Original stories FM stories FM included in topic # 61 career stories
Aizhe press:
My friend Theo is an eccentric person. He always studies some particularly obscure knowledge. Once, I heard that he bought a title in an online shop in a country.
Theo: I’m Theo, from the north of China, and now I live overseas.
At that time, it was 2014, and only three titles were sold: one was called Lord, which is generally translated as "Lord" in our country; One is Baron, or "Baron"; There is also a man named Count, that is, the Earl.
At that time, I was surprised: this kind of thing can still be bought? As a Chinese, the word that comes to mind is "selling officials and titles".
I picked and chose, and felt that Lord (Lord or Lord) was a little low in status and Count was a little expensive. So I decided and bought the title of Baron.

■ Theo title certificate bought by Theo.
What kind of country is it that actually sells titles on the Internet? This aroused my strong curiosity.
Baron Theo told me that the name of this country is the Principality of Ceylon, so I went to Google. The moment I saw the photo, I was shocked.

■ Panorama of the "Principality of Silan"
Theo: The Principality of Sealand is located on the sea in the southeast of England. It was founded on a British naval fortress during World War II. Its founder was Roy Bates, who declared the sovereignty of this place.
From the photos, it seems that saying it is a "fortress at sea" is a bit flattering. I think it’s like two huge concrete pillars supporting an iron plate, and the area of this iron plate is not much larger than that of a basketball court.
But let’s call it a fortress for the time being, because people used to be a fortress. During World War II, Germany often sent bombers to bomb London. At that time, the plane didn’t have a GPS positioning system, so how did the Germans find London?
-just by the naked eye. The pilot first found the mouth of the Thames, then went up the Thames and found London.
When the British see it, since you always come to the mouth of the Thames, I’ll just build some anti-aircraft guns at the mouth of the Thames and wait for you to come.
So Britain bombed and sank several berthed ships at that time, built a fortress on each sunken ship and set up anti-aircraft guns on it.

■ Fort at sea
But after World War II, the battery was demolished, leaving only one deck and abandoned at sea.
Among them, the deck called "Stormy Castle" was spotted by Roy Bates in the 1960s.
Theo: Roy Bates believes that since this place used to be a base and was in the sea, not only did Britain not declare it as its territory, but no country declared its occupation right, then it was an ownerless territory. Theoretically, the ownerless territory is the sovereign owner who occupies it first.
So he found a group of people, rented a boat, arrived at the sea fortress and occupied it. He announced the establishment of the "Principality of Ceylon" and designed his own national flag and emblem. He also established a national motto: E mare libertas (Latin: freedom comes from the sea), and even wrote the constitution of the Principality of Siland.
Knowing this, I am still a little confused. Find an unwanted deck at sea and you can build a country? Can the founding of the country be so casual? Moreover, this is on the coast of Britain. How can the British government tolerate such treason? How did the Principality of Sealand exist today? I am very curious and especially want to interview them.
But I did a little research and found that Roy Bates died in 2012 and his wife died in 2016. The current monarch is Prince Michael Bates (Michael Bates). I sent an email to the prince with a try attitude. I didn’t expect the prince to reply soon and accepted my interview with pleasure.
This makes me a little nervous, after all, it is the first time in my life to interview the head of state.
Just to be clear, considering that many listeners may have a little trouble listening to English, I asked Peng Han to give Prince Michael a voice.
-1-
Say hello to the prince
Edgar: Should I call you Your Highness, Prince Michael, or Michael?
Michael: Brother, just Michael. It’s no big problem. You can call me whatever you want, but you have to bear the consequences, you know.
The prince is very approachable, and he is quite joking. Is his last sentence a joke? )
The prince introduced me to the historical background. It turned out that his father had occupied other fortresses before "Nu Tao Bao".
-2-
The history of pirate radio
Michael: Before that, my father built a radio station on another fort called pirate radio. Because in Britain at that time, if people wanted to listen to songs on the radio, they had to listen to the BBC. On the other hand, the BBC only arranges an hour for children to play pop songs (such as Top 20 charts) at around 6 pm every Sunday.
At that time, there was a great demand for pop music, and the BBC broadcast time was too short, so some people moved radio stations to ships and decks-places where they could broadcast in the sea three miles away from the shore, and broadcast pop songs to the whole UK. Because according to the British law at that time, the government had no right to manage these radio stations more than three miles offshore.
These radio stations are so popular that they can even sell advertising space to make money. Later, the British government amended the law and declared these pirate radio illegal. So my dad found a new place-here now.
-3-
declare independence
Michael: On September 2, 1967, on my mother’s birthday, my father made my mother a princess in a very romantic way, and then declared independence here.

■ Old Bates and his wife Joan raised the flag of the Principality of Silan for the first time.
Michael’s father Roy actually consulted a lawyer before doing this, and the lawyer told him directly that you can’t do this.
Roy asked him, why not?
Michael: The lawyer said to my father, I don’t know why you can’t do this, but you really can’t.
My father still refuses to accept, "Why not?"
The lawyer said, "They will put you in a prison in London, convict you of treason, and then cut off your head.". (Laughter)
However, my father finally did it.
Seeing that someone dares to make independence when they occupy a platform, the British government is in a hurry: what if someone else follows suit? It seems that something must be done.
Michael: At that time, there was another fortress. After the British government sent a boat to blow it up, it passed us and warned that "you are next".
However, things didn’t develop like that.
-4-
Have a conflict with my father’s friend
As we all know, there are few peaceful and independent countries in history. Usually accompanied by war. Although the principality of Silan is small, local conflicts to defend the country have been constant.
The first opponent the Bates family met was Roy Bates’ partner. Because the two of them originally occupied this platform together to run pirate radio, but Roy Bates actually abandoned his partner and became king on his own. The partners are very dissatisfied.
Michael: When we came here, there was actually another pirate radio family here. We drove them away by non-violent means. But then these people came back and attacked seven or eight times.
I was 14 years old. I made a shotgun out of a steel pipe, searched for materials on the deck, pieced together incendiary bottles, and ran around the ship, looking for cover to launch an attack … Now I think about it, these experiences are quite interesting.

■ Michael and Old Bates as children.
-5-
First clash with the police
It is not enough to repel the partners, and the British government has not given up its attempt to overthrow Bates’ regime. Once, while old Bates was away, a naval ship came to Fort Nu Tao.
Michael: Once, they sent a navy ship here with two policemen besides the navy. At first we thought it was an ordinary policeman, but later we found out it was a military police.
They offered to talk to us on the deck, so we threw a rope down as a rope ladder.
I was young at that time, facing the police, so I trusted them. I said, "Don’t come up, I’ll go down. My mother stayed on it. "
One of the policemen said to me, "Your father has sold us this fortress. We’ll send two marines up, so you don’t have to come down. "
I was a little skeptical when I heard it. So I came down and asked me to see my dad before I could let them go up.
But they said that they must go up anyway.
At this time, they found that it was too dark under the deck to stop the ship. So I offered to help them stop the boat.
But the captain was a little anxious, and with a wave of his hand, he said, "Stop sailing! You two go straight up! 」
The two policemen were ordered to climb the rope ladder at once.
If the rope ladder is put on the boat, it is no different from the general ladder and is easier to climb; But this rope ladder is hanging, so it is not easy to climb, and it has to be clever. In a word, the "James Bond" sent by these two governments climbed no more than one meter and gave up.
I was a little nervous, so I started to walk next to the rope ladder and said to the captain, "Brother, I have to go up. 」
Hearing this, the captain immediately ordered the navy soldiers to climb the rope ladder.
As soon as I saw this posture, I immediately shouted at my mother, "Mom, if they climb up, you can shoot them!" When my mother heard this, she immediately took out an automatic pistol.
When the captain saw it, he waved his hand again: "Navy! Get off the rope ladder! 」
At this moment, I felt that if I didn’t leave again, I might not be able to walk away, so I walked to the rope ladder carelessly and climbed up quickly.
In retrospect, this thing is quite interesting. Even later, the captain shouted at my mother, "I want to get your son a job in the navy. Let him be a navy!" "(Laughter)
-6-
Store materials for six months
It is not easy to defend the territory. Apart from external troubles, there are also internal worries. Think about it, living on the sea 10 kilometers away from the coast, without water, electricity and food. The Bates family must ensure that there is always a six-month material reserve on this platform. All materials have to be shipped from land, which is quite expensive.
So they also studied how to fish by reading books and made use of all kinds of resources they could find to survive on it.
In 1968, a British naval patrol boat entered the territory of the Principality of Sealand. Old Bates and Michael fired warning shots at them and threw incendiary bottles at the boat. As a result, they were later ordered to stand trial by a British court.
But in the end, the court declared that they had no right to intervene in the incident because it happened outside British territorial waters.
This case demonstrates Britain’s non-intervention attitude towards the Principality of Sealand, which allowed the Bates family to spend the next nine years peacefully.
Until a sunny morning in August 1987.
-7-
coup
Michael: At that time, my dad was talking about business in Salzburg, Austria. He planned to build a leisure island, but it hasn’t been done yet. So I stayed alone in the principality of Ceylon.
Suddenly, a huge Dutch Airlines helicopter flew in with a cameraman holding a camera on the door. They couldn’t land because there was a flagpole under us, so they hung two people down with a rope.
Seeing the man hanging from the rope, Michael began to understand what was going on.
Over the years, old Bates has conferred some titles on officials. In fact, they are all friends or partners, half-jokingly conferring titles. Among them, a foreign minister was appointed. He was a West German named Alexander Achenbach. This time, old Bates went to Austria to talk business, which was fooled by this foreign minister.
But he was tricked by the foreign secretary. After the foreign minister cheated him away, he sent several German and Dutch mercenaries to take the opportunity to occupy the Principality of Sealand. Therefore, this is an out-and-out coup.
Why did Michael begin to understand at this time? Because one of the people who got off the helicopter was Winfred Brings, who was the attendant of the Foreign Minister.
Michael: To make a long story short, after an operation, I was put in a very airtight iron room with only two windows for four days.
The next morning, the gang gave me three choices, either to stay in this iron house; Either follow the fishing boat, they will send me to London; Or send me to the Netherlands-look at this posture, our country has been controlled.
At that time, I thought, if my dad didn’t know the situation here and came back from Austria, wouldn’t he die?
So I chose to go to England. As a result, the captain of the Dutch fishing boat said that he would not go to England for the time being. So I said, Holland can do it.
After several twists and turns, I returned to London from Holland. By the way, when I flew back to England from Holland, I didn’t bring my passport with me, but I found a big brother to help me with it.
Back in London, I finally met my dad. He didn’t know exactly what happened, but he felt something was wrong. So after we met, we began to discuss how to take back our country.
We had a rubber inflatable boat at that time, so we thought about making a fire escape and putting it on the boat. After we drove past, we rushed up with the ladder, just like soldiers attacked the castle in the Middle Ages.
I called a good friend, who is the owner of a helicopter company. We have a very good relationship and used to go to his house for dinner.
This guy is very unusual. He has participated in several James Bond movies, such as flying a helicopter indoors. He is very professional. I asked him for help, and he said, "OK, Lao Tie, no problem. 」
We’ll buy ropes, think of various ways and do all kinds of research. Because there was no movie like Black Hawk Down at that time, we had never seen the picture of people sliding down from helicopters, so we all figured it out by ourselves …
Old Bates called a few more friends, plus his son, to form a five-person action team.
By the way, old Bates fought in North Africa, Italy, Iraq and Lebanon during World War II. He was a brave and hard-core veteran. Therefore, this kind of offensive and defensive warfare has not been played less. For him, retaking the Principality of Sealand is a small case.
Michael: In a word, we were fully prepared. We went to the airport at three o’clock in the morning and tied the rope to the seat. My dad is sitting opposite me, wearing a helmet, where he can talk to the captain. We flew over.
Later, a man who was on the deck of the Principality of Silan described to us that he saw the helicopter flying from the ground, and my father and I grabbed the rope on the doors on both sides, which looked cool.
At that time, the captain agreed with us that when the plane was pulled up, we would let go and jump, because he had to keep flying and avoid obstacles.
I had planned to fold the middle mast after landing so that the helicopter could land. But after landing, I thought that the Germans would definitely run out of the house. So I ran across the tarmac, grabbed my shotgun and rushed to the door. As soon as I saw someone running out, I slammed it with the butt of my gun.
Brother, this is the battle of Westland.
Without causing casualties, Bates’ team easily captured the Principality of Silan, and later they released most of the prisoners. Only a German lawyer named Herr Putz was left, because he held a passport of the Principality of Siland. Old Bates thought he had committed treason. It is reasonable to say that it can be shot.

■ Prisoners caught after the coup
Michael: We don’t know the background of this man, but the Germans seem to have the habit of invading other people’s territory.
Later, when the West German government heard that one of its nationals was detained, it quickly contacted the British government and said that it was on the British coast, so you should take care of it. The British government quoted the court case in 1968, saying that Sealand was not within our jurisdiction and we could not control this.
The west german government had no choice but to send a diplomat to mediate.
-8-
"indirectly recognized" by the German government.
Michael: Later, the German ambassador to Britain arrived at South London Airport and took a helicopter with my mother at his own expense to the Principality of Siland.
Before taking off, my mother asked him to be searched. He was so angry that he waved his diplomatic passport and refused to agree.
After some pulling, he finally agreed to search him. But my mother found a new problem at this moment: who will search him?
She looked around and found two handsome young policemen at the airport. So she ran over and asked politely, "Excuse me, young man, can you search this diplomat for me? 」
It’s also interesting to recall. (Laughter)
When he got to the Principality of Ceylon and got off the plane, we searched him again.
He was mad with anger. "What are you searching for? 」
We replied, "Search for weapons. 」
He said, "Don’t you all have weapons? 」
So I went back and said, "If you had managed your people well, none of this would have happened, right? 」
Later, we had a negotiation, but he didn’t take the prisoner away as he wished.
But that negotiation meant a lot to us. Brother, a German diplomat negotiated with us, which means that the German government indirectly recognizes the existence of the Principality of Silan.
After all, the appearance of West German diplomats represents the first time that the Principality of Silan is on an equal footing with sovereign countries, which is a milestone. The Bates were so happy that they released the German lawyer soon afterwards. This coup ended.
By way of digression, the German lawyer and the foreign minister Achenbach later set up a government in exile in Germany. The government in exile is also good at doing business. They sold many passports of the Principality of Ceylon, which were later involved in some international crimes. In 1997, the Bates family simply declared all passports of the Principality of Sealand invalid.
As mentioned earlier, in 2012, old Bates died, and in 2016, Michael’s mother died. Michael succeeded to the throne and became the monarch of the principality of Ceylon. Until today.
-9-
Princess sealand
But after so many years, what good is it to go through all kinds of hardships just to keep an iron plate?
I don’t know anything else. I only know that this is very helpful for "chasing girls."
Shi Dongmei: My name is Shi Dongmei, and now my name is Dong Mei Bates.
I’m 49 years old. I’m Michael’s wife. After I got married, my name was "Princess Ceylon".
Yes, the princess is Chinese. It’s called … What winter plum? Yes, Dongmei Bates, married with the chicken, married with the husband’s surname. However, considering our understanding habits of Chinese, we still call her by her real name, Shi Dongmei.
Shi Dongmei went to England in 1999 and worked in a casino near Chinatown in London. Then I met Michael on the dating website. But because Shi Dongmei’s work is very busy, they have never had a chance to meet.
Shi Dongmei: Michael once gave a radio interview to the BBC. He said that after the interview, he would come to see me at my workplace. I was so busy that day that I almost forgot. When I was free, we sat together and chatted, and he told me his story.
As soon as we met, Michael told Shi Dongmei that I really wanted to associate with you. I am a prince, and my country is called the Principality of Ceylon.
Shi Dongmei: He said that he was writing a book, Hollywood was going to make his film, and so on.
I looked at him for a long time, puzzled, and didn’t understand what this man was saying. I even thought he was joking with me, and I felt like a bird in the sky.
Later, I found out that he read my information on LinkedIn website. When I got home, I also went online to check his information, and I gradually learned about his stories.
Shi Dongmei and Michael met in 2016. Less than a year later, Michael proposed to Shi Dongmei. Shi Dongmei became a happy Dongmei Bates.
Shi Dongmei: I have a similar background to him. Because I was a soldier at the age of 13, and when he was 13, he was taken to the Principality of Silan by his father, so we hit it off, we both have stories and a lot in common.
Now, as soon as my friends see me, they joke about "seeing the princess". I am speechless, but it is also quite fun.

■ Prince Michael and Princess Sealand are attending a beauty contest.
-10-
The Princess’s Two Visits to the Principality of Ceylon
Shi Dongmei: I have been to the Principality of Ceylon twice. Last year, the Daily Mail was going there for an interview, so I followed.
We went there by boat and were very excited. Because when we went up, we were hung up with something similar to a hanging basket, so it was very exciting.
When I first went there, I had just finished the August 1st Army Day. In Britain, we have a comrades-in-arms association composed of retired China soldiers, and I am the president. At that time, we had just held an activity, and there were many red flags. I insisted on taking the five-star red flag to take pictures, which is quite interesting to recall now.
In addition to catching up with girls, of course, another advantage of establishing a country is that, as mentioned at the beginning, you can make money by selling titles.
-11-
Idea selling knighthood
Michael: I thought about this before the internet age. It was not an easy thing at that time.
At that time, I saw the king of France in the 13th century. Because he was short of money for the war, he publicly sold his title to finance the war.
So I thought, our country doesn’t have any natural resources, and it has always been short of money. Why don’t you try it? Unexpectedly, the response was so enthusiastic.
I went to official website, the principality of Ceylon, and looked at their store. Shopping was quite convenient, and even Alipay supported it.
The most expensive earl title in the store now sells for 499.99. It is not cheap. My friend Theo bought the title of Baron, which is only 29.99, which is much more cost-effective.
But I think the most cost-effective thing is that you can buy a square foot of land for 19.99, which is much cheaper than Beijing’s house price.
I asked Michael how many titles he sold and how much money he earned after selling them for so many years. But he said he couldn’t tell me. It seems that the business is quite good, otherwise it would not be kept secret.
Moreover, Michael has signed a Hollywood film contract, and the copyright is estimated to have sold a lot of money.

■ official website Store in the Principality of Ceylon, with Chinese version.
-12-
Interesting things about other micro-countries
In addition to the Principality of Ceylon, there are actually many tiny countries that are self-reliant in this world. They are generally called micro-countries, or private countries. For these countries, my friend Theo has also done a little research.
Theo: There are many micro-countries in the United States, and some towns in Australia, with the support of the local government, announced the establishment of the "XX Kingdom" in order to develop tourism. The mayor also formally established himself as "King XX" and held grand ceremonies in local churches and town halls.
There are also some micro-countries, such as Italy, which has a micro-country called "Principality of Cyberport".
The villagers in this place found that their land had no lords after a certain year, which means that they don’t belong to any country now. So they declared their independence and established the Principality of Cyberport.
These private countries have also held several summits, such as the World Private Countries Conference. They will wear their own formal clothes and go to meetings, where they will establish diplomatic relations and sign various agreements.
Before that, some people wanted to establish the world’s first private space country. They made a website where people can become its citizens by signing up.
There is also a network private country, which is a network country based on all cyberspace and territorial disputes between countries.
There is another interesting story about private countries.
In the United States, there was a girl whose biggest dream was to be a princess, so her father searched online and found that there was a territory between Egypt and Sudan that was unoccupied. So he went there, announced the occupation of this territory and established the Kingdom of North Sudan. In this way, his daughter became a princess-the princess of northern Sudan.

■ Private National Summit
The existence of these private countries has actually added a lot of fun to the world. Like Theo, life has become colorful since he bought that title.
Theo: At that time, Game of Thrones was still a hit, and the Prime Minister was called "the hand of the king". I followed this example and made one of my friends my "Baron’s Hand", another my "Treasurer" and another my "Commander of the Army".
I bought a 1:1 replica of the sword used by the wizard Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings on the Internet, and used this sword to canonize the three of them.
I also bought a photo frame, mounted my knighthood certificate in it and kept it in the most conspicuous place in the living room. Everyone who comes to visit will run to see it and ask me curiously, "What is this?". I will give them a good introduction.
Now no matter where I go, I will take my folder and title certificate with me, because it is also my "property".
-13-
Succession of offspring
Prince Michael now lives with his family on land, 40 miles away from London by the sea. Their family is engaged in fishing business, mainly fishing and processing clams. The affairs of the Principality of Sealand are now mainly represented by sons.
Michael: I’m basically semi-retired now, and my son is taking care of everything. I have two sons, Prince Liam and Prince James, who are all involved, and my grandchildren Harry and Freddie, who I believe will take over in the future.
Many countries were born in history, and many countries died out. My wife and I got engaged in a restaurant on Burj Khalifa Tower in Dubai. At that time, I thought that when the Principality of Ceylon declared its independence, Dubai was not on the map, and the United Arab Emirates was not yet born.
* The national anthem of the Principality of Ceylon is played here (32’35”) in the audio.
After listening to today’s program, if you are moved, you also went to the Principality of Silan to buy a title, which can be indicated from the story FM. This way, if the prince is happy, maybe he can give me an official position.
-cover picture The Telegraph
The picture without source is provided by the narrator.

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Staff
Narrator | Theo & Michael Bates & Shi Dongmei
Anchor | @ Kou Aizhe
Producer | @ Kou Aizhe
Sound Design | @ Story FM Peng Han
Intern | Zhang Yizhou
Text finishing | rain and dew
Operation | Yichen
BGM List
01. StoryFM Main Theme-Peng Han (opening song)
02. Air Waltz-Peng Han (Baron Theo)
03. Sealand Part1-Peng Han (freedom from the sea)
04. nursery rhymes (Cover Alexandre Desplat)-Peng Han (nine years of peace)
05. Sealand Part2-Peng Han (Battle of Sealand)
06. Softly-Peng Han (May)
07. Air Waltz-Peng Han (support Alipay)
08. Sealand Part1-Peng Han (canonized)
09. seal and national anthem-basil simonenko (ending song)
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Original title: "Story FM Interview with Head of State for the First Time | Story FM"
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