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Post by William Martin on Sept 1, 2004 16:06:38 GMT
Is there any recording of Lieutenant Commander Tommy Woodroofes commentary on the illumination of the fleet at Spithead in 1937 when he was drunk/overcome with emotion.
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Post by William Martin on Sept 6, 2004 15:53:46 GMT
it wasn't very long as he was cut off after a few minutes, the answer to my posting is probably no, but there is a chance
here is a transcript
At the present moment, the whole fleet is lit up. When I say 'lit up' I mean lit up by fairy lamps. It's fantastic. It isn't a fleet at all. It's just... It's fairyland. The whole fleet is in fairyland. Now if you'll follow me through ... if you don't mind ... the next few moments you'll find the fleet doing odd things.
[lengthy pause]
I'm sorry I was telling some people to shut up talking.
[The fleet turn off their lights to shoot rockets]
It's gone! It's gone! There's no fleet! It's... It's disappeared! No magician who could ever have waved his wand could have waved it with more acumen than he has now at the present moment. The fleet's gone. It's disappeared.
[pause]
I was talking to you in the middle of this damn [cough] in the middle of this fleet and what's happened is the fleet's gone and disappeared and gone...
ANNOUNCER: That is the end of the Spithead Commentary.
[Half hour of unscheduled dance music]
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Post by Ian Beard on Sept 6, 2004 16:29:02 GMT
The recording exists in full, and extracts always seem to crop up in some programme or other.
It's track 30 on the 75 YEARS OF THE BBC cd (ZBBC 2038 CD).
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Post by William Martin on Sept 6, 2004 17:16:01 GMT
great, I've always wanted to hear that one. thanks for the cd code  by the way how long is it? |
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by the way how long is it?