Leonard F. Plugge
Encyclopedia
Captain Leonard Frank Plugge (21 September 1889 – 19 February 1981) was a British
businessman and Conservative Party
politician.
Plugge was Member of Parliament
(MP) for Chatham
from 1935 to 1945.
Captain Plugge married Ann Muckleston (London 13 January 1909) in New York on 28 October 1935. They had three children: Leonard Frank (13 January 1937), Greville (4 November 1944 – 1973) and Gale Ann
(4 November 1944 – 1972).
by buying airtime from radio stations such as Normandy, Toulouse, Ljubljana, Juan les Pins, Paris, Poste Parisien, Athlone, Barcelona, Madrid and Rome. IBC worked indirectly with Radio Luxembourg
until 1936. World War II
silenced most of Plugge's stations between 1939 and 1945.
Plugge was a radio enthusiast and a pioneer of long motoring holidays on the European continent. There he would collect the schedules of radio stations he visited and sell them to the BBC to publish in Radio Times
and other magazines such as Wireless World
. It was on one such journey that he stopped for coffee at the Café Colonne in the Place Thiers (now the Place Général de Gaulle
) in the Normandy
coastal village of Fécamp
. There, he asked the café owner what there was to see in the town, and was told that a young member of the Le Grand family – which owned the town's Benedictine
distillery – had a small radio transmitter behind a piano in his house, and that a local cobbler's business had increased after a broadcast mentioned his name.
Plugge went to see Fernand Le Grand and offered to buy time to broadcast programmes in English. Le Grand agreed, and a studio was set up in the loft over the old stables in rue George Cuvier, from which the programmes were broadcast by Plugge's employees. The first presenter was a cashier from the National Provincial Bank
's Le Havre
branch, whom Plugge had met when drawing cash after leaving Le Grand. Bank teller turned broadcaster William Evelyn Kingwell agreed to motorcycle over on Sundays to introduce records.
Kingwell fell ill and Plugge brought in new announcers, including Max Stanniforth and Stephen Williams, and later Bob Danvers-Walker
and general manager-cum-presenter David Davies, who, after the war, became station manager and managing director of the English-language 'offshore' broadcaster, LM Radio (Radio Lourenco Marques), Mozambique
, from 1947 to 1969. Many others joined during the life of Radio Normandy (the station used this anglicised spelling in its British literature and advertising).
The power of the transmitter increased after Plugge convinced film studio and 280-strong cinema chain owner Gaumont British
, owner of the Sunday Referee, an entertainment-based Sunday newspaper, which had sponsored him – and which printed Radio Normandy's schedule. A new studio was established in a house in the town.
Radio Normandy by now had a large audience as far north as the English Midlands, and many big names of the day. Among them was Roy Plomley
, later famous for creating and presenting Desert Island Discs
for BBC radio.
began soon after the studio opened and, according to some histories, German troops overran the transmitters in 1940, using them to broadcast propaganda to Britain until the RAF
bombed the Louvetot transmitter out of action. The French website L'Histoire de Radio Normandie remembers it differently: "After the Louvetot transmitter closed in 1939 because of the war, IBC went on broadcasting under the name Radio International Fécamp from Radio Normandies first transmitter at Fécamp for "several weeks". On 10 June 1940 French troops sabotaged the transmitter on the eve of the German invasion.'
A 22 October 1939 British War Cabinet memo marked 'SECRET: To Be Kept Under Lock And Key' notes that:
It appears the British government was not interested in Plugge's invitation to broadcast Allied propaganda from Radio Normandie transmitters, even if they had not been destroyed.
Plugge hoped to restart transmissions from France after the war but changes in broadcasting regulations and a different attitude to radio listening meant that this never happened. The post-war president, Charles de Gaulle
, also had a different attitude to the station.
Radio Normandy had a bigger audience in southern England on Sundays than the BBC. Under Lord Reith
, the BBC was off the air until late on Sundays to give people time to go to church, and offered little but serious music and discussions. Broadcasting historians have said that Reith reluctantly agreed to lighten the BBC's programmes on Sundays after his audience deserted him for Radio Normandy's light music. That, some have said, was a reason that Reith left the BBC, feeling his mission to educate, inform and entertain with what he judged to be programmes of high moral tone had been cut away by rank commercial entertainment driven by money.
The IBC's original London offices were in Hallam Street, near the BBC's Broadcasting House, then moved to nearby 35-36 Portland Place. This was taken over by a British weapons development unit MRI(c)
at the start of the war but later bombed. The BBC's Radio 1
, inheritor of the audiences that Plugge's offshore successors had built until the 1967 Marine Broadcasting (Offences) Act
made them illegal, later moved into the Hallam Street building. After the war IBC became a recording studio and stars including The Who
, The Kinks
, The Rolling Stones
and Jimi Hendrix
recorded there.
It has been suggested that Leonard Plugge was the inventor of the two-way car
radiotelephone
. The claim that the term of "plugging" something by advertising was derived from the name of Leonard Plugge is untrue. Plugge pronounced his name "Plooje", claiming Belgian-Dutch origins. It was only when he stood for the parliamentary seat of Chatham that he agreed to the slogan "Plugge in for Chatham" and accepted the way almost everybody else pronounced his name.
, broadcaster Julian Pettifer
and transsexual April Ashley
.
His daughter Gale Ann, who had married and divorced Jonathan Benson, was in Trinidad with her partner, the American Black Power leader Hakim Jamal
, when she was stabbed and buried alive in January 1972 by Michael X
and his supporters, whom Jamal also followed. Her twin brother, Greville, died in a road accident in Morocco
a year later.
The film Performance
, starring Mick Jagger
and James Fox
, was filmed in Plugge's house in Lowndes Square. Plugge died in Los Angeles
on 19 February 1981 at the age of 91.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
businessman and Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician.
Plugge was Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Chatham
Chatham (UK Parliament constituency)
Chatham was a parliamentary constituency in Kent which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
from 1935 to 1945.
Captain Plugge married Ann Muckleston (London 13 January 1909) in New York on 28 October 1935. They had three children: Leonard Frank (13 January 1937), Greville (4 November 1944 – 1973) and Gale Ann
Gale Benson
Gale Ann Benson was a British model, socialite and daughter of Conservative MP Leonard Plugge. She was buried alive and murdered in Trinidad by local men including Black Power activist Michael X....
(4 November 1944 – 1972).
Offshore years
Leonard Plugge created the International Broadcasting Company in 1931 as a commercial rival to the British Broadcasting CorporationBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
by buying airtime from radio stations such as Normandy, Toulouse, Ljubljana, Juan les Pins, Paris, Poste Parisien, Athlone, Barcelona, Madrid and Rome. IBC worked indirectly with Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
until 1936. World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
silenced most of Plugge's stations between 1939 and 1945.
Plugge was a radio enthusiast and a pioneer of long motoring holidays on the European continent. There he would collect the schedules of radio stations he visited and sell them to the BBC to publish in Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
and other magazines such as Wireless World
Wireless World
Wireless World was the pre-eminent British magazine for radio and electronics enthusiasts. It was one of the very few "informal" journals which were tolerated as a professional expense.- History :...
. It was on one such journey that he stopped for coffee at the Café Colonne in the Place Thiers (now the Place Général de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
) in the Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
coastal village of Fécamp
Fécamp
Fécamp is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-Geography:Fécamp is situated in the valley of the river Valmont, at the heart of the Pays de Caux, on the Albaster Coast...
. There, he asked the café owner what there was to see in the town, and was told that a young member of the Le Grand family – which owned the town's Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
distillery – had a small radio transmitter behind a piano in his house, and that a local cobbler's business had increased after a broadcast mentioned his name.
Plugge went to see Fernand Le Grand and offered to buy time to broadcast programmes in English. Le Grand agreed, and a studio was set up in the loft over the old stables in rue George Cuvier, from which the programmes were broadcast by Plugge's employees. The first presenter was a cashier from the National Provincial Bank
National Provincial Bank
National Provincial Bank was a British retail bank which operated in England and Wales from 1833 until its merger into the National Westminster Bank in 1970; it remains a registered company but is dormant...
's Le Havre
Le Havre
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
branch, whom Plugge had met when drawing cash after leaving Le Grand. Bank teller turned broadcaster William Evelyn Kingwell agreed to motorcycle over on Sundays to introduce records.
Kingwell fell ill and Plugge brought in new announcers, including Max Stanniforth and Stephen Williams, and later Bob Danvers-Walker
Bob Danvers-Walker
Cyril Frederick 'Bob' Danvers-Walker was an English radio and newsreel announcer best known for his broadcasts on Pathé News cinema newsreels during World War II....
and general manager-cum-presenter David Davies, who, after the war, became station manager and managing director of the English-language 'offshore' broadcaster, LM Radio (Radio Lourenco Marques), Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, from 1947 to 1969. Many others joined during the life of Radio Normandy (the station used this anglicised spelling in its British literature and advertising).
The power of the transmitter increased after Plugge convinced film studio and 280-strong cinema chain owner Gaumont British
Gaumont British
Gaumont-British Picture Corporation was the British arm of the French film company Gaumont. The company became independent of its French parent in 1922, when Isidore Ostrer acquired control of Gaumont-British....
, owner of the Sunday Referee, an entertainment-based Sunday newspaper, which had sponsored him – and which printed Radio Normandy's schedule. A new studio was established in a house in the town.
Radio Normandy by now had a large audience as far north as the English Midlands, and many big names of the day. Among them was Roy Plomley
Roy Plomley
Francis Roy Plomley , OBE was an English radio broadcaster, producer, playwright and novelist.-Early life:Plomley was the son of a pharmacist and was educated at King's College School, Wimbledon...
, later famous for creating and presenting Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs is a BBC Radio 4 programme first broadcast on 29 January 1942. It is the second longest-running radio programme , and is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio...
for BBC radio.
Silenced
Plugge broadcast from Fécamp and later from a new transmitter and studio at Caudebec. World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
began soon after the studio opened and, according to some histories, German troops overran the transmitters in 1940, using them to broadcast propaganda to Britain until the RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
bombed the Louvetot transmitter out of action. The French website L'Histoire de Radio Normandie remembers it differently: "After the Louvetot transmitter closed in 1939 because of the war, IBC went on broadcasting under the name Radio International Fécamp from Radio Normandies first transmitter at Fécamp for "several weeks". On 10 June 1940 French troops sabotaged the transmitter on the eve of the German invasion.'
A 22 October 1939 British War Cabinet memo marked 'SECRET: To Be Kept Under Lock And Key' notes that:
- It was learnt that an obsolete station at Fécamp, controlled by the International Broadcasting Company (of which Captain L. F. Plugge, MP, is the chairman), has been modernised, and had started to work with programmes in English, Czech and Austrian [sic]. The danger of allowing a station so near the Channel to work on its own...was felt by the Air Ministry to be grave...The French Service(s)...are in complete agreement with the British point of view...[and] have confessed that the private interests concerned have got the ear of the civil powers [in France] without reference to factors of national security. It is hoped that the French Service view will shortly prevail.
It appears the British government was not interested in Plugge's invitation to broadcast Allied propaganda from Radio Normandie transmitters, even if they had not been destroyed.
Plugge hoped to restart transmissions from France after the war but changes in broadcasting regulations and a different attitude to radio listening meant that this never happened. The post-war president, Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
, also had a different attitude to the station.
Radio Normandy had a bigger audience in southern England on Sundays than the BBC. Under Lord Reith
John Reith, 1st Baron Reith
John Charles Walsham Reith, 1st Baron Reith, KT, GCVO, GBE, CB, TD, PC was a Scottish broadcasting executive who established the tradition of independent public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom...
, the BBC was off the air until late on Sundays to give people time to go to church, and offered little but serious music and discussions. Broadcasting historians have said that Reith reluctantly agreed to lighten the BBC's programmes on Sundays after his audience deserted him for Radio Normandy's light music. That, some have said, was a reason that Reith left the BBC, feeling his mission to educate, inform and entertain with what he judged to be programmes of high moral tone had been cut away by rank commercial entertainment driven by money.
The IBC's original London offices were in Hallam Street, near the BBC's Broadcasting House, then moved to nearby 35-36 Portland Place. This was taken over by a British weapons development unit MRI(c)
MD1
Ministry of Defence 1 , also known as "Churchill's Toyshop" was a British weapon research and development organisation of the Second World War....
at the start of the war but later bombed. The BBC's Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
, inheritor of the audiences that Plugge's offshore successors had built until the 1967 Marine Broadcasting (Offences) Act
Marine Broadcasting Offences Act
The Marine, &c., Broadcasting Act 1967 c.41, shortened to Marine Broadcasting Offences Act, became law in the United Kingdom at midnight on Monday, August 14, 1967 and was repealed by the...
made them illegal, later moved into the Hallam Street building. After the war IBC became a recording studio and stars including The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
, The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
and Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
recorded there.
It has been suggested that Leonard Plugge was the inventor of the two-way car
Čar
Čar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...
radiotelephone
Radiotelephone
A radiotelephone is a communications system for transmission of speech over radio. Radiotelephone systems are not necessarily interconnected with the public "land line" telephone network. "Radiotelephone" is often used to describe the usage of radio spectrum where it is important to distinguish the...
. The claim that the term of "plugging" something by advertising was derived from the name of Leonard Plugge is untrue. Plugge pronounced his name "Plooje", claiming Belgian-Dutch origins. It was only when he stood for the parliamentary seat of Chatham that he agreed to the slogan "Plugge in for Chatham" and accepted the way almost everybody else pronounced his name.
Later life
In the 1960s and 1970s, Plugge moved in a set that included Princess Margaret, her husband photographer Anthony Armstrong-JonesAntony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon
Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, GCVO, RDI is an English photographer and film maker. He was married to Princess Margaret, younger daughter of King George VI and younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II....
, broadcaster Julian Pettifer
Julian Pettifer
Julian Pettifer OBE is a British television journalist. He was President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and is Vice President of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts...
and transsexual April Ashley
April Ashley
April Ashley is an English model and restaurant hostess. She was the first British person to be outed as a transsexual, which was by the Sunday People in 1961...
.
His daughter Gale Ann, who had married and divorced Jonathan Benson, was in Trinidad with her partner, the American Black Power leader Hakim Jamal
Hakim Jamal
Hakim Abdullah Jamal was the name adopted by African-American activist Allen Donaldson, who was a cousin of Malcolm X and later became an associate of Michael X. Jamal wrote From the Dead Level, a memoir of his life and memories of Malcolm X. He was romantically involved with several high profile...
, when she was stabbed and buried alive in January 1972 by Michael X
Michael X
Michael X , born Michael de Freitas in Trinidad and Tobago to a Portuguese father and a Bajan-born mother, was a self-styled black revolutionary and civil rights activist in 1960s London. He was also known as Michael Abdul Malik and Abdul Malik...
and his supporters, whom Jamal also followed. Her twin brother, Greville, died in a road accident in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
a year later.
The film Performance
Performance (film)
Performance is a 1968 British crime drama film; the film was produced in 1968 but not released until 1970. Directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg, Performance stars James Fox and Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones in his film acting debut.-Plot:...
, starring Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
and James Fox
James Fox
James Fox, OBE is an English actor.-Early life:James Fox was born in London, England to theatrical agent Robin Fox and actress Angela Worthington. He is the brother of actor Edward Fox and film producer Robert Fox. The actress Emilia Fox is his niece and the actor Laurence Fox is his son. His...
, was filmed in Plugge's house in Lowndes Square. Plugge died in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
on 19 February 1981 at the age of 91.
External links
- Roy Plomley closes down a day's broadcasting by Plugge's Radio Normandy (format: MP3)
- Radio Normandy Calling – Roy Plomley previews programmes (format: Real audio)
- Radio For Sale: Sponsored Programming in British Radio during the 1930s – Sean Street, Bournemouth University
- British War Cabinet secret memo on Plugge's broadcasting, October 1939
- Time, Pioneers, Monday, 21 January 1935
- IBC Studio The early days of Radio Normandy (includes pictures of Plugge and of one of Radio Normandy's mobile units)
- http://www.offshoreechos.com/radionormandie/RadioNormandie00.htm http://www.offshoreechos.com/radionormandie/RadioNormandie00.htm
- J. Plugge, Uw naam is PLUG(GE)?, Quoad Fornam, Leende. ISBN 90–6851–003–7
- Elsevier, 16 November 1991.