Diary of the
reunion of our
The Class of 1974
By Andy
Archer
October 1st 2004.
After
five or six months of helping plan this reunion, the day is almost with us.
I’ve been staying in Beverwijk in Noord-Holland, for the past few days with Ad
and this afternoon we left by train to Amsterdam to check into the Hotel Rho
is Nes (just off the Dam Square). I have to confess I am getting pretty
excited about seeing old friends for the first time in thirty years, not least
of all Dennis King who we are meeting at 6.o’clock. Dennis had been part of
the Caroline family from the early days of 1972, when we first took the mi
Amigo out to the North sea. He was our "fixer", much like the James Garner
figure in the film "The Great Escape" the best hustler I have ever come across
in my life, if there was ANYTHING you needed Dennis could always get it. He
was the saviour of Radio Caroline on more than one occasion.
6:00 pm.
Walked
to the
Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky
and there was Dennis, smoking a Cuban cigar and looking quite at home
in the plush surroundings of one of Amsterdam’s most select establishments.
After an emotional
reunion and a couple of drinks we decided to reacquaint our stomachs with a
dish that we hadn’t eaten in years, “chicken sate”, so off we went in search
of an Indonesian restaurant.Now finding an Indonesian restaurant used
to be quite an easy thing to do, but tonight we were out of luck. We walked
down almost every street in central Amsterdam before discovering one, which
sadly for us was fully booked, the only 
other
one we found was closed for refurbishment. As hunger was getting the better of
Dennis, and he hates walking, we threw caution to the wind and settled for "de
Kroon “ brasserie in the Rembrandsplein where we spent a couple of hours
catching up on our lives. Dennis has done really well for himself; he’s now a
big name in German television and radio and not surprisingly, has led a pretty
extraordinary life.
October 2nd 2004
9.30 am.
The
mobile phone rings, “guten morgen, this is your Fuhrer speaking Lord Archer”,
a call from Dennis always lifts your spirit, even if you have a stinking
hangover! Dennis was just leaving his hotel in Haarlem “ to pick up the Baron
from Schiphol”, my great buddy Johnny Jason. But as is always the case with
Dennis, something goes awry, he went to the wrong terminal. When Johnny
cleared customs, Dennis was nowhere to be seen. As J.J. had not seen him in
thirty years, he had forgotten exactly what he looked like and of course
appearances can change! In desperation, J.J. walked up to a guy to enquire if
he was Dennis who turned out to be a complete stranger! After a half an hour
of walking around the arrivals hall, J.J. suddenly heard the booming voice of
Dennis “Mein Baron, wie gehts Ihnen?” (my Baron, how are you)
1:00 pm.
Ad
and I arrived at Amsterdam Amstel station which was the meeting point for
J.J., Dennis, Robb and Nikki Eden (on the left) Lion
Keezer and Brian Anderson (below right) and we set off in search of bar
and settled for the Café South where we spent a couple of hours laughing our
heads off at our escapades of thirty years ago. 
J.J. and I had the reputation of liking the high life in the old days, which
wasn’t always easy as we would have liked due to a shortage of money we were
paid as Caroline disc-
jockeys.
However, on one occasion we clearly had money as five of us went to
a very smart restaurant in Kensington to celebrate something or other. J.J.
reminded me of the pompous
wine waiter who felt far superior to us and thought that five reprobates would
have no idea of appropriate wines to order; how wrong he was! J.J. perused the
list and snapped at the waiter “Chateau Mouton
Rothschild, five bottles and open them now………..one each!!!!!
3:00 pm.
Arrived
at Casa 400, the venue of the Radioday, and annual event staged for the
benefit of pirate radio enthusiasts. After a hurried but touching meeting with
Ron, Koos and Peter van Dijken, we were rushed to
the stage where J.J., Robb, Brian, Ad and myself recalled some of our
adventures on t
he
mi Amigo and at Van Hogendorp
straat in The Hague, much to the amusement of the audience.
Then it was reaquaintance time, Norman Barrington,
John B. Mair, Jaap de Haan, Mike Storm, Will van der Steen, Norbert, Ad
Roland, Robin Adcroft and Graeme Gill. 
Elija van den Berg used the event to launch
the Tony Allan Memorial Fund, which is
a registered charity to support causes that
were close to his heart, cancer research,
Marie Curie hospices and the upkeep of the
Ross Revenge. Good old Elija, always there,
always dependable.
5:30. pm.
Dennis
and Ad organise the evacuation of the Casa 400 for the trek to the café Omval,
whi
ch
we had chosen as the venue for the reunion party.
Charlotte Ribbelink,
(R)
the office manager of Radio Caroline back in 73/74 was there to greet
us, looking as chic as ever. And what an evening, conversation and laughter
ringed throughout the café for the entire event.
Peter van Dijken was wearing a tee shirt that I
had made for him with the logo “you plakken the trap and ik waacht for you”,
a favourite saying on board the ship. It was first spoken by Captain Aad Meyer
to a member of the crew in his curious mixture of Dutch
and English which gave
everyone a great laugh. The evening wasn’t short of practical joking either,
how could it be with Dennis King around? The funniest concerned Graeme Gill
who when it comes to eating has a routine with NO compromise, he ALWAYS has
soup before his entrée. All of us had been given our starters apart from
Graeme w
ho
was beginning to get more than a little anxious that the waitress hadn’t
brought his soup. Little did he know that Dennis and I had hatched up a plan!
Dennis told the waitress that the old man (Graeme) was not to be served tomato
soup due to his medical condition and that we couldn’t be responsible for what
could happened if it was served to him!!!!!!!!! It did arrive eventually after
we had taken the joke to it’s limit. On the ship back in the seventies, Graeme
started his programme with a song, it
was a sort of chronicle of what had
happened on board during the day and sung over a backing track of Junior
Walker’s “Way Back Home” and he was persuaded to sing a version in the bar
after
dinner. The trouble was that when the music played, his microphone suffered a
whole load of feedback, ever the old pro, Graeme repaired to the lavatory and
sang the song from there to thunderous applause!
10:00
pm. 
Left the Omval Café with 
J.J.,
Dennis and Ad for a white-knuckle journey back to Beverwijk with Dennis at the
wheel. His driving is a combination of Michael Schumacher and a
Panzer tank commander having no regard for speed limits or obstacles!
Sunday October 3rd 2004
09:30. 
Surprisingly up very early after a pretty eventful day. Dr Martin van der Ven, very generously gave us all a copy of CD Rom of Radio Caroline from the seventies which we have been listening to all morning. I had forgotten quite how good Radio Caroline was, particularly in 1974 and what a joy it is to hear JJ., Mickey Mercer and Mike Hagler once more playing Frank Zappa, Neil Young, Steve Miller, Santana and of course The Doobies! We’ll do it all again one of these days. The Radio Day was organised by Foundation for Media Communication and Freewave Media Magazine. Pictures are from Ad Roberts
Check out Mediapages.nl and Offshore-radio. radioday2004
The Picture Archive
John
B.Mair and JJ getting to the heart of the matter
JJ, Brian Anderson and Lion Keezer... what a line up!
Gething in to the mood at
the bar near the Casa Hotel with pre- radioday drinks
Arriving at the Casa Hotel lobby
Lion and JJ listening to Dennis... who else!
Arial view of Koos & Peter
van Dijken, Robb Eden Dennis King
and Henk (the Wank)
Norbert, Dennis, Ad Roland and Lion
Same line up
Greame, Peter, Jaap and Robin having a talk in their own languages
Robin and Peter Chicago,
getting to know each otther again,
bottom left; the "famous"waitress (the soup story)
Mike Storm, while Elija is making a video
Martin van der Ven,
photographed ..for a change!
Also in picture Peter van Dijken, Teun Visser's wife,
Jaap de Haan and Ad Roberts
Andy letting Peter into the secret of the soup!
Hans Knot, Jana and Lion reminiscing
Norbert enjoying the evening
Dennis introducing the Cabaret (well.. Greame)
And off he goes!
John B.Mair and JJ & Dennis decisoin time wine, or Champagne ?
Will van der steen and Norbert.. familiar surroundings ?!
Dinner time at the Omval
JJ, Andy, John B.Mair and Dennis after tasting their first
bottle of
Champagne
Hans Knot looks at Johnnie
Lewis,
never far a way from a bar to lean on
Nigel Harris and Johnnie Lewis debate
who is going to buy the next round!
Mediapages.nl en Offshore-radio. radioday2004
The Photo Archive II - pictures by Will van der Steen
The 'crew' on stage left to
right: Ad Roberts, Brian Anderson, Andy Archer Johnny Jason, Robb Eden
Peter van Dijken (below
left) Jaap de Haan and Robin Adcroft
Norman Barrington, Andy, John B Mair, Brian Anderson
Mike Storm, Patrick Storm
(his son) & Lion Keezer
Will van der Steen, Mike & Lion
Brian Anderson & Norbert German PanzerCommander Dennis, Charlotte Ribbelink, Norbert & Andy
Hein Snoek & Norbert, Hein supplied during oilcrisis
©1972 - 2004
Lion Keezer
Great pictures from the MiAmigo in the 70's
Lion
Keezers Website