Former top Liberal held on murder charge (in 1966)

I was browsing the British Newspaper Database the other day looking for something else, when I came across this story in the Nottingham Evening Post (22 June 1966):

Former Top Liberal Held on Murder Charge 

'Complete denial' says solicitor

Oliver Smedley, a London accountant and former vice-president of the Liberal Party executive, was today charged at Saffron Walden, Essex, with the murder of Reg. Calvert (37), head of the pop radio station, Radio City. He was remanded in custody until July 1, an application for bail being rejected.

If you wanted to know how such a distinguished Liberal found himself in the dock on a murder rap, the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame will enlighten you. 

Unlike most pirate radio stations, Radio City was based on an abandoned Maunsell sea fort in the mouth of the Thames. BLDGBLOG will tell you all about these sea forts and you can see some - including, I hope, the one where Radio City was based - in the distance in the photograph above, which I took from the front at Herne Bay.

The Hall of Fame takes up the story:

After a successful launch in 1964, in the last few months it had lost a sizeable proportion of its listenership to the more powerful, more professional Radio London. And, with the ratings down, the advertising revenue had plummeted. To make matters worse, there were rumours of yet another big American station on the horizon. 

As the fort was considerably cheaper to run, Project Atlanta, the owners of Caroline South, proposed that they should take over Shivering Sands to use as the base for their station. Their ship, the mv Mi Amigo, would then move to a new anchorage somewhere where there was less offshore competition - possibly off the west country or the north-east. 

Talks between Project Atlanta and Radio City's owner, Reg Calvert, proceeded and a jointly-owned company was set up to look after the selling of advertising for both stations. This was announced to the press on 22nd September.

But the deal did not go ahead because Project Atlanta ran out of money:

Major Oliver Smedley was the chairman of Project Atlanta. The loss of control of Caroline South at the end of 1965 had been a bitter blow - one that he blamed on Managing Director Allan Crawford. He still wanted to be involved in offshore radio - maybe using Project Atlanta's one physical asset, the transmitter which had been delivered to the City fort.

With growing unease he saw the City/London/UKGM talks progressing. He had visions of losing this precious item. Despite the fact that it had been declared unserviceable by the City engineers, he wasn't prepared to lose it. Or at least, not unless he got a share of the UKGM action. He decided to take matters into his own hands.

And so he did:

In early June Reg Calvert received a telephone call from Ted Allbeury, the boss of the rival Radio 390. He had heard rumours that some one was plotting to take over City's fort by force. 

Yes, that is the spy novelist Ted Allbeury. And he was right:

On the night of 19th/20th June 1966 a group of burly ships' riggers, out of work because of a seamen's strike, along with Smedley and Project Atlanta investor Kitty Black, boarded Shivering Sands under cover of darkness. They surprised the sleeping occupants and locked the disc-jockeys out of their studio.

The boarding party took possession of the studio, did enough damage to keep the station of the air and did not leave. And this is what happened next:

Reg Calvert paid a visit to Smedley's home in Wendens Ambo, Essex, determined to sort out the dispute and get his fort back. Pamela Thorburn, Smedley's secretary and housekeeper, tried to stop them getting in. Calvert was insistent and a scuffle developed between him and Thorburn. The Major grabbed a shotgun, took aim, and shot Calvert dead. The police were called and Smedley charged with murder.

The charge was later reduced to manslaughter and when the case came to trial, Smedley was found not guilty and awarded 250 guineas in costs.

I did blog about this story in 2009 and soon after turned that post into a Liberal Democrat News column that also featured Tony Benn, Margaret Rutherford and a murderous chamber pot.