Nigel MacArthur, also known as Stuart Russell and Nigel Harris, is a freelance broadcaster in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly. ...

, EKR and KMFM.

Career

MacArthur's first job was at the offshore station

in the late seventies, under the "Stuart Russell" moniker. The radioship, the ''Mi Amigo'', sank in a storm in 1980 putting the station off the air for several years. He returned in 1984 aboard the station's new ship, the ''

Ross Revenge MV ''Ross Revenge'' is a radio ship, the home of Radio Caroline, as well as having supported Radio Monique and various religious broadcasters. Funded by the Icelandic government, she was constructed in Bremerhaven in 1960 and served as an Ic ...

'', and adopted the name "Nigel Harris" a few years later. Like most Caroline DJs at the time he used an alias to ensure anonymity. He was on board the ''Ross Revenge'' for the collapse of its famous mast in a 1987 storm, and was filming inside the ship as the event took place. He was also there for the illegal

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

raid which silenced the station for a while in 1989. He was appointed programme controller in 1989 and was the last person to hold this position whilst Radio Caroline was at sea. He worked on the

Voice of peace Voice of Peace ( he, קול השלום, ''Kol HaShalom'') was an offshore radio station that broadcast in the Middle East for 20 years from the former Dutch cargo vessel ''MV Peace'' (formally ''MV Cito''), anchored off the Israeli coast ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in the early nineties before going to

Invicta FM Heart Kent (previously Invicta FM) was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Kent from studios at John Wilson Business Park in Whitstable. History Invicta in the 80s Originally ...

in 1992. There followed work at

Essex FM Heart Essex (formerly Essex Radio and then Essex FM) is a British Commercial broadcasting, commercial radio station. It was launched on 12 September 1981, broadcasting from Southend-on-Sea and since 27 October 2004 from Chelmsford, both in Essex ...

and satellite station EKR. In 1995 he was involved in Cruise FM, an RLS station in Sittingburne and Swale which broadcast on 107.6 and today Nigel continues his Radio Caroline connections broadcasting from studios in Medway. He currently works for one of Kent's major broadcasters, KMFM, previously hosting the weekend breakfast show on

KMFM Canterbury KMFM Canterbury is an Independent Local Radio serving the City of Canterbury and the surrounding areas in Kent, South East England. It is the Canterbury region of the KMFM radio network (owned by the KM Group), containing local advertisements ...

and the Sunday afternoon show on

KMFM Shepway and White Cliffs Country KMFM Shepway and White Cliffs Country is an Independent Local Radio station serving the districts of Dover (district), Dover and Folkestone and Hythe (District), Folkestone and Hythe (previously known as Shepway) and the surrounding areas in Ken ...

Choir activities

MacArthur attended

St Edmund's School St Edmund's School Canterbury is an independent day and boarding school located in Canterbury, Kent, England and established in 1749. The extensive school grounds were acquired in 1855. The school currently caters for girls and boys aged 3–18 ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

where he studied organ under John Brough and is

Organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational ...

St Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Ch ...

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separ ...

, Kent and plays for all the major services in church. Concerts and recitals take place in

's Church throughout the year with the Canterbury Cathedral choir visiting in the summer of 2006. The St Michael's Choir and organists visit other churches to sing

Evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. In origin, it is identical to the canonical hour of vespers. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which becam ...

including several visits to

Rochester Cathedral Rochester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an English church of Norman architecture in Rochester, Kent. The church is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rochester in the Church of England and the s ...

Publications

MacArthur has recently written a book, ''Ships in Troubled Waters'', () which details his life at boarding school and on several offshore radio stations, including

, the

Voice of Peace Voice of Peace ( he, קול השלום, ''Kol HaShalom'') was an offshore radio station that broadcast in the Middle East for 20 years from the former Dutch cargo vessel ''MV Peace'' (formally ''MV Cito''), anchored off the Israeli coast ...

and the offshore Radio Paradise.

References

External links

KMFM Group websiteRadio Caroline website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macarthur, Nigel Living people English classical organists British male organists Offshore radio broadcasters People educated at St Edmund's School Canterbury British radio personalities People from Canterbury Musicians from Kent 21st-century organists Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century British male musicians Male classical organists