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Intrigue and Espionage

 

During the 1960s and 70s I was an active member of the Radio Wholesalers' Federation. Whist we had a small radio wholesale business, in those days it was prudent to meet other wholesalers across the UK to learn more about the business opportunities and trade developments as they emerged.

 

I began by attending the monthly regional meetings in Bristol where wholesalers from Gloucester to Truro gathered to chat and complain about manufacturers who were squeezing our profit margins. We did at least have a structure to the pricing and this had lasted for generations, although in 1956 Great Britain enacted the Restrictive Trade Practices Act, and in 1964 resale price maintenance was made illegal by an act of Parliament. This mortally wounded the traditional wholesale industry but it took ten years to die during which time our margins were eroded and the cost of stocking and selling radio components was not recovered by traditional stockists. So after forty years or so we had to begin to stock and sell white goods: fridges, washing machines and televisions to support the cost of stocking and selling small parts in small quantities. The industry took a while to die because televisions were notoriously unreliable in those days and the thermionic valves needed replacing in domestic televisions very frequently. The sale of these valves and similar components kept us going for a long time indeed.

 

The quest, of course, was to add other higher margin products to the range that we were selling and happily there was an explosion in the demand for the transistor radios as well as black and white televisions. For every TV there was a need for a rooftop aerial and for every mains radio, there was an urge to buy the emerging smaller transistor radios. We bought these from UK manufacturers.

 

By 1974 I was national chairman of the Wholesalers Federation and was therefore invited to visit Japan to see what they were producing. Our party of 12 wholesalers brought in the first batches of hand held calculators as well as very good transistor radios.

 

At the same time the Russian trade delegation invited representative of the radio industry to visit Russia to see what they were making. We sailed on MV Pushkin to Leningrad, and thence to Moscow by rail to see some factories. This was an all expenses paid trip; very extensive, lavish and informative. Russian personal radios were heavy and chunky. Whist they were in the style of the latest small Japanese hand held transistor radios, they had a certain earthy feel about them. The leather cases were thick and heavy, with buckles. The manufacturing costs must have been high but all they wanted was a source of hard currency so they were prepared to sell anything we wanted and at rock bottom prices.

 

We enjoyed our trip and the vodka flowed unabated. There were lots of formal banquets, each of which was accompanied by the relentless toasts. For these, the idea was to down a small glass of the stuff in one gulp. Even with all that training, I couldn't manage to keep up with the crowd. I suppose our party of UK businessmen was about fifteen strong and there fifteen Russians at least so there was always a one-to-one minder, keeper or big fat controller. My particular guardian was called Mikhail.

 

Leningrad, formerly St. Petersburg, capital of the Russian Empire, was one of the initial targets of the German invasion of June 1941. The magnificent Hermitage survived intact. The State Hermitage Museum is a museum of art and culture in Russia. It is said to be the second-largest art museum in the world, and was mightily impressive. First the outside façade in green is a magnificent sight that will always remain in my mind. Inside it houses the finest art, furnishings and antiques set in resplendent rooms, elegant galleries and marble embellished granite halls. We were allowed a day and a half to browse before being put on an overnight train to Moscow. Before joining the train we were taken to the Bolshoi ballet to see a classical ballet beautifully performed. We were led out by our 'leaders' before the final act and were walked directly to the railway station where we were told our luggage awaited us.

 

The vodka and other tipple had numbed the British so we walked down the platform somewhat casually. One of our more traditional English gentleman was sporting a bowler hat and a rolled umbrella which he swung with gay abandon and poked and jested with all in his path. There were concrete street lights on the platform and he poked at one of these, low down, at the metal panel that houses the electrics. There was an almighty bang and all the street lights on the platform fused and plunged us into darkness.

 

That awoke us from our merriment for our minders were not far away. We were herded into the carriages and with bags aboard we trundled out of Leningrad station and began the long overnight trek to Moscow.

 

It was a memorable trip and we flew home from Moscow directly to London on an Aeroflot jet. The next week was 24th September 1971 when it was announced on national news in the Government had expelled 105 spies from London. These included our commercial attaché Mikhail and other minders so looking back we had a wonderful free holiday with no on-going commitment to purchasing crates of small, heavy transistor radios.

 

So that was my close encounter with intrigue and espionage.