The Eccentric Entrepreneur

"Radio Normandy Calling!"

The Belles of Normandy sing the station ident; Roy Plomley (of Desert Island Discs fame) introduces the artistes from the Bradford Alhambra.

And so begins another melody-packed hour - sponsored by a patent medicine - on the commercial radio station often more popular in the 1930s than the majestic BBC.

The man behind it all was called, improbably, Captain Leonard Plugge. Dominic Sandbrook tells the story of this clever, enterprising and subversive man.

Tory MP, passionate European and backroom boffin, Plugge created a string of brilliantly successful commercial stations in France and beyond that challenged Sir John Reith's radio monopoly with popular music and variety shows, sponsored by Bile Beans, Persil and Diploma cheddar cheese.

So wealthy did his radio network make him that he owned two yachts, six cars (including two Rolls Royces), a Mayfair mansion, employed twelve staff, and lived a life that lay somewhere between The Great Gatsby and Citizen Kane.

With Plugge's son Frank, Dominic leafs through his father's mountain of diaries and scrapbooks - news cuttings, photographs... memorabilia of a life that brought him the Legion d'Honneur, a medal from US broadcaster NBC and made him a worldwide celebrity.

With a rich archive of contributions from Roy Plomley, Bob Danvers-Walker and many others who first made their names on Plugge's stations.

Plus recordings from the shows they broadcast.

Dominic Sandbrook brings a forgotten mogul of a bygone era to life.

And next time you approach a road junction with an elongated 'SLOW' painted on the tarmac, you can thank Captain Plugge for it, because that was his idea too...

Producer: Simon Elmes

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2014.