Aspidistra

Harold Robin had a budget of £523,000 for the new transmitter. This is a lot of money now; in 1941 it was a small fortune. This huge transmitter (the biggest in the world) was nicknamed aspidistra after a song by Gracie Fields. Gracie Fields was a famous wartime singer; one of her songs was called the biggest aspidistra in the world.

Aspidistra was supposed to be installed in the newly built studio at Milton Bryan, but Harold Robin wanted it to be installed as near to Europe as possible (to get a strong signal). Aspidistra was moved to Crowborough in Sussex.

Click here to hear about Aspidistra (468k file size)