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Bernie
Quayle
Sir Bernard -
Knight of the Turntable
Page Four |
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The first two pictures are at
WNOX, on the left, recording in the production suite. On the right, the
spiral stairs leading to the office area with a host of awards on the
wall behind me. In 1970 the station was 50 years old, one of the
oldest in the USA. To celebrate, they gave away a Lotus Elan
sports car, specially sprayed gold, in a competition - I got to
drive that one as well.
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Pete Dreyer and
Don Armstrong were very good at promotions, I did all
kinds of crazy stunts for the station, everything
from camel racing to sleeping in a major store's window
in downtown Knoxville.
It was on a gigantic luxurious waterbed and I broadcast
my breakfast show from there all week. I didn't get much
sleep though, people kept knocking on the window asking
me to jump up and down on the waterbed. There was
an intercom link-up to the people in the street. On the
right, I'm doing my pre-flight check on the plane I was
learning to fly. WNOX did a big promotion when
quail hunting season opened and they decided that this
Quayle, should learn to fly. They had ringed 50
farm reared quail with the station's call letters and
then released them. They offered $99 to anyone who
bagged one of them. The police stopped the
promotion I'm glad to say, they said it was on the
grounds that the hillbillies in Tennessee would probably
shoot me just to claim the prize money |
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The
Draft Dodger |
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Within days
of my arrival in the USA, I was drafted to serve a tour of duty
in Vietnam - panic stations! WNOX
manager, Pete Dreyer was immediately on the phone to his friend
the Senator to tell him they didn't import me just to have me
shipped off to war. I was recruited
to promote the recruitment drive which was underway.
So many young Americans were dodging the draft in a variety of
ways, it was hoped they could get guys to enlist for a war no
one wanted. I did numerous PR jobs and promotions for the
US Air Force and as a result, my draft card was shuffled to the
back of the box till I was just outside the draft age,of 28.
On the left is the certificate I received for my services.
By an amazing coincidence another Quayle was dodging the draft
at the same time as me - see below.
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The
following extract on Vice President J Danforth Quayle is from the
official US Senate website.
Intending to go to law school, Quayle realized that his draft deferment
would expire when he graduated from DePauw in 1969. He therefore chose
to join the Indiana National Guard, which would most likely keep him out
of the Vietnam War. Countless other young men of his generation were
making similar decisions, but this act would have serious consequences
when Quayle was selected to run for vice president. Grilled by Bush's
staff regarding whether he had any regrets about going into the Guard
rather than to Vietnam, he replied, "I did not know in 1969 that I
would be in this room today, I'll confess." A related question was
whether Quayle's family pulled any strings to get him into the Guard.
Interviewed during the convention, Quayle could not recall any special
connections but speculated that "phone calls were made."
Identification with his family's newspaper had further helped gain him
assignment as an information officer with the Guard's public relations
unit.
To the best of my knowledge, I am not
related to the former VP, but there is another amazing coincidence.
His great-great
grandfather had been a carpenter for a firm on Well Road Hill in Douglas
before emigrating to America - my great grandfather
Ned Quayle, was also a carpenter working for the same firm on Well Road
Hill before moving to Wavertree in Liverpool.
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