This was the Royal Navy’s last and most important parade, which took place to commemorate King George VI’s accession to the throne.
As searchlights illuminated the skies and floodlights illuminated the ships, the pomp and pageantry of the 1937 Coronation Review of the Fleet at Spithead in Portsmouth saw 300 warships representing Britain and other countries gather there before the Queen and King.
However, the amazing tribute paid to the King isn’t what the review will be remembered for. The broadcast was actually the drunken BBC commentaryator Thomas Woodrooffe’s radio broadcast that Britons who tuned into the BBC on the evening May 20 saw.
It was an infamous moment when Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe drunkenly wandered for almost four minutes, before being fading out by BBC colleagues.
Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe had been scheduled to give 15 minute commentary on the scene while the King examined the Navy. Instead, he told listeners, ‘We have forgot the Royal Review. We have forgotten that Royal Review. All of it is lit up with fairy lamps.
After repeating several times the fact that the fleet had been ‘lit up,’ he added: “We had 100, 200 warships around our fleet a second ago. And now they’ve gone at a Signal by the Morse Code which was sent by the fleet flagship, in which I am now. They’ve gone.
Later, Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe denied that he was drunk but claimed to have experienced a ‘kind of nervous blackout’.
This was the Royal Navy’s last and most important parade, which took place to commemorate King George VI’s accession to the throne. Above: 1937 Fleet Review at Spithead in Portsmouth
The 1937 Coronation Review of the Fleet was a pompous affair that saw over 300 warships of Britain and other nations gather at Spithead in Portsmouth to meet the Queen and the King. Floodlights and searchlights lit up the ships.
First World War Navy vet Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe had previously broadcast without any faults but then spent many hours with sailors aboard his old vessel HMS Nelson, before making his last broadcast at 10.45 pm.
Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe did not get suspended, but his broadcasting career was able to recover.
The Daily Mail reported on Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe’s embarrassing moment, telling readers of a ‘B.B.C sensation’.
At the time, a spokesperson for the BBC said to the Daily Mail: “The BBC regrets the unsatisfactory commentary and has therefore curtailed it.”
However, the amazing tribute to the King is what the review will be remembered for. The drunken BBC commentaryator Thomas Woodrooffe broadcast the radio program, which was broadcast to Britons across the UK on the evening May 20.
King George VI inspects soldiers aboard HMS Dunedin at the Review of Spithead
The Daily Mail published an account of Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe’s humiliating moment and told readers about a “B.B.C. sensation”.
A few days earlier, Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe made a “refreshing” broadcast about the King’s Coronation.
The Berlin Olympics were also his commentary.
Apart from 160 Royal Navy craft, the Spithead ceremony saw ships from 17 other countries including Nazi Germany.
Other than the 300 total vessels, there were also fishing boats and yachts.
An announcer introduced Lieutenant-Commander Woodrooffe at the beginning of BBC broadcast.
The ex-sailor opened by saying: “We have forgotten about the Royal Review. We have forgotten about the Royal Review. All of it is lit up with fairy lamps.
“It is amazing, the entire thing is a fairy lamps. You’ll see the odd and fleeting things if I follow you.
Even though parts of his long-winded commentary were difficult to hear, you can clearly understand the part where he apologized to listeners after they had been given a brief pause.
Apart from 160 Royal Navy craft, Spithead also featured ships from 17 other nations, including Nazi Germany. There were also 300 other vessels, including fishing boats and yachts.
Crews can be seen watching as crews cover the dead deck of a Navy ship during the Coronation Fleet Review, 1937.
During the Coronation Fleet Review, 1937, Sailors aboard HMS Nelson greet King George VI.
He replied, “It’s a pity that I told people to stop talking.”
“What do you mean?” said the broadcaster. All the ships are lit by fairy lights. Every ship has been outlined.
‘As far and wide as I can, I think I can see it down approximately five to six mile, the ships are all illuminated.
They are all outlined. All of it, including destroyers, is outlined. The outline lights up the entire thing.
“In just a few seconds we will fire a rocket… As they fire, I’ll try to show you how they look.
“But, at the moment, there are a lot of boats here. This is what we saw today. It was a huge fleet, lit by lights. It’s all in fairy heaven.
However, Woodrooffe, Lieutenant Commander, stated that the fleet was ‘gone’ after being confused by the sudden outage of the lights.
“I was speaking to you during this… but the fleet disappeared.” He stated, “Disappeared” and that the fleet had disappeared.
He said, before being cut off: “There is nothing between heaven and us.”
The BBC designed a system to prevent similar accidents.
The standard was established for all future radio broadcasts.