A question of timing ....

In Wednesday's Blog we provided the beginnings of a new timeline that is in sharp contrast to the vague ramblings put forth by other authors. In their accounts of what happened, Radio Caroline began in the offices of Jocelyn Stevens, moved to Regent Street and then moved again to Chesterfield Gardens. It is the only way that all of these authors can explain what happened.

This is the 'Steve Martin Moment' for all those authors where he exposes them as frauds and fools. He does so in his stand-up comedy line 'You can be a millionaire and never pay taxes'.

Steve begins by telling his audience to first get a million dollars, and then tell the tax man that the person with the million dollars forgot to pay taxes on the million dollars. But that is the joke: If you don't have a million dollars to begin with, the tax man will not be calling to collect taxes on the million dollars that don't exist.

However, with the Radio Caroline story, all of the various authors begin with a statement of fact that isn't fact at all: it is an adaption of the Steve Martin comedy line intended to fool their readers that the authors know what they are writing. Of course, they don't, and that becomes very obvious very quickly to anyone smart enough to be able to think for themselves.

Remember, it is not for the person challenging the veracity of the person making the claim to prove anything. It is for the person making a claim to prove what they are saying is true. That's how it works in the court room and that is how it works in real life - with the exception of radio anoraks. They believe that somehow or other Ronan O'Rahilly became a radio messiah whose word cannot be challenged. But we not only challenge the words spoken by Ronan O'Rahilly, we call him a liar.

The radio anoraks are religious fanatics who believe that if Ronan O'Rahilly said something is true, then it must be true, or that there must be an excuse as to why it isn't true, and that excuse in and of itself makes it true. That fanatical devotion is the stuff that fuels crazy cults, and the radio anoraks are part of a crazy cult of true believers.

Ronan O'Rahilly claimed that he suddenly became awash in cash and he then decided to start a radio station on a ship. The only problem with that scenario is that he did not suddenly, become awash in cash, and without that cash, he was not in a position to start anything, let alone a radio station.

In fact, Ronan O'Rahilly claimed on that infamous 1991 BBC-TV show, that that also he managed singer Georgie Fame, and that he made a master recording which the BBC and Radio Luxembourg would not play. He said that Luxembourg had sold all of its time to major record companies.

But that was not true, and Joe Meek proved that it was not true because he had his own singers; his own record label and his own show on Radio Luxembourg! Then there was Peter Snell and his Aral Records Company - with an address at 54/62 Regent Street, the very same address that Radio Caroline also began to use, and that address is key to everything.

Radio Caroline popped-up first on Regent Street at an accommodation address, and then it moved to Fetter Lane before arriving at Chesterfield Gardens. But the radio anoraks spin a different tale. They claim that Radio Caroline began at Fetter Lane, moved to Regent Street and then moved to Chesterfield Gardens.

Ronan O'Rahilly was a liar. He did not manage Georgie Fame and EMI had already released an LP by Georgie Fame at the very time that Ronan O'Rahilly said that he could not get anyone interested in pressing and playing his own master recording of Georgie Fame. The success of Georgie Fame had absolutely nothing to do with Ronan O'Rahilly. He lied about everything to do with his life after he arrived in London, which was at some date in time during the years 1960-1961.

Ronan O'Rahilly was young; Irish and broke. Three elements working against him. All he had left was "blarney", and he used "blarney" to great success in furthering his own ends.

Tomorrow we will examine those gaps in the timeline that we began in Wednesday's Blog, and we will revisit facts in evidence which begin to provide answers to the mystery that surrounds the 1964 creation of Radio Caroline.