Dates

• Existence: 1908 - 1994
• Usage: 1908 - 1994

Biography

Stephen Williams (1908-1994) was the Director General of English Language Broadcasting. He developed an interest in radio at an early age. He joined Radio Luxembourg at the age of 23 after leaving Cambridge. 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, although 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 work for Radio Luxembourg, as well as for the BBC, and spoke the final words of farewell when the station closed down in 1991. He died on 23rd November 1994.

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