It was October 1941; I had left school with a reasonable Schools Certificate and a school friend suggested I try to get an interview with the Engineer in Charge of the "H" Group Transmitter at our hometown, Hastings. The school friend was Denis Curd who was already working there. He went on to a wonderful engineering career that embraced OSE3 (Overseas Extension 3, i.e. Rampisham), 200 Oxford Street and, finally, Bush House.
My interview with the E.i.C. was quite friendly. I was introduced to the transmitter - a Series Modulated Tx 100 watts, the Crystal Drive, the Re-Broadcast Receiver the phone to London Control Room and the log book. Then I met the Boss. He was "Dixie" Dean, a pre-war senior engineer at the Washford, North Somerset Transmitter. He was in shirtsleeves and sat on the edge of his desk, swinging his legs, made a few jokes and then asked me if I knew Ohms Law. Actually I did, and on that he sent off an application form with his recommendation. It was as easy as that!
In a fortnight I received an official letter from Mr. P. A. Florence, the chief Engineer, which I still have and treasure:
'Dear Hayward. I have pleasure in offering you the post of Youth (Transmitters) (Under Training) at the weekly wage of £1/7/6d plus 3/- Cost of living Bonus....'Three months later I was sent to Bristol for a short training course under a Mr. Smith followed by a further 'hands on' course at Maida Vale and then onto Shift D in the sub-basement of London Control Room. My Senior Control
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Of course, we made the odd mistake. I accidentally put a burst of 1100cps tone on to the Home Service programme. Every phone tag on the board dropped; every internal and outside phone in the place rang and there were screams from the operator in Home continuity. Charlie and Bobby went ballistic and I was sent on a sobering journey in the lift to the eighth floor to explain myself to the E.i.C. London, Mr Bottle - a fierce gentleman who, I was told, still came into work every day in a dark suit and Bowler hat. We tried not to make many errors!
After three years of LCR, I went into the Fleet Air Arm. I returned and was re-instated as a Junior Maintenance Engineer (JME) in the Control Room at Aldenham House, home of the Arabic and Latin American Service. There I changed my category to become a Junior Programme Engineer (JPE) and transferred to Drama Unit at BH Portland Place where duties included spot effects for editions of "Mrs Dale's Diary".
From there I went to Plymouth as a Studio Manager, then to Bristol as the External Services Producer (West). Then came a brief spell in television under Grace Wyndham-Goldie, directing a few of the last editions of "The Brains Trust" with Bernard Braden and a few of those terrible Barry Bucknell D.I.Y programmes!
It was then back to Bristol as Talks Producer running Radio 4's Archaeology "Origins", "Any Questions?", "Any Answers", etc. I was seconded to UNESCO as instructor to Arabic production staff
