It won’t mean anything to you unless you are of a certain age ie beyond toddlerhood in the early 60’s.  If you were the number will be synonymous with Luxembourg; specifically, arguably the country’s only claim to fame – Radio Luxembourg.

It rivalled the BBC’s radio output of the Light, Third and Home stations (Radios 2, 3 and 4 in new money).  This was in the days of the BBC’s monopoly with its protection against commercial radio.

In fact, it did better than rival it.  Along with “offshore” Radios Caroline and London it forced the Beeb’s hand to introduce Radio 1 for we Boomers’ thirst for pop music.

208 was, of course, the Medium Wave frequency it broadcast on and, as befits pioneers, it was rubbish, with its music output fading in and out every 20 seconds or so.  It’s rumoured when Radio Caroline started the first record it put out was The Rolling Stones “Not Fade Away”, a not very subtle dig at 208’s sound quality.

One of its adverts is imprinted indelibly in the memories of those of us who tuned in then – the iconic Horace Batchelor system you could buy which guaranteed you’d win on the pools.  You sent your cheque to his address in “Keynsham, spelled K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M” – a clear case of Luxembourg which had been put on the map by the radio returning the favour to some sleepy village in NE Somerset.  Member of Parliament now – Jacob Rees-Mogg.