Keep the Aspidistra Flying
One would not expect to find an aspidistra growing in England unless it was a houseplant in a conservatory. However, in 1942, an ‘Aspidistra’ of grand proportions had been ‘planted’ in Ashdown Forest.
The war-time government decided that, in order to effectively compete with the clout of Nazi radio output, it would need to build the most powerful radio transmitter the world had ever seen. In May 1941 the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, sanctioned the purchase from the U.S.A. of a 500 kilowatt medium-wave transmitter that had been described as a ‘raiding Dreadnought of the ether’.
The transmitter was only for sale because the U.S. Federal Communications Commission declined it a licence to be used by WJZ station, as it exceeded power regulations. The British Secret Service pipped the Chinese government to the post and closed negotiations by paying £165,000.
The plan was to install the transmitter in an old gravel pit in Bedfordshire, but the Chief Engineer of the Secret Service insisted it needed to be nearer Europe to maximise its efficacy. As a result, a new secret location was chosen: Kingstanding, near Crowborough, in the Ashdown Forest.
The radio tower was codenamed Aspidistra because of its size and as a nod to Gracie Fields’ song, ‘The Biggest Aspidistra in the World’. It took a battalion of Canadian engineers to dig the massive 50 feet deep foundation hole and 600 men to construct the reinforced concrete shell. To run Aspidistra, a 3,000 horsepower diesel generator was added, plus workshops, offices and a cooling tower.
Aspidistra’s main objective was ‘black’ propaganda (transmitting radio programmes and reports under the guise of being genuine German productions, as opposed to ‘white’ propaganda which was genuine British productions bending the truth). Its sheer power made this possible: when British bombers flew across Germany, Nazi radio stations would close down so the planes could not latch onto the signals and use them as a pathfinder. When this happened, Aspidistra would intercept the wavelength seamlessly, beaming the programme out to German households so that listeners experienced no interruption. The programme would then fade out and Aspidistra began its own bulletins: official German radio had become British propaganda without so much as a second’s delay.
The transmitter was also used for less deceptive roles. Indeed, its first use was to send President Roosevelt’s message to Moroccans during the Allied North African campaign in November 1942. Again, Aspidistra’s power meant many locals thought the clear message was being transmitted from their own capital city, Rabat.
Once the war finished, Aspidistra continued to be used by the Foreign Office for its Diplomatic Wireless Service and by the BBC. In the late 1980s the underground sections of Aspidistra’s facilities were re-fitted to act as government headquarters lest Britain came under nuclear attack.
Today it is owned by Sussex Police as a training site but a local charity is soon to use Heritage Lottery funding to research and tell the full story of Aspidistra, those who built and operated it and how it helped win the war.
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