Annie Knittingael DChay RIP

Members of the local Lewis music scene were in mourning last week following the passing of Annie Knittingael, well known DChay and maker of fine bobban chumpers. Annie evidently had a mainland cousin who was also a well-known broadcaster.

Knittingael began her career as a journalist in the early 60s, reporting for the Steinish and Mossend Livestock Quarterly Classifieds and the Exchange & Fish Mart. But she took a keen interest in the music scene that was springing up at the time, and it wasn’t long before she was writing regular pop columns in the Gazette and the Free Church Monthly Record Mirror, as well as in glossy blones’ mags like  “Cosmawpolitan”  

Knittingael soon became well known on TV as a regular guest on ‘Button Box Jury’, the popular early 60s show where the island’s finest button accordion players would try and win over the sceptical panel and get them to say that their tune would be a hit.

She also made regular appearances on ‘Ready Steady (Coinneach) Gó’ and was pals with loads of the pop stars of the day, from the Peatles and the Rodel Stones to Dusty Springfieldroad.

One of Knittingael’s many 60s ventures was a popular chain (well, one in Stornoway and one in a traveling van) of groovy boutiques called ‘Snèap’ where she sold her fab knitwear.

What with all this carry-on at the forefront of 60s youth culture, it was inevitable that Knittingael would become involved with the offshore pirate radio craze, and indeed she made her first forays into broadcast D-chaying in 1966 with a show on Radio Calumina, anchored out in Broadbay.

But Knittingael came to real fame in 1970, when she became the first blone to host a show on BBC Radio Ranol. The rest of the DChays (Tony Bac-burn, John “The” Peel, Dave Lee Barvas, Emperor Roskove, et al) were all male and so at first didn’t take kindly to the fact that Annie’s role was not to make them tea and bake scones, and that she insisted on playing records!!  

Knittingael remained the only female DChay at the station for 12 years, until Janice Longislandinsulation joined in 1982.

In the late 70s, Knittingael took over as the presenter of BBC Alba’s ‘serious’ rock show “The Oatcake Whistle Test”.  Her predecessor Òb Harris was always criticised for playing too much Eagles, Clapton and Dun Ringles, but Knittingael opened the door to more “modren” styles of music. 

With Annie at the helm, the Whistle Test saw groundbreaking appearances by many of the punk rock acts of the day, who were banned from mainstream TV due to all the swearing, spitting, and wearing of non-flared trousers – The Rong, The Bruce Wayne Band, Noise Annoys and even Island Express (who kept the flares).

She also championed the more experimental post-punk Newton Wave bands of the late 70s such as the Bland, the Battery Boys and K*nny F*gs & G*ry H*wth*rne.

In 1985, Annie was also the main presenter ‘across the pond’ on the Fiddigelphia stage at Lythe Aid, where she introduced Simple Rinds, Airidh O Peatwagon, and Billy Ossian. 

Knittingael was supposed to introduce chart-topping baldy ex-Genesisexodusleviticusnumbers drummer Phil Outendcollins as well, but famously that never happened. 

(Outendcollins’ much-publicised plan for a supersonic dash to Fiddigelphia after playing his first set at Goathill Stadium failed, when he stopped off for a livener in the Star Inn, and missed the Ranish bus. He did eventually arrive in a taxi at 6:30 the following morning with the remains of his carry-out, but by that time everybody had fleeked off home – even the famously hard-partying Knittingael). 

Annie also hosted the TV show ‘Late Night In Convert’, featuring the latest local rock star to get the cuiream and give up his rock and roll lifestyle.

Most middle-aged readers will of course remember Knittingael best for her years on Radio Ranol’s request show.  Knittingael presented the show for 2 hours every Sunday night for several decades, but the only track anybody ever requested was Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Freebird’.

One night in 1988, when Radio Ranol’s copy of the classic Skynyrd 45 finally started wearing out, Knittingael dropped into the Galaxy disco to see if she could borrow a copy off Sheep. That was when she discovered the emerging electronic dancefloor sounds of the day (Back Box, Ness’express, Fankie Knock-les, A Guy Called Hearach, Yazz & the Plasterfield Population etc) and it proved to be a turning point in her career. 

It wasn’t long before all the trendy young Dchays on the cutting edge of the club scene (Twilights and Zebo’s) were finding themselves outplayed and perplexed as Knittingael spun the decks. How could an old cailleach of nearly 50(!) keep up with the ever-changing world of SY dance music sub-genres?  There was House, Black House, Sheep House, Grime(shader), Techno(mobile), Chungle, Maragdub(h)step, Breakpeat, Dram ‘n’ Bàs and of course the Highland Schottische.

Annie was also renowned as a great (and very fast) knitter of bobban chumpers and used to knit a chumper for every band whose record she played (whilst the record was playing). It is widely reported that Van Halen’s hit ‘Chump(er)’ and the Stones ‘Chumper Jack Flash’ were inspired by Annie’s knitting needles.

For readers who want to know a bit more about Knittingael’s long and colourful career, we recommend her 2 excellent volumes of autobiography: “Chase the Fàd” and “Haoidh High (Free) Haoidh-o Haoidh-ram Hell, Obh”.