LARRY BENNETT
Local History and Maritime Radio author
I was born in Bristol in 1959, and lived in the Hillfields area of the city until 1979.
I attended the local primary school and then obtained a place at Queen Elizabeth's Hospital school in Clifton in 1971. I stayed there until 1976, when I enrolled on the Marine Radio and Electronics course at Brunel Technical College in Bristol, obtaining full qualifications in radio and radar.
In 1979 I worked as an electronics technician at the BBC Monitoring Service at Caversham Park, Reading, but only stayed there until December of that year.
I joined the Post Office long-range radio station (Portishead Radio) as a Radio Officer in early 1980, and stayed there until it closed in 2000. I run the official Portishead Radio website www.portisheadradio.co.uk.
At this time, I was working for BT Satellite Services, providing customer support and Inmarsat commissioning processing for UK-registered terminals.
When the station closed, I worked for BT Heritage and Archives, cataloguing and collecting all historical information about the station.
In 2001, I joined the UK Hydrographic Office in Taunton as a Radio Signals Publications Editor, becoming manager in 2011.
I represented the UK at many MCA, IMO and IHO meetings worldwide, becoming secretary and chairman of the IMO NAVTEX Coordinating Panel.
After taking retirement in 2019 I devoted much of my time to writing, having many articles published in specialised magazines.
I have written four books and two booklets, and my fifth book is now undergoing research. My first three books were both Amazon 'best-sellers' in their genre.
In addition, I have written numerous articles on maritime radio and local history, which have been published in:
Radio Communication
Radio User
Practical Wireless
Bristol Evening Post
Burnham & Highbridge Weekly News
Burnham & Highbridge Gazette
Bridgwater Mercury
Short Wave Magazine
Western Daily Press
QSO (Radio Officers' Association Magazine)
Sea Breezes
I also give talks on the above subjects, and have visited:
Bristol RSGB Group
North Bristol Amateur Radio Club
South Bristol Amateur Radio Club
Shirehampton Amateur Radio Club
Weston-super-Mare Amateur Radio Club
Trowbridge & District Amateur Radio Club
Mid-Somerset Amateur Radio Club
Barton Hill (Bristol) History Group
Portishead ATC Squadron
Somerset Industrial & Archaeological Society, Taunton
Burnham-on-Sea Book Festival
The 'Dig For Victory' Show, Bristol
North Sedgemoor Local History Group
Burnham-on-Sea Amateur Radio Club
Burnham-on-Sea Library
North Petherton Library
Pawlett British Legion
Backwell Probus Club
Hillfields Library, Bristol
and many more........
If you know of a group who would be interested in a talk (duration 1 hour or so, plus Q & As), please contact me for current rates and availability.
Other hobbies include family history, model railways, amateur radio (callsign G4HLN), amateur dramatics, collecting records/CDs, and following Bristol Rovers football club.
I live in Somerset with my partner Wendy, and have three grown-up children from a previous marriage.
