Radioone Stories

"Would you like to dance?" the girl asked. I was dumbfounded. Nobody had ever asked me to dance. Particularly a girl! "Er, no thanks," I mumbled pathetically. "Oh, go on, please," she chivvied. Anyone else would have been flattered. But me? I was terrified. "Sorry, but I can't dance," I tried to explain. The girl looked disappointed but gave up and walked back to the stage. It might have been the beginning of a beautiful friendship. But I blew it.

Pop music had been outlawed by the British government. Twiddle the dial of an AM transistor radio and you would not have found a single UK radio station playing the hits of the day. It was crazy. Contemporary popular music, along with the latest fashions and art, had become Britain's biggest cultural exports. The 'British Invasion' had taken America by storm a few years earlier. Liverpool's Beatles were the most popular pop group in the world. Yet none of this music could be heard on radio in Britain. It was so crazy.