It was the last parade of the Royal Navy as the world’s largest and most prestigious, held to celebrate the coming to the throne of King George VI.
The pomp and pageantry of the 1937 Coronation Review of the Fleet saw 300 warships from Britain and other nations gathering at Spithead in Portsmouth before the King and Queen, as searchlights bathed the sky and floodlights lit up the vessels.
But the review is not remembered for the incredible tribute to the new King. Instead it was the drunken radio broadcast of BBC commentator Thomas Woodrooffe that Britons who tuned in around the country on the evening of May 20 were treated to.
The infamous moment saw Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe drunkenly ramble for nearly four minutes before he was faded out by BBC colleagues.
Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe, who had been set to spend 15 minutes commentating on the scene as the King inspected the Navy, instead told listeners: ‘We have forgotten the Royal Review, we have forgotten the Royal Review, the whole thing is lit up by fairy lamps.’
He went on to repeat several times that the fleet was ‘lit up’, before adding: ‘We had a hundred, two hundred warships around us a second ago, and now they’ve gone, at a signal by the Morse code, at a signal by the fleet flagship which I’m in now, they’ve gone, they’ve disappeared.’
Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe later denied that he had been drunk and instead claimed to have had ‘a kind of nervous blackout’.
It was the last parade of the Royal Navy as the world’s largest and most prestigious, held to celebrate the coming to the throne of King George VI. Above: the 1937 Fleet Review at Spithead, Portsmouth
The pomp and pageantry of the 1937 Coronation Review of the Fleet saw 300 warships from Britain and other nations gathering at Spithead in Portsmouth before the King and Queen, as searchlights bathed the sky and floodlights lit up the vessels
Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe, a First World War Navy veteran, had earlier made other broadcasts without fault but then spent hours drinking with sailors on board his former vessel HMS Nelson before he made his final broadcast from the ship at 10.45pm.
Although he was suspended for a week, Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe’s broadcasting career did recover.
The Daily Mail reported on Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe’s embarrassing moment, telling readers of a ‘B.B.C sensation’.
A spokesman told the Daily Mail at the time: ‘The BBC regrets that the commentary was unsatisfactory and for that reason it was curtailed.
But the review is not remembered for the incredible tribute to the new King. Instead it was the drunken radio broadcast of BBC commentator Thomas Woodrooffe (above) that Britons who tuned in around the country on the evening of May 20 were treated to
King George VI is seen inspecting soldiers on board HMS Dunedin during the Review at Spithead
The Daily Mail reported on Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe’s embarrassing moment, telling readers of a ‘B.B.C sensation’
Just days before, Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe had made a ‘refreshing’ broadcast on the day of the King’s Coronation.
He also commentated at the Berlin Olympics the previous year.
Along with 160 craft from the Royal Navy, ships from 17 foreign nations, including Nazi Germany, took part in the Spithead ceremony.
Also among the total of 300 vessels were fishing boats and yachts.
The BBC’s broadcast began with an announcer introducing Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe.
The former sailor then opened: ‘We have forgotten the Royal Review, we have forgotten the Royal Review, the whole thing is lit up by fairy lamps.
‘It is fantastic… the whole thing is a fairy lamp. Now if you will follow me through, if you don’t mind, the next few moments, you’ll find the fleeting odd things.’
Though parts of his rambling commentary are hard to make out, the moment that he apologised after listeners were treated to a pause of a few seconds is clearly audible.
Along with 160 craft from the Royal Navy, ships from 17 foreign nations, including Nazi Germany, took part in the Spithead ceremony. Also among the total of 300 vessels were fishing boats and yachts
Crews are seen lining the death of the deck of a Navy vessel as the Royal Yacht passes by during the Coronation Fleet Review in 1937
Sailors on board HMS Nelson are seen greeting King George VI during the Coronation Fleet Review in 1937
He said: ‘I’m sorry I was telling people to shut up talking.’
The broadcaster then went on: ‘What I mean is this. The whole fleet is lit up in fairy lamps. And each ship is outlined.
‘As far as I can see, I suppose I can see it down about five or six miles, ships are all lit up.
‘They are outlined. The whole lot, even destroyers are outlined. In the old days destroyers used to be outlined by kind of… lights and nowadays destroyers are lit up by the outline themselves.
‘In a second or two we are going to fire a rocket… I will try and tell you what they look like as they go off.
‘But at the moment there is a whole huge fleet here. the thing we saw this afternoon. This colossal fleet lit up by lights. And the whole thing is in fairy land.’
However, apparently confused when the lights then went out, Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe then said the fleet had ‘gone’.
‘I was talking to you in this middle of this… and what has happened is the fleet has gone. Disappeared and gone,’ he said.
Before being finally cut off, he added: ‘There’s nothing between us and heaven.’
Keen to avoid similar incidents, the BBC developed a system that allowed the announcer in the studio to take control if something went wrong.
It became the standard for future radio broadcasts.
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