Contrary to any popular, urban myths that you might have heard, Lemmy told me (when I worked for Hawkwind as a roadie, many many years ago) that his nickname came from his childhood fondness (and ability to impersonate) a character called “Lemmy” Barnet, who was a ‘techie’ in a British science fiction radio programme called “Journey Into Space”. It was written by BBC producer Charles Chilton, and originally ran from 1953 to 1956. Such was the success and following of the show, it was the last radio programme in the UK to attract a larger evening audience than television. In many ways, it heralded the end of the ‘golden age of radio’.

The character of “Lemmy” Barnet was played by (among others) Alfie Bass and David Kossoff (father of rock guitarist Paul Kossoff) and he was the spaceship’s radio operator and resident ‘geezer’, often heard playing his mouth organ and getting into a variety of scrapes with cheeky charm. In retrospect, his character owes more to Shaggy from Scooby Doo than it does to Flash Gordon, but his ‘man of the people’ approach to space travel made him a very loveable mascot. 

Originally, David Kossoff had asked Chilton if his character could be called Lemuel, but Chilton shortened the name to Lemmy and based the character on himself, since he had been a radio operator in the RAF.

If you have never heard of this programme, (and you enjoy vintage radio as much as I do,) you really should take the time to hear how the world sounded before TV and the internet. You can download most of the surviving episodes at the My Old Radio website and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. 

As with most sci-fi, it owes more to the ideology and spirit of the age in which it was written and this is typified in moments such as when the crew are frequently heard taking cigarette breaks. However, the scientific and technical observations are startlingly accurate, as are the crew’s reactions to seeing Earth from space for the first time. 

Remarkably, in episode nine of series one (Operation Luna), Lemmy utters the immortal words (that were to become a catchphrase often shouted at the band Motorhead:) “Turn it up.” This is the same episode that the crew meet a terrifying space alien armadillo (!) played by none other than Derek Guyler, best known for his appearances on TV with Eric Sykes and the grumpy janitor in the 1970’s series “Please Sir.”

Most controversially, they suggested (in 1953!) that it would be the British who first landed on the moon in 1965. I was so captivated by this premise that I based a sketch on the idea when I was writing the original “Uncle Reggie’s Magic Radio”. However, in my version the astronauts were not only British, they were from Yorkshire and you can hear that sketch at Uncle Reggie’s Podcast Site. (The Yorkshire Moon Mission makes a return, guest appearance in the novel about Reginald Merryweather which I am currently working on.)

Don’t forget to explore the links contained in the above text.