The Boat That Rocked: Meet Birmingham women who was a pirate DJ

Apr 19 2009 by Andrew Coleman, Sunday Mercury

But as soon as the tide went out, the towers were left standing on dry land that was officially part of the British isles.

Shortly afterwards the BBC launched pop station Radio 1 with Brummie band The Move’s hit Flowers In The Rain.

‘‘My radio career lasted only three weeks,’’ remembers Jill, who used the stage name Samantha Leigh.

‘‘I didn’t even actually broadcast from the Fort – I recorded the programmes at the station’s offices in London. It suited me because I was in London anyway to make records.

‘‘I haven’t seen The Boat That Rocked yet, but I’ve heard Tony Blackburn saying it bears no resemblance to what really happened. When Radio 1 started, it changed people’s attitudes to music.’’

Jill, now a 69 year-old grandmother, was making a name for herself as a cabaret singer when she was signed up by Radio 390 supremo Ted Allbeury in the mid-1960s.

“He wanted a female singer for a ‘sweet music’ programme called Dinner At Eight,’’ says Jill. ‘‘Apparently he’d heard me sing and asked if I’d be interested in being the station’s first female disc jockey.

‘‘It was an hour-long programme of middle of the road, easy listening music.

“The only thing I was worried about was my slightly Midland accent. But I was told not to alter it because they liked it. I think at that time radio was trying to attract people with regional accents.’’

Jill says her programme was popular, although none of her family in Birmingham managed to hear it.

‘‘We couldn’t receive it here,’’ she says. ‘‘It was played to me in the office but I didn’t hear it when it went out. The pirate radio station I listened to was Caroline, especially Johnnie Walker’s shows.

‘‘But my programme got a lot of fan mail. A lot of men liked the middle of the road stuff!

‘‘To be honest, I had no real ambitions to be a DJ. You have to know about the records you play, and I was really only interested in singing.

‘‘If pirate radio had continued, I probably would have carried on. I didn’t want to tour all over the place but I would have gone down to London once a week to record a radio show.’’