I was 14 when the Caroline ships were towed in. Until 14th August 1967 my listening to music radio was probably about 75% Radio London, 24% Caroline South and 1% Radio 390. After the MOA I listened to Caroline and Radio One, which did have some good shows, particularly Kenny Everett with ‘Gran’ and the ‘Butler’ Crisp. Kenny’s show introduced me to several records not played elsewhere, including 1969 by Ross Hannaman, and Nirvana’s Rainbow Chaser. That’s the original Nirvana of course.

I applauded, and still applaud, the fact that Caroline continued but I felt it was a shadow of its former self. It felt less British with the name change to Radio Caroline International and the new office address of Single 160, Amsterdam. Some of the DJs left a lot to be desired, Caroline Cash Casino had gone, and several of the commercials had obviously been recorded from the television.

I found out about the closure from the news on Radio One when the newsreader said: “The two Radio Caroline ships were towed to Amsterdam this morning for a refit.” I thought the idea of a refit was nonsense, but didn’t know any more until reports appeared in the music press.

Many of us were very angry when the offshore stations were closed and we were not given a viable alternative. If I happened to be listening to Big L and the DJ played something truly horrible such as Release Me or The Last Waltz by Engelbert Humperdinck - actually, anything by Engelbert Humperdinck - I could tweak the tuning control a quarter turn to the left and, with luck, Caroline would be playing something decent such as Cat Stevens’ Matthew and Son.

My feelings when we also lost Caroline were of sadness, outrage and fury. But it did lead me to much enjoyment with the venerable 807..