the Police ask for the valuation many people inflate it for insurance sake. After which the Police/Customs will charge you ‘import tax’ of around 40% based on that valuation because you brought it into the country and left without it. Nasty.

When sailing from one country to another, you must hoist the yellow Q Flag (Q for Quarantine) until you have fully registered with the harbour authorities. And pay attention to ports of entry, passport & visa requirements, boat ownership, cruising permits, and custom and quarantine regulations. In some cases, if you don’t report within 48 hours you could land in prison.

Look up Flag Etiquette on Sailing boats today. It’s a fascinating subject.

Reefs. Boats and reefs don’t go together. Many of the sea lanes, smaller atolls and islands are unchartered, or inaccurate. This is terrifying and stressful because you don’t know where they are.

And, if you run aground you have a strong risk of losing your boat. Many reefs are littered with broken hulls, and wrecks of once beautiful sailing vessels. Another hidden danger are lobster pots.

If your vessel gets too close to them, their lines can wrap round your propeller causing no end of damage and delay. As Barry goes on to say ‘This is my home. Everything I have is on this boat. Without a crew I can’t take risks in shallow water with reefs in unchartered maps.’

One anchorage you don’t want to sail to is the island of Toboga just two miles out of Panama City. It is known for its pineapples, mangoes and, in particular one of the oldest churches in the Western Hemisphere but also known for its riotous day trippers.

You will find it the loudest bay in the world with a bunch of party hard boaters. Barry explains it was a nightmare. He couldn’t sail out of the harbour because there was no wind. So he had to wait.

‘Yesterday’, he said, ‘was just a cacophony of music. Everyone was playing their own music so, so so loud. As if to out compete each other with ear splitting sounds. It just destroys the atmosphere of being in such a beautiful bay. For us out in the anchorage it was just this awful, mixed up nasty sound. Now, I’m sounding like a whinging old bastard because this is such a pretty place’. You have been warned!

Something else you won’t know about on your cruise ship is a little island off Panama that Barry called ‘Bird Poo Island’. It’s a naturally beautiful place, buzzing with nature, ideal for me, he says, no sound, no music, no engines just the birds circling (and pelicans) as long as they don’t shit on my boat!. Your noisy motorboat boys or day trippers out of Panama City would not come to see it because it’s covered in white shit. (guano). However, guano - the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats used to be a valuable resource. Barry films the derelict buildings and rusty, disused cranes that used to mine it. Why? Because as a manure it is a lightly effective fertiliser due to high content of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium. All the key elements of plant growth.

At all times you have to watch your health. For example, sailing into New Zealand and Australia - the end of the world - there is a big hole in the ozone layer. Lots of people have bandages over their ears and nose from getting skin cancer. Very dangerous. And, don’t even think about sailing into New Zealand with that dirty bottom (on the boat that is).

Be careful what delicious looking fruit you eat on some islands that entice you. There is a death tree in Spanish called ‘manzanilla de la muerte’, "little apple of death". This refers to the fact that manchineel is one of the most toxic trees in the world: the tree has milky-white sap which contains numerous toxins and can cause blistering. Eating it can kill you. Whatever you do, don’t walk under it when it’s raining.

Also be careful what you pick up on the seashore. You may find a pretty looking cone shell but if the resident is at home, the extremely venomous snail can kill you within nine minutes. Found lurking in shallow waters near coral reefs. On the other hand, in the tropics islanders eat cockle shells for many are rich in protein, low in fat, and contain minerals such as zinc, copper, and magnesium. They are also said to contain Omega-3 fatty acids. However, seashells can cause allergic reactions in certain people. Every nook, cranny and ridge of the shell can hold bacteria, algae and more. After collecting shells it is most important to clean them straightaway before they begin to smell.

Finally, swimming under a waterfall sounds fun but don’t do it. Reason you sink under a waterfall is not because of the weight of the water on your head but because of the increased air bubbles which make the water less supportive and you sink more easily. Beware of weirs and waterfalls - you can’t swim in air.

Paradise

Cruise ships can never compete with small island adventures like this.

Nearly all the islanders are very friendly and you couldn’t wish to meet nicer people. Many islanders can’t get anything else except fish so they recycle everything like some old rope that Barry gave them. And, he also donated a state of the Art fishing tackle which he told them he was never going to use anyway. (I don’t get that at all. If you are broken down and drifting in the doldrums, rations having run out why wouldn’t you use it?)

Why no Fishing? He explains " I’m often asked why I don’t fish off the back of my boat while I’m at sea. In the open sea and in deep water the wild life tends to be BIG! They use the word 'Pelagic' this is in fact another word for big, as in big fish, big whales, big sharks. In my opinion slimy big things with teeth need to stay in the sea and not on my boat. On a serious note, I don’t have a freezer. I think its irresponsible to catch a large  animal, kill it, chop a little bit off to eat and then throw most of it away.  Also fighting an animal the size of a dog and killing it in my small cockpit with all that blood and guts does not appeal to me. Opening a can of tuna does.”

Sadly, not every idyllic setting in Paradise is a place you never want to leave. Many beaches and coves on the pacific side of Panama are littered with plastic waste, and mountains of rubbish which no one seems to care enough about. On another island beach further across the Pacific ocean, Barry sighs ‘Over the last few years living on a boat I have become aware of the environmental disaster of plastic floating around in our seas and I thought I’d have to do something in a very small way - just to make a point’. So, with a friend, whose own sailing channel focusses on environmental issues, they cleaned up a large section of a tourist trashed beach filling two enormous black garbage sacks and then relaxed in the traditional mariner’s way sitting on a large rock with cans of beer gazing at the sunset.

However, there was a lovely touch moored in Tahiti, (being French) fresh croissants and patisserie would be brought out to the Yachts each morning. A wonderful treat, indeed.

And, what can be more satisfying than sailing on course to your next destination, on a beautiful day, freshly brewed coffee in hand watching dolphins racing ahead and alongside of you.?

Life on board the White Shadow of Poole (official name), or Shaddy (Affection) or Shadmeister (Respect).

Barry’s daily commentary on social media is not only informative, but also very witty, amusing and brutally graphic. He talks about the arse end of the ship. He’ll be the first to admit always being focussed on the job at hand, the yacht is never tidy as ideally it should be.

Innovative cooking skills. On one clip he decided he wanted a Welsh Rarebit - OK, a cheesy toastie. You can’t load the toaster with the grated cheese on top of the bread vertically, so he lays it on its side until it pings out when ready. Job done - no mess. When in port there is the supermarket run. Life on board means tins of everything. Once back on the boat, he marks the contents of each can with indelible ink, washes the cans and peals off the paper. Why? Because cockroaches love the glue live in the packaging and you don’t want them crawling around.

Oh and how does an old sea dog eat his food? Well, out of a dog’s bowl of course. It doesn’t flip over.

One thing that does puzzle me. Barry doesn’t appear to catch fish to eat. I mean, he can be almost out of rations, nothing fresh to live on but he doesn’t throw a line. Flying fish on the other hand, often have leapt on the boat like a broad hint. Yet, he loves fish and chips (particularly in port with a beer or at his favourite fish restaurant back in Plymouth)

When things go wrong and they do, and no one within miles to help you, you turn to innovation. Like a leaky tap needed a washer, so he used a condom over the connection (‘What in the hell would I have use of one of those out here’, he quips). Another good tip: A book gets wet and waterlogged. So, zip the book and a diaper into a plastic, food storage bag and the diaper will end up absorbing the moisture. Likewise diapers can stop leaks in the bilge. So, next time, you are invited over to Shaddy, don’t comment on the condoms and diapers you see lying around.

Another tip: Always have a back up compass when you sail. Barry was sailing back to Plymouth from Portugal when fluid got into his compass. He couldn’t repair it on the spot but amusingly enough he had a toy compass (like something out of a Christmas cracker) that actually worked and held his course.

Sailing alone, you can counter many terrifying experiences like off the coast of Africa with the known danger of Somali pirates - then the stark horror of a boat that actually approached him fast refusing to identify itself causing Barry to hide his ship’s data, and most valuable items. Or, engine failure and helplessly drifting towards the reefs with no wind for the sails. Or a violent storm that sinks the boat and no signal on his phone from his dinghy that he managed to scramble onto. Such is the sailor’s life. And, Barry says fear makes him hungry! - but in those situations it’s not safe or calm enough to make a meal. When negotiating dangerous reefs or attempting to follow a course through a storm with adverse winds hijacking your route, there is no opportunity for sleep and little chance of cooking. There have been days and nights in atrocious conditions with very little sleep. Sleep deprivation is actually a form of torture, but for sailors an everyday things. You’ve got to know when to quit but then you don’t actually want to.

One thing Barry shows you in one of his first videos is a grab bag. A waterproof zipped bag, that contains your passport, insurance papers, boat ownership documents, cruising licences and so on. Don’t forget your medical kit, radio, telephone and everything to sustain life in order to survive as a castaway. As you are sinking and about to abandon ship, you will need all these documents once they rescue you.

The Dream

‘For me, it was important to achieve something before I die and I am over 60 now. The fact that I’ve sailed by myself halfway round the world was that goal. That’s written in stone. No one can take that away from me’.

‘About the videos, you can only film when it’s safe to do so. One hand on the camera, the other trying to save the boat from running aground isn’t a good idea. So, usually, you see me calm, relaxed, very laid back, with a coffee or a beer in hand. What you don’t see is the sheer terror, dilemmas, frightening prospects of what could go wrong, or what did and the consequences.’

‘I can’t film the rolling of the boat in terrifying waves or the idiot boat that’s coming far too close to me.

Producing one video update can take days of editing, researching and talking over. then I have to find sufficient internet signal to upload, sometimes this takes ages. I can’t always play the music you want, or that fits the images because of copyright. And then there is the lag between the footage you see and the time passed since its original shooting’.

Now that you’ve done all these blogs on Facebook, You Tube etc, is that all from voyages? Are you going to write the book?

‘Perhaps later on, based on the last eight years - The Adventures of an Old Seadog! I love real life adventure and everything in real time. I love history, the beauty of natural surroundings, unspoiled coastlines, at one with the elements whatever they throw at me. I hate noisy crowds and those that ruin our environment, the rat race and commercialism. Just give me an idyllic anchorage and funds to maintain Shaddy and just maybe I will rework the footage one day ……but not for a long time yet, I am still only halfway round the world’.

‘Yes, I’d like to do a book one day, but I think it’s very hard work. I’ve already started writing a lot of stuff , however, maybe one day I’ll sift through all the material and memories and make sense of it all. I never seem to stop working anyway’.

Barry recent announced on Facebook

Wow we've gone viral on this one, 'Alone and broken on the reefs' has now over 100k views in less than a week! It seems you don’t need breasts and bikinis but just an old man getting in the shit to get the views!!’

Barry, that’s a great story. I don’t think you will ever retire and fade away. Pipe and slippers doesn’t suit you. And, don’t forget to complete that album you started 30 years ago.

Some viewers comments on his videos

• ‘yours is the most entertaining, frightening and honest Youtube channel I watch’

• ‘You are the best! authentic and honest, you wear your heart on your sleeve. And hilarious! A true original. We love you!

• ‘You are open, real and genuine - we appreciate your honesty. Not everyone has the guts to be vulnerable on camera.’

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Latest update March 25

If you follow Barry on You Tube then you will know he has rounded the Cape of Good hope, South Africa and recently uploaded a video from St Helena. He is eventually heading home to Plymouth, and after being feted and interviewed for the hero he is, I would imagine he will start on his book - or series of books from his hundreds of hours of footage and commentary.

Golly - A Rock and Roll Lifestyle

And featuring how he made “Bat out of Hell” by Meatloaf a worldwide smash hit

An Interview with Golly - by Alan Lawrie

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I ended up in Luxembourg working at the BLOW UP, massive club, really fantastic, had bands on - all the British bands you could think of like Thin Lizzy, the whole lot.

The Luxembourg DJs came into the club every night and then Kid Jensen came up to me one night and said, “What are you playing?’ I said the B side of the Move record. It’s called “Do Ya”. He said, “That’s a fucking amazing track!” He said I really like that one I will play that on my show. And, then it clicked - That was Kid Jensen! I wasn’t really in tune with what was going on.

In those days could Radio Luxembourg DJs choose the tracks they wanted to play as opposed to being scheduled?”

Put it this way, all the DJs had to play what was scripted except for Kid Jensen.

Really? Why did he have special status?

Because he was on the outskirts of Rock. Well, if you listen to Jensen’s show right back then, and I’ve got tapes of them, and you listen to his voice which is incredibly brilliant. Slow drawn-out American drawl. You see he is Canadian from Vancouver, British Columbia.

That’s why when Queen turned up, and I’m in a club working and Freddy Mercury walks in and I became quite friendly with Roger, their drummer. Then you get Phil Lynott coming in and then Phil stayed at the flat one night and I was getting breakfast ready in the morning because I used to share a flat with Kid and…

How long did you share a flat with Kid for?

About four years.

You got on really well with him…?

Oh yeah, he was a true good friend. We just clicked. Music wise and everything else. And Phil stayed the night and I said where’s Phil. Kid said he’s upstairs on the roof. I shouted to Phil “Breakfast!”

He replied, “I’ve got breakfast” and there he was with a spliff about a foot long - with his feet up, shirt off just lying there in the sun. And, I thought, well this is just rock, and roll isn’t it.

And he’s another person who became a really good friend. And it all tunes in with all the stars, the promotion men that were coming over and they bring over sausages and bacon because you couldn’t buy it locally. So that was the Payola side of things.

So, what are we talking about late 60s, early 70’s?

Early 70’s, it was incredible with things like that just happening. There were so many things to talk about that Luxembourg was about. The guys that were there when I was there just clicked.

Paul Burnett - fantastic guy, great DJ, one of the funniest guys you could meet at a party. He’d tell you stories, you’d cry laughing. Jensen great. Mark Wesley- fabulous guy. there are other DJs that I’ve met, Barry Alldis, lovely guy, Stuart Henry amazing.

I used to phone Stuart Henry up and he had multiple sclerosis, he was lying in his bed. He couldn’t even move and the only thing he could move was his mouth with a tube that turned over the pages of his book, that was it. And I would phone him up (They’d put the phone next to his head) and say, “Hey man how are you” and he would say “ Hi my friend Golly, I feel fantastic.” There was never a dull moment with Stuart Henry. I’ve never met anybody like him. He was incredible. People like that.

Then there was Chris Carey who got into trouble making SKY VIEWING cards to watch TV and all the films. He made millions…

A lot of English DJs had Sky Viewing cards, you just needed an English address and…

Yes, that’s right. And, Chris, he made millions, millions until they collared him and stuck him in prison. And, then he came out and started to do a radio station. He was always Radio minded he was putting up aerials in his house and then one day he phoned me up and said I’m going to Spain, and I said what are you going to do there? He said I’m going to start a radio station and I want you to come with me. I said what for? He said you can be the breakfast DJ. I said I can’t take a chance with you Chris. You are hot and cold. I said one day you are with me the next you fucking fire me. I’ve now got a disability and I will lose everything if I leave the country. So, he went out there and within 4 or 5 weeks he was dead. Heart Attack. It’s quite stressful when you are doing things like that, but he had a brilliant, brilliant mind.

Talking about radio you’ve got some kit here. Are you going to do radio from home?

Because Tony Prince had United DJs and Tony Prince is a great believer in people. And if you listen radio at the moment, you can hear a guy who was on United DJ’s and now on Sunshine Radio at the moment, and his name is Tilly Rutherford. And Tilly’s a great guy worked for Magna Records and for Stock, Aitkin and Waterman, and he took over from me when I was working there. Tony said you could make a good DJ and stuck him on UNITED DJs and recorded the shows and did them. Tony had the same thing with me

I’ve got one chapter in the new book called This is where you can hear them today and quite a few of the lads who worked with me in the past are still doing radio wherever they are in the world, and you can listen to them…so if you are doing radio I’d like to know where people can hear you.

Oh, I’ll let you know if it comes off. At the moment, it is a project .It’s fading slightly because as you know I’ve gone into a new business where I am out of plugging because the music industry has changed so much and it’s more difficult now to get your records played on the radio. It’s not like the days of Radio One when I was there in the 70’s and you took the DJs out to lunch wining and dining them...

Let’s go back to the plugging. From Luxembourg you were…

I was DJ’ing in the BLOW UP and the guys were coming over from England, also the promotion guys from different record companies and there was one guy who came over and knew the DJs really well and is name was Alan James. He worked for ABC Anchor and came over to say he was looking for somebody to do the north of England promotion wise plugging the local radio stations because at the time it was all commercial radio stations like in Clyde, in Scotland, and in the north BRMB - all these radio stations were opening up so he needed somebody to go to all these radio stations to wine and dine those radio directors and DJs and get your product played on all the shows they play listed. Then you look after these guys, you know, you give them tour jackets, you give them T shirts, take them to lunch, you go out boozing with them, hanging out with them, you know. Was a great life! Fun, I loved it. But the guy who got me the job was Frank Rogers who was the head of DECCA. He signed Thin Lizzy, Savoy Brown

Are you the man behind any hit? Has your work led to one of two or more?

MEATLOAF Bat out of hell.

Really? How did you do that?

Nobody would play the record. It was on a 7” because it was too ROCKY! You are talking about the 70’s and Radio One at that time was sort of very cheesy. Very poppy, it was that sort of music on there and they had around 7 people who sat and chose the playlist and they were not young people either. that was the situation, and they didn’t groove to it.

How did you manage to break it…

I took it up to Radio and put it in their boxes and saw one or two producers and they put it on, and they cried “Oh GOD, I can’t put that on during the day. Bat out of Hell! You’re joking.

I went home and I was watching tomorrow’s world when I saw that guy I can’t remember his name - he was a big, tall guy and he was talking about a suitcase that you could actually put a Super 8 camera in. Or projector. You could close it up and walk down the road and you could go into any bar, and you could open it up, plug it in, put up a white sheet and you could play, whatever you wanted to play on Super 8 so I thought what a fantastic idea I wonder if CBS would let me do something. Next day I went in there - Head of Promotions -and said “listen, I asked if I could do it and transfer the video onto Super 8. They said it would be expensive and I said do you want it played on the radio or not? They said yes, do it. So I transferred it over and I marched up to Radio One and I had meetings with certain producers of daytime and afternoon. And what was on that Super 8 track? Bat out of Hell. The single it was like a six-minute track. So, I went into their office and they said where is the record? I said give us a second would you . I put up this white cloth I get this projector out and put it plug it in, push the button and they all went “Fucking Hell this is incredible, what a great video”. And, of course, watching the video and hearing the music it sort of locks in...

This is before promotional videos were around?

Yes, CBS were upfront in most things in the 70’s. They had a brilliant team in that place. And, within a week I got it on the A list. And so Meatloaf was coming in. Now I had already been to the convention in America in New Orleans, and I met Meatloaf over there with all the other superstars that were around. The gig was huge, we took over New Orleans, so I said when you come over, we will do something special. So, when he came over, I knew the date and knew the time of the flights coming in, so I went down to the local motorbike place, Hell’s Angels Cafe in London on the north Circular. And I walked in there, and I am about “seventeen years old” and quite “Modified” (Mod as opposed to Rocker) and they were looking at me like that little squirt that was coming in here, really like very nervous... so I just sat down, and this guy came up to me with long hair and he sneered “What are you doing in here?” I said actually I work for a record company and I told them the story about Meatloaf and the story about Bat out of Hell and all that and I need six of you to escort the limo from the airport and I will give you £40 each and they all yelled “Yeah, we’ll have it”, So I arranged a time and a place and everything, and I had cardboard cutouts of a bat, or bats with bat out of hell which went on the front of their motorbikes escorting Meatloaf from the airport, four in front four behind and they came along the road from the airport all the way into London the Westway and Meatloaf was hanging out the window with his cine camera - how I would love to have seen that footage and then we got back to Chelsea and that was fantastic.

CBS paid you for that?

Oh yes, I was working for them. I was employed 100% by CBS. It was such good fun and that was the start. And it brought attention to the people and the music and then the Old Grey Whistle Test, Mike Appleton heard it and soon after he got Meatloaf on there.

Tell me a story about another band you broke.

There was a couple actually. I did Bonnie Tyler, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” Bonnie is an amazing lady, love her to bits, she is one of those people who will still say hello to you. A lot of the Industry just ignores you. Another band called the Vibrators a punk band they were as good as the CLASH because we had the CLASH as well and we all dressed up as punks and you want to see the picture, it’s unreal.

But when you try and break a new band you don’t succeed every time?

Getting music onto Radio Stations, it disheartens you sometimes, there’s music I’ve got on my shelves here, a band called the VIPS fantastic band from the north real punky sort of New Wave every track you hear you think wow that’s really good, but they never made it.

5 singles and never made it. CBS’s turnover was quite big though.

I know the story you told me last time. About Laurence Jones? You were going places.

Well, that was about ten year ago when I managed Laurence Jones and it turned sour in the end.

You played me his single. You said to me what do I think, I said that’s a number one. I said why isn’t it number one? You said you can’t get it played on radio. Now why couldn’t you break that band?

It’s the mentality of people on radio, he was known as a blues act, so when it goes to the playlist meeting and they hear it, and if they actually get around to hearing it. And remember there are a lot of big names with singles out and albums out and that’s all they are interested in. Big names before they listen to the small names. It’s really, really difficult. So, it’s a closed circle.

Radio was changing, Radio Two was emerging. And would stand more of a chance on that. Radio One for me then was for kids around 13 years old , now 12 - 13-year-old listen to Radio One. We don’t at our age. We possibly listen to Radio two, radio 6, maybe a hit station, but it just didn’t break through.

Going back to Bonnie Tyler “Total Eclipse of the Heart “How did you get involved with that?

Well Jim Steinman wrote and produced it who also produced Meatloaf’s album.

He wrote the Meatloaf tracks, didn’t he?

Yes, he produced and wrote all of Meatloaf’s tracks...

You got to know Jim Steinman pretty well?

Yeah, and CBS did a deal to do the Bonnie Tyler album. That track was originally intended for Meatloaf, but Jim and Meat didn’t always get on, so Bonnie did it. Yeah, always friction between Jim and Meat because Jim wanted equal status with Meat. Strong… strong personality Meatloaf. He was likeable.

But I read that Jim felt equal to Meatloaf and record albums on his own, good voice, good looking but simply didn’t have the charisma.

The gay boy never made it

I did Paul Young with “No Parlez”. You know, Paul Young was at my wedding. I just spoke to Paul Young last week. These people they stick with you because you’ve done them good, number one single or “Wherever I lay my hat” was sung at my wedding.

Were you involved with plugging that one?

Yes, it was mine. Number one when I was in America.

So, what were the rounds you had to do, - you didn’t take everyone out to dinner?

Well you do over a period of time because you build it up and then when you have a new single you package it all up and you go for Radio One, where the DJs have their own boxes, Producer/DJ two copies, then when you phone them up and you say “Any meetings going?” you say “11.30” and you get there at 11.30 ish…and they listen and say “Oh yeah, quite like that one and put it to one side”

I had people the hardest of all was Ron Millshaw to get on well with at Radio One, but he took my records from me once and threw them in the bin and said, “OK off you go out the door”. And, I went back to my office and said to my boss I don’t want to do this job anymore.

He asked why I said Ron Millshaw he took my records and threw them in the bin and told me to get out of his office. Oh, that’s Ron Millshaw he’s just an arrogant little fucker.

You have to live with it and learn by it.

Promotion work - it’s all about credibility and not wasting people time?

The DJs - you gave them value so they would listen to you in the future...

…yes and you’ve got to be likeable, and you have to get on with these people...

Rosko once said to me I’ve got a gig, do you want to come with me to this gig. I want you to grab some vinyl and some CDs to give away at the gigs. Because they do a show and all that. So, I said yeah, no problem at all so I got a box of albums and 45’s to throw out to the crowds and all that, and I said where is it? He said Bridgend, I said where’s that? Towards Wales. So, I said I will get a limo and take you down there. CBS paid for it, and I had a chauffeur driven limousine taking me and Rosko to the gig waiting all that time and driving all the way back, and CBS said that must cost a fortune and all he did was play 3 tracks from a new album, on a Saturday morning…and they said ‘OK’

What would you say was the pinnacle, or your greatest achievement?

The greatest buzz?

A number One single that got onto the playlist of Radio One, by Julio Iglesias “Beguine the Beguine” that was the biggest buzz I ever got because nobody believed that Radio One would ever play such a horrible record.

It wasn’t a horrible record! It was a great song - a classic track. by a famous singer.

But he wasn’t a famous singer at that time. He was known but not hugely known…you know what I mean…?

Was there anything you regret or wish you had done, or could have done better?

I don’t like regretting anything, I… because in the end I got around it I got on with it, it was fun.

Going back to the plugging and promotional side, you said there’s no future for you in it.?

It’s like the DJs in the clubs, there are no personality DJs. There is no entertainment in clubs, you’ve got one guy. ..

It’s very sad, isn’t it?

You’ve got one guy out there, who’s pretending to….well, sometimes they are not even mixing, just playing a tape (or playing back a record file) because they can’t do that sort of mixing in clubs.

Some of them do mix, I’ve seen them on Tony Prince’s DMC, well I’ve heard stories about people don’t mix.

Tell us more about your career, Golly

I was involved with so many things, I worked on ‘War of the Worlds’ with Jeff Wayne.

Golly with Greg Edwards, Obie (Maurice Oberstein Head of CBS Records, London), Jeff Gilbert.

Doing what?

The promotion with Louis Rodgers who is Clodagh Rodgers brother who worked at CBS and was head of promotions. We went to the Planetarium and as we walked in we realised that that machine in the middle looked like one of the monsters in War of the Worlds. Even looked exactly like one of them so we thought shit we could put dry ice under that! We could play War of the Worlds all night and open up the ceiling and have the lasers going. So, that’s where we shot it and everybody in the music industry turned up. Incredible, and that broke War of the Worlds.

Wow that sounds like a great one.

Well, I think we’ve got some great material so we will stop there.