Synopsis

‘Forty years ago Rolling Stones Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were busted for drugs at Richards’ home in Sussex. The arrest received massive coverage. When the two were given custodial sentences, William Rees-Mogg, then editor of ‘The Times’, wrote a famous letter pointing out that the punishment was heavier than the crime merited and if unknown youngmen were similarly arraigned they would have got off lighter. He’s one of the interviewees here, as is Andrew Loog Oldham, the Stones manager at the time.  Bob Harris presents and produces.’

‘Sunday Telegraph’

 

‘This is the story of the Rolling Stones’ traumatic summer of 1967. The programme looks at the events and repercussions surrounding a highly publicised drug bust on a party held at Redlands- Keith Richard’s Sussex country home.

The programme takes its name from a piece in ‘The Times’, written by its traditionally conservative editor William Rees-Mogg. He questioned the outcome of the court case that saw Richards and Jagger handed custodial sentences for first time offences which was  harsher than ‘any purely anonymous young man’ would have recived due to their celebrity status. The programme includes interviews with Sir Rees-Mog’

 

© BBC

 

Broadcast BBC Radio 2, 2^nd August 2008

 

Press

Pick of the week:

Radio Times/ Sunday Telegraph/ Daily Telegraph/ Sunday Times/ Mail On Sunday/ Observer

 

Credits

Narrator                       Bob Harris

Writer                          Alison Chapman

Production                  Neil Myners, Alison Chapman, Trudie Myerscough-Harris

Executive Producer     Bob Harris

 

Interviews

William Rees- Mogg

Andrew Loog- Oldham

Jeff Dexter

Robert Warren

Steve Abrams

Sean O’Hagen

 

Archive

Mike Jagger

Keith Richards