University of Sheffield Library. Special Collections and Archives Ref: MS 387 Title: Radio Luxembourg Archive Scope: Documents presented to the University of Sheffield by Doreen Williams, the widow of Stephen Williams, Director General of English Language Broadcasting, in February 1999. The archive includes schedules, scripts, cuttings, tapes and photographs relating to English-language broadcasting on Radio Luxembourg in the periods 1933-1939 and 1945-1946. Dates: 1923-2007 Level: Fonds Extent: 4 boxes Name of creators: Stephen Williams; Professor Gerald Newton Administrative / biographical history: The documents include schedules, scripts, cuttings, tapes and photographs relating to English-language broadcasting on Radio Luxembourg in the periods 1933-1939 and 1945-1946. Many of the documents were collected by Stephen Williams, Director of English Language Broadcasting at Radio Luxembourg at the time, while further material has been added by Professor Gerald Newton, of the University of Sheffield’s Department of Germanic Studies. Stephen Williams was born on 31st March 1908, and developed an interest in radio at an early age. He joined Radio Luxembourg at the age of 23 after leaving Cambridge and venturing into early commercial radio. The station was exciting and challenging in a variety of ways: it was international, broadcast in three languages (French, German and English) and was a commercial success. Its entertainment-based style was in direct contrast to the BBC of the day, and it built a large and dedicated listening audience throughout Europe. In the period immediately prior to the outbreak of World War II, Stephen Williams faced increasing danger, and was in fact shot at by Nazi sympathisers. Concerns about the fate of the radio station following the German invasion of the supposedly “neutral protectorate” of Luxembourg led to Williams’ involvement in the burying of transmission valves and the entire record library in a field close to the transmitter. When German forces invaded Luxembourg in 1940, the station was taken over as a vehicle for propaganda. Lord Haw Haw broadcast from the station in English during this period, using Williams’ own chair. During the war, Williams worked for the BBC, as Entertainments Liaison Officer, though secretly also engaged in undercover work. In 1944, the Americans took control of the station and briefly used it for propaganda purposes. Although the German forces had set charges to blow up the transmitter, these were sabotaged by the station’s chief engineer. The record library and transmission valves were unearthed from the field in which they had been buried, and broadcasting quickly resumed. The Archive includes the script of the first English broadcast after the war, including mocking impersonations of Adolf Hitler. Stephen Williams continued to broadcast on Radio Luxembourg, 1 as well as on the BBC, and spoke the final words of farewell when the station closed down in 1991. He died on 23rd November 1994. Further documents have been added to the material collected by Williams by Professor Gerald Newton, of the University of Sheffield’s Department of Germanic Studies. Professor Newton is Director of the Centre for Luxembourg Studies, and Commandeur de l'Ordre de Mérite du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg. Related collections: British Luxembourg Society Archive; Luxembourg Collection Source: Donated in February 1999 System of arrangement: By category Subjects: Radio - Luxembourg Names: Radio Luxembourg; Williams, Stephen (1908-1994); Newton, Gerald Conditions of access: Available to all researchers, by appointment Restrictions: None Copyright: According to document Finding aids: Listed 2 MS 387 Radio Luxembourg Archive Itemised list 387/1 Radio Luxembourg Programme list. 1 l. 387/2 Radio Luxembourg Studio Transmission Sheet, Sunday 16 Feb 1936. 14 l. 387/3 Radio Luxembourg Scripts 387/3/1 Radio Script for The Red Lion Stood Fast (Sunday 12 May 1946). 43 l. 387/3/2 Radio Script for a programme of memories of WWI and WWII, (Sunday, 10 Nov 1946). With annotations: i) Original. 8 l. ii) Copy. Includes 2 pages of “Extract from The Times, 15 Aug 1945”. 10 l. 387/3/3 Photocopy of script of The first disc jockey: a 75th birthday tribute to Christopher Stone. Broadcast 19 Sep 1957. 19 l. 3 387/4 Documents 387/4/1 Luxemburg during the war (1939-1945) – report from the monitoring service of the BBC on Luxemburg transmission 24 May 1942. 2 l. 387/4/2 Photocopies of documents from Public Record Office relating to Luxembourg, Radio Luxembourg and Stephen Williams, dated from 1946-1948. 7 items 387/4/3 Copy of Radio Luxembourg: a report on its programmes (Nov 1949). 15 l. And copy 387/4/4 Photocopy of pages from Radio Luxembourg’s Scale of Rates, March 2nd 1936. 2 l. 387/4/5 Photocopy of Luxembourgish advertisement for radio equipment. 1 l. 387/4/6 Printout of Radio for sale: sponsored programming in British radio during the 1930s by Sean Street (1999). 13 l. 387/4/7 Copy of script for documentary entitled Farewell FAB 208 (part of 40 Minutes series on BBC2). Filmed Dec 1991/Jan 1992. 42 l. And copy 387/4/8 Typescript in Luxembourgish about Radio Luxembourg, G.N., 20 Apr 1998. 1 l. 387/4/9 Typewritten notes on Radio Luxembourg. 4 l. 387/4/10 Webpage information on Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv (DRA), 12 Sep 2000. 2 l. 387/4/11 Printouts of various web documents. 5 items 387/4/12 Typed list of contents: Tape Cassettes – Box AA. Ms. note “At Imperial War Museum”. 6 l. 387/4/13 Printouts of library catalogue records for books on radio in the Netherlands 387/4/14 Catalogue entries for tapes in the Stephen Willaims Collection at the National Sound Archives. 7 l. 387/4/15 Documents relating to request by Professor Gerald Newton to view documents relating to Radio Luxembourg at the Public Record office, 17 Sep 2001 4 387/4/16 Printout from BBC website: “Edward VIII: abdication timeline”, 25 Jul 2007. 4 l. 387/4/17 Copies of documents requested by Professor Gerald Newton from the Archives Nationales Luxembourg, 14 May 2001: i) Dossier (FI 547). Letter and report, 3 Dec 1929. 12 l. ii) Escher Tageblatt, 9 Oct 1931 “Radio-Luxembourg” 2 l.; 12 Oct 1931 1 l.; 16 Oct 1931 “Die Blamage geht weiter” 1 l.; 21 Oct 1931 2 l.; 4 Nov 1931 “Notizen und Glossen” 2 l.; 1931 (undated) “Unsere Radiostation” 1 l. 6 items iii) Kammer der Abgeordneten, 30 Jan 1931. “Aus ‘TSF Résidu’”. 4 l. iv) Luxemburger Zeitung, 20 Nov 1931. “Eine Einrenkung”. 2 l. 387/4/18 Copies of documents requested by Professor Gerald Newton from the Archives Nationales Luxembourg, 15 May 2001: i) “Dossier Postes et Télégraphes”. Letters and notes, Aug 1933. 12 l. ii) Radio-Revue Luxembourgeoise, May-Jun 1933. 2 l. iii) Radio-Revue Luxembourgeoise, Jul 1933. 2 l. iv) “Statistiques des stations de reception radioélectriques de 1929 [et] de 1934”. 1 l. v) Letter, 11 Jun 1940. 1 l. vi) “Rapport sur l’activité de la station émettrice “Radio- Luxembourg” pendant l’année 1927. 2 l. vii) Dossier, Aug 1929. 11 l. viii) Document relating to Conférence Radiotélégraphique de Madrid, 1 Mar 1933. 11 l. ix) Letter and document, 7 Apr 1933. 7 l. x) “Rapport concernant les travaux et les décisions de la conférence européenne des radiocommunications de Lucerne du 15 mai au 19 juin 1933. 18 l. xi) Letter, 3 Dec 1934. 1 l. xii) “Projet de loi”, no. 27. 1937. 4 l. xiii) Letter, 28 May 1938. 2 l. xiv) Letter, 11 Jul 1923. 3 l. xv) Letter, 3 May 1937. 2 l. 387/4/19 Copy of programme for 30e Anniversaire de l’Association Radio-Luxembourg, 25-26 Jun 1955. 19 l. 5 387/5 Cuttings and offprints from newspapers, magazines, books 387/5/1 Blue folder labelled Luxembourg News by Stephen Williams. Contains newspaper cuttings relating to Radio Luxembourg from 1934-36. 33 l. Newspapers: 387/5/2 Berliner Zeitung, 6/7 May 1995. “Befreiung: Betrachtung zum 8. Mai von Stefan Heym” 387/5/3 Daily Herald, 29 Oct 1935. “G.P.O. trying to gag Radio Normandie” 387/5/4 Daily News, 20 May 1965. “LBJ lauds 10 men and puts in word for gals” 387/5/5 d’Letzeburger Land, 3 Oct 1997. “Die Piratenfahne eingeholt” 387/5/6 Escher Tageblatt, 16 Aug 1935 387/5/7 Evening Standard, 8 May 1992. “Man who put Luxembourg on the air” 387/5/8 Gazette and Post, 8 Jul 1976. “A life on the waves” 387/5/9 Independent, 26 Nov 1994. Obituary of Stephen Williams 387/5/10 Luxemburger Wort, 3/4/10/23/29 Oct and 14 Nov 1929; 12 Feb, 3 Mar and Jul 1930 387/5/11 Luxemburger Wort, 2 Feb 1933 “Atwater Kent Radio”; 11 Feb 1933 “Radio Super Bell”; 2 Mar 1933 Radio-Superhets” 387/5/12 Luxemburger Wort, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23 May and 13, 17 Jun 1933. “Radio” 387/5/13 Luxemburger Wort, 17/27/31 Aug 1935, 4/5/8 Sep 1939, 14/15 Dec 1940 387/5/14 Luxemburger Wort, 14 Sep 1989. “Das letzte Lied war ein Schrei nach Freiheit: heute vor 50 Jahren verstummte das Luxemburger Rundfunkorchester” 387/5/15 Luxemburger Wort, 9 Sep 1994. “Das Schicksal Radio Luxemburgs gegen Ende des 2 Weltkriegs” 387/5/16 Star, 6 Mar 1930”No sign yet of real contrast in programs: next week’s radio from the new alternative stations”. (Part of article) 387/5/17 Sunday Referee, Jan-Dec 1933 and Jul-Sep 1934. 16 l. 387/5/18 Sunday Telegraph, 27 Dec 1992. “Farewell from Fabulous 208” 387/5/19 Super, 10 Jun 1991. “Das zerrissene Herz des Dichters Stefan Heym” 387/5/20 Tageblatt, 3 Nov 1935.