Early satellite dish got ‘spy’ Blackburn reported

Tony Blackburn was reported as a spy after he got one of the UK’S first satellite dishes, sparking the suspicion of neighbours in west London.

The disc jockey, 79, told The Moon Under Water podcast: “At the height of the Cold War, Blackburn gets taken down. I love technology – I had an early satnav. It used go to Camberley and then suddenly went blank because they hadn’t mapped it all out yet.

“I had one of the first satellite dishes as well – a massive great dish when I lived in Kensington.

“It was a rotating dish in the old days. I was reported to the authorities because they thought I was a spy.”