him. I said, for that kind of money you can call me what you like, mate". He got into a pay dispute with KOL and quit and went on to voice his displeasure on rival KJR where he co-hosted for a few days with KJR's prime time jock Pat O'Day. From there Vance moved to Los Angeles where he was offered a show by programming consultant Bill Drake on KHJ radio (aka Boss Radio), holding the evening 9-midnight airshift at KHJ for a few months in late 1965. KHJ was one of the most successful and influential Top 40 stations of the era and California in 1965 was a great place to be. However, America was then involved in a war in Vietnam and when Tommy got his draft papers for the US Army, he decided it was time to head back to the UK. For the next several months Vance filed occasional phone-in reports for KHJ covering the British music scene. Offshore Pirate Radio Vance returned to the UK in 1965 just before Christmas with British musician Ian Whitcomb who lent him the fare. Bill Hearne hired Vance for Radio Caroline South, where his colleagues included Johnnie Walker, Dave Lee Travis, Tony Blackburn and Emperor Rosko. On 3 January 1966, Vance presented his first show on Caroline South; his slogan was "TV on radio" and used Jack Costanzo's version of the "Naked City Theme" as his signature tune. Vance released a handful of singles; "You Must Be the One", A-covers of Herman's Hermits', 'Silhouettes' and a cover of The Rolling Stones, "Off the Hook". Vance's wife was not pleased with the idea that her husband was going to be with Caroline South, on a ship two weeks out of three, where she would be living in an unfamiliar city on her own. Vance left Caroline South and moved to Radio Luxembourg. Nonetheless, the marriage did not last. Radio Caroline's Ronan O'Rahilly suggested Vance he should return to the ship, he rejoined Caroline South in December 1966. During the summer of 1967, it became apparent that the government was going to legislate against the offshore pirate stations. Vance heard a rumour that Philip Birch, boss of Wonderful Radio London, was negotiating to move his station to France and Vance wanted to be a part of it. In July 1967, he transferred to Radio London – however, Big L failed to