Radio Constructor
RC magazine ran, I think, from 1947 to the early eighties and was inspirational to me and to several of my mates between about 1967 and 1972. Many issues dated from about '62 seemed to be circulating and supplemented the couple of dozen new magzines published in the last couple of years of the nineteen sixties. For a long time I thought it had run from 1947 to 1974 which seemed a bit Orwellian. In fact, Volume 34, Number 12, August/September 1981 was the last issue. Its contents page announced the next issue would be published on 3rd Sptember but that, sadly, was over-optimistic in the extreme.
By then, the magazine was known as Radio and Electronics Constructor and, at a time when many hobby magazines had lost their way, it struggled on promoting construction and 'the old ways' of the hobby.
In the great tradition of self training the magazine carried In Your Workshop - a tale of Smithy the Serviceman and his assistant, Dick which, much like The Archers on the radio, was designed to entertain and to educate in equal measure. Unlike The Archers, which has gone on now to become the longest-running radio soap ever, anywhere, Dick and Smithy's workshop adventures disappeared with RC magazine back in the seventies.
The magazine - not to mention the intrepid Smithy and Dick - seem to have a solid, loyal following even today. There are many web sites featuring the magazine and its contents and, when I began to post some scans of IYWs a couple of years ago, several visitors to the site got in touch offering assistance in providing a more comprehensive collection.
What I do have I shall include in this collection.
In Your Workshop - or IYW - was originally written for RC magazine by JRD. JRD turns out to have been JR Davies who had worked on television assembly for Ferguson in Enfield. He died at the early age of 57, in 1981, and an obituary appeared in the April 1981 edition of RC.
In the early articles, JRD discussed "Problems and Points of Interest connected with the Workshop Side of our Hobby" and which had been brought up in readers' letters and his own experiences. Quite chatty by the standards of the day, although he referred to himself in the third person, the articles were always informative.
Smithy
Smithy and his able assistant Dick made a debut appearance in 1956 and over a ten-year period, reached their best in the mid-sixties. (My opinion!) In the April '56 issue JRD, we were told, was taking a back seat and handed over to Old Smithy, the Serviceman. As shown below.
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| The final issue: August/September 1981 |
In April, 1956 Smithy makes his entrance |
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