As Johnnie Walker lowered the needle on to the record — no mean feat when on a rusty schooner riding the rough winds of the North Sea — he took a deep breath. Though he was about to break the law, he felt more excited than fearful. “How many 21-year-olds get the chance to do battle with the government?” he thought.
It was August 14, 1967, the day the Marine Offences Act became law and made offshore “pirate” stations illegal. These rock’n’roll radio outposts had been under attack from Harold Wilson’s Labour government, steered by postmaster general Tony Benn, since they had emerged three years earlier, and the act was regarded by many as a vindictive piece of legislation that bowed to the BBC’s desire