by Emma Grove

The recently released film The Boat That Rocked has brought back some fun memories for local history expert Colin Harvey.
Brushing his teeth in Coca-Cola and sleeping on egg boxes are just some of the recollections Colin has from his brief time spent as a pirate radio DJ.
It was July 1964, when a 22-year-old Colin answered an advert for an engineer to fit a transmitter at Radio City.
The pirate station broadcast from Shivering Sands Army Fort in the Thames Estuary.
Colin recalls going to Whitstable Harbour where he met Reg Calvert and the two went out in a boat to the fort.
To gain access to the forts, which had hollow legs, the DJs and engineers climbed a ladder from the boat up into the body of the fort.
Colin, of Hobart Gardens, Sittingbourne, recalls how the station needed the transmitter to get on air, and suggested building a horizontal aerial.
Once the transmitter was up, Colin was offered a lunchtime presenting slot from noon to 2pm, which he began under the name Harvey Collins. He remembers how everything was covered in preservation grease except for the studio area, which had been cleaned up.
There was no fresh water and Colin said the DJs sometimes cleaned their teeth with Coca-Cola. He also remembers sleeping on egg boxes for three nights running.
Colin said: “I was told I looked yellow because of all the grease. I looked like a tramp, but it was good fun.”
Colin spent two-and-a-half weeks out at sea – as there was no ship-to-shore communication, he had to wait for the boat to come back.
He said: “If you go to Minster Cliffs you can see the forts on a clear day, and sometimes I do that and think how I was out there once.”