The World of DECCA Post 12 Easy Listening, For the Children, Cheeky Chappies and Forces Sweethearts

Foreword

LES REED Have you heard of the musician Les Reed? His popular recorded work spans a period from 1959 to 1998. Does this ring any bells? OK, his first recorded song was ‘For Pete’s Sake’ on which he played piano and his last one was ‘It’s a Hard World Outside’ by which time Les had become musical director, arranger, pianist and producer as well as being the composer. If you are beginning to wonder why I have even mentioned the name of Les Reed, apart from him having two records in our LP collection, that is. Would it help to tell you that the first song mentioned above was sung by the John Barry Seven? Would it help more if I said that the latter song was sung by Tom Jones? Perhaps it would be more useful to mention that Les Reed wrote ‘The Last Waltz’ by Engelbert Humperdinck, ‘Delilah’ and ‘It’s Not Unusual’ by Tom Jones and ‘Leeds, Leeds, Leeds’ by Leeds United Football Club. If it was the last of these examples that clinched it for you, leave the room and don’t come back until you’re feeling better!

He also wrote ‘Don’t Linger with Your Finger’ but that seems to have been released only once and that was performed by Les Reed himself. It’s only a guess but I reckon it might have been tricky finding someone who wanted to sing a song with such a title. It doesn’t stretch the imagination too much to see a queue of the big hitters of the day, one by one saying, ‘Er, no thanks Reedy. Not this time’ or variations on that theme. Other artists that did take his songs though include Adam Faith, Connie Francis, Frank Ifield, Dave Clark 5, Diana Dors, Frankie Vaughan, Donald Peers, The Fortunes, Gene Pitney, Leapy Lea, Ken Dodd, Flying Banana Band and Tony Blackburn. The list is a long one. Les Reed compositions feature several times within the WORLD OF collection including

on the LPs of Donald Peers, Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck.

Les Reed also features in one or more of his other guises on several of our albums. He played piano on Billy Fury’s ‘Halfway to Paradise’ which features on THE WORLD OF BILLY FURY (SPA 188) and was musical director, arranger and pianist for ‘Run to my Loving Arms’ on THE WORLD OF BILLY FURY VOL. 2 (SPA 575) for instance. Other WORLD OF stars to record Reed songs, though they are not featured on their WORLD OF records, are Gerry Monroe, Jimmy Young, Kathy Kirby, Lulu, Matt Monro and Wally Whyton.

MAX BYGRAVES As is often the case with our WORLD OF superstars, Max was not Mr Bygraves’ given name. His parents went to some trouble in choosing Walter William and this was good enough until Young Wally joined the RAF during the Second World War. The first evening in the forces

ended up with our hero performing his favourite party-piece when the new recruits were asked if any of them had anything to offer by way of entertainment. Even at this young age, Bygraves had experience of performing his impersonation of Max Miller, a top comedian of the 1930s, in front of family and friends and following a fine performance in front of his new pals, he was known as Max forever after. Obviously, Miller’s name wasn’t Max, really. It wasn’t even Miller! It was Thomas Henry Sargent. Good grief! Where does it end?

Keeping it in the WORLD OF family, Max was shown a few of his fancy dance moves by Roger Lynn, Vera’s brother though these may not have been very useful for his earlier auditions which were for BBC Radio but as the young Bygraves was developing his

repertoire, his confidence would no doubt have grown from the experience. This alone may have been enough to see off the challenges of contemporaries such as Benny Hill and Spike Milligan, both of whom feature in the WORLD OF series. Another participant is Donald Peers and Max Bygraves was chosen for one of the slots to support this singing star in a stage show called For the Fun of It. Billy Cotton, who has two WORLD OF LPs, shared a skit with Bygraves in a stage show called Wonderful Time in which Max was playing a cowboy called The Dead Shot Kid. The first thing that Billy Cotton had to say was, ‘So you’re the Dead Shot Kid, huh?’ but in all the excitement he got his vowels all wrong and ended up calling Max the Dead Sh$t Kid. Mistake? I wonder … Anyway, all was forgiven a short while later when, after making the purchase of a Rolls Royce, Bygraves took delivery of his new car bearing a new number plate of MB 1. Billy Cotton’s way of apologising, perhaps as it was he who sourced the number and bought it for his pal. Further, in a show called Latin Quarter, Winnie Atwell, with two WORLD OFs of her own, found herself in support of Bygraves but Max was a little perturbed by the apparent roar of the crowd every time she walked out onto the stage. It turned out that Winnie’s husband was using a microphone off-stage to incorporate the roaring sound into the audience’s applause. Ah, the tricks of the trade, eh?

Finally, a statistic for you. It turns out that Max Bygraves has recorded 780 songs in total and he’s written a few of them too. Those that feature on the WORLD OFs number just one, ‘Gotta Have Rain’ on THE WORLD OF MAX BYGRAVES VOL. 2 (SPA 198). Still, we are not short of classic Bygraves hits and on THE WORLD OF MAX BYGRAVES (SPA 9) we have ‘Tulips from Amsterdam’ (which also crops up on THE WORLD OF FAMILY FAVOURITES (SPA-R 457), ‘You’re a Pink Toothbrush’ along with Lionel Bart’s ‘Fings ain’t What They Used T’be’ (which can also be found on GOLDEN DECCADE 1960-1 (SPA 477) and Bud Flanagan’s ‘Underneath the Arches’. On VOL. 2 we find ‘When You Come to the End of a Lollipop’ and ‘Happy Wanderer’. Oh, if you’re wondering what happens when you come to the end of a lollipop, and I have physiological issues with this, your heart goes ‘Plop!’ Now, I’m no expert but this doesn’t sound likely to produce a prognosis promising a long and healthy life so until the theory has been rigorously tested by laboratory technicians with unkempt hair and glasses held together with a thick piece of Elastoplast, I recommend giving lollies a wide berth. And no, Max. You're a pink toothbrush! JIMMY YOUNG

Jimmy Young (Leslie Ronald Young to his mother and father) is most well-known for his BBC 2 Radio show which went out five days a week for almost 30 years. He had previously been on BBC Radio 1, the BBC Light Programme and was the host of Housewives’ Choice, also on the BBC. This would be enough for most but before any of this happened, he was a singer, hitting the number one spot in the UK charts with two consecutive tunes, ‘Unchained Melody’ and ‘The Man from Laramie’. Both of the songs feature on THE WORLD OF JIMMY YOUNG (SPA 16) along with ‘More’ which hit the chart at number four. Success did not come

easily, however, as whilst his early songs were falling by the wayside, Decca co-star and WORLD OF celeb, David Whitworth was flying and JY began to wonder who the hit-maker was that was sending Whitworth all of these winning songs to record. After all, he did have seven records entering the Top Ten including two number ones! Jealous Jim eventually found the right song and ‘Unchained Melody’ was released. The problem now, however, was that there were already two other versions in circulation; Al Hibbler and Les Baxter had already been up the American charts and were newly released here in the UK. Hibbler’s record was on the Brunswick record label, the songs for which were pressed and marketed in the UK by Decca so, it may be that behind-the-scenes shenanigans were occurring to the disadvantage of Jimmy Young. The ins and outs of potential mischievous capers need not bother us here; suffice to say, though, we have a happy outcome because JY took his record to the top whilst Hibbler was kept at number two. COLOURS

THE PHASE 4 WORLD OF COLOURS (SPA 484) is a nice album of Easy Listening tunes, each with titles correlating to one colour or another except one which is called ‘The Painted Desert (from Grand Canyon Suite)’ but, get this, it’s played by the Orchestra of Stanley Black! Brilliant! The colour theme is preserved … though some might say that black is not a colour at all. Still, I don't think we should go there. Actually, I think that we should but I guessing that the consensus stretches far away in the opposite direction.

The artists featured here are established WORLD OF stars and their orchestras such as the aforementioned Stanley Black, Frank Chacksfield, Ted Heath, Edmundo Ros, Ray Martin and Roland Shaw along with Ronnie Aldrich & his Two Pianos. All of these have been discussed elsewhere leaving Guitars Unlimited and the Paul Livert Orchestra & Chorus for us to talk about now. GUITARS UNLIMITED By the standards that today’s guitar fans are used to, Guitars Unlimited could be renamed Guitars Limited. The tune on SPA 484 is Procol Harum’s ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ played strictly on the melody with nary a stray from it. One can actually imagine the players sticking the tips of their tongues through the corner of their otherwise closed lips. But to be honest, the guitar was the star in the early sixties. Of course, the fifties rock ‘n’ roll period brought the sound of the guitar to all via the radio, TV and the stage but the following decade made the instrument accessible to all budding rock stars who fancied themselves kerranging those strings in front of a mirror in homes around the world. But, listening to Guitars Unlimited today, I’m thinking that perhaps one unlimited tune might just be the limit … MY limit, any road up. PAUL LIVERT AND HIS ORCHESTRA Paul Livert drives his orchestra through ‘The Green Green Grass of Home’ on SPA 484 and ‘Red River Valley' on THE WORLD OF PHASE 4 STEREO (SPA 32). Real night-time easy-listening music, this. Quietly gentle and sleepily slow flows the Red River along the Valley. JOHNNY HOWARD When checking out the image on the front cover of THE WORLD OF JOHNNY HOWARD (SPA 65) it is easy to imagine Johnny’s Mum just out of shot, waiting anxiously for a pause in proceedings so that she can dash in with enspittled fingers to touch down an errant hair or

tuck in the label at the collar of Howard’s cardy. Johnny Howard looks like he has had his weekly bath and tied his school tie neatly round his neck in readiness for a Sunday visit to Auntie Flo’s. He's gone to all this trouble and someone with a penchant for casual sticker placement comes along with a handful of stickers and parks one smack-bang in the middle of our man's forehead. Well, in recognition of the time spent on getting a good clean scrubbed appearance, I thought that the least I could do was a little undetectable plastic surgery - I took a bit of his chin to patch his blemish! Lovely job!!

The music can’t be any less cool than our bandleader and on this record, there is a splendid hint of naff groovy about it – and I mean that in a good way. The LP opens on a very clean and satisfying four-rap drum intro leading into a smooth, uncomplicated bass groove before the chorus of ‘Sugar Sugar’ begins, the melody being picked out on xylophone with some sort of gentle walrus snort of woodwind accompaniment. Look, just take my word for it. This is another of those records that would be perfect for a retro gathering of like-minded friends. Sway gently to ‘Can’t Take My Eyes off You’; grind your hips along to ‘Ode to Billy Joe’ and bob foolishly to ‘Winchester Cathedral’. So, what are you waiting for? The invites are in the top drawer! Anyway, Johnny Howard has 12 tunes on SPA 65 but also has three on each of THE WORLD OF EASY LISTENING VOLs 1 to 6 (SPAs 289 to 294), so, with just ‘The Last Waltz’ getting a second airing on VOL 1, Johnny’s final total is an impressive 29.

DICKIE VALENTINE

Another double-header for you - this time to point out a slightly unusual anomaly that I haven't noticed before in our collection. Both covers, front and back are the same in every respect except for the colour of the DECCA logo at the bottom of the front - black on white for what turns out to be the original silver on blue label; attractive green on white for the re-issue dark blue on regular blue label. Nice ...

Sadly, however, The WORLD OF Dickie Valentine (SPA 171) is largely a rather dreary affair

of slow, forlorn ballads but, nevertheless, Dickie’s voice is forceful and reliable throughout. A couple of tunes attempt a break from the pit of woe, however; ‘East of the Sun’ has a more interesting beat and an extended piano break which is pleasant in its feather-light delicacy. ‘King of Dixieland’ is the most upbeat track on the LP and injects a little more fun into the proceedings but sadly, this is the shortest song here. ‘The Finger of Suspicion’ was a UK number 1 as was Christmas Alphabet, which doesn’t feature here. The highlight, however, will be familiar to most readers – Mister Sandman … night night ... ... EASY LISTENING PHASE 4 STEREO STYLE

All tracks on both THE WORLD OF PHASE 4 STEREO (SPA 32) and VOL 2 (SPA 114)

are taken from LPs on the Decca Phase 4 Stereo (PFS) record label except for ‘Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head’ by Ronnie Aldrich, which is from a record with catalogue number prefix DDS which indicates a double vinyl record set. Featured here, as well as Ronnie Aldrich, are WORLD OF stalwarts Frank Chacksfield, Stanley Black, Edmundo Ros, Ted Heath, Caterina Valente and these, along with Paul Livert and Guitars Unlimited are discussed elsewhere.

New to our current reading matter are: Johnny Keating, Maurice Larcange with Claude Martine, Werner Müller, Will Glahé, Camarata, the International All Stars, the Raymonde Singers and Stonepillow along with Robert Sharples and Bernard Herrmann. STONEPILLOW The sunny Summer sounds and warm harmonies of American pop psychedelic band Stonepillow’s album, Eleazar’s Circus, was released in the US, of course, but was also put out here in the UK on Decca’s Phase 4 Stereo label for us to enjoy as well. It’s a little incongruous here as the other tunes are more conventionally Easy Listening in style but whose complaining? The tune here is the title track from their record and tells of a young lady who runs away to join the circus and seems to be pining for a peanut vendor, meanwhile, the blackberry is dreaming of the time when he was green and then there was the female organ grinder and then a juggler who was eating Christmas pie and … and … this isn’t easy listening at all! Loving it, though. IVOR RAYMONDE and THE RAYMONDE SINGERS ETCETERA Ah, now this is more what one might expect. A pop chorus rendition of a tune made famous by WORLD OFs Bobby Hanna in Australia and actually co-written by Ivor Raymonde, ‘Written on the Wind’. Raymonde was a British songwriter, arranger and pianist who played with and/or arranged for and/or produced several WORLD OF stars including Johnny Duncan, Alan Price, Billy Fury, David Bowie, Tom Jones and even Tony Hancock during his acting phase. Whilst the Raymonde Singers are heard just the once in our collection, Ivor Raymonde himself features on about eight WORLD OF LPs giving us a total of 11 tunes. He has one song on each of THE WORLD OF RADIO THEMES (SPA 269) and THE WORLD OF STANLEY BLACK (SPA 265) whilst all of the others crop up on THE WORLD OF EASY LISTENING VOLs. 1 to 6 (SPAs 289-294). He can also be seen to have directed a number

of other artists on these records such as The Hawaiians, Primo Scala and Ray Miranda. His son Simon was one of the three Cocteau Twins! KLAUS WUNDERLICH Klaus Wunderlich was a German keyboard wiz selling millions of records all over the world. He began by playing a Hammond organ, moving on to a Moog synthesiser for a time then ending up with a Wersi. The electric Hammond organ, which creates sound from a rotating tone-wheel which produces an electric current which is then sent to an amplifier, was originally advertised to churches as a cheaper

alternative to the pipe organ. Alternatively, in a nutshell, the Moog uses a voltage control system whereby a particular electric voltage can be sent to a synthesiser component which enables modification of the signal to achieve whatever is required, dependent upon the limitations of the … thingummy jig … darn! I was doing so well, too … OK. I know that I boastfully suggested that I could fill a nutshell with my knowledge of the Moog and that I have only just half-filled maybe a … a pistachio shell … but … well … Anyway, let’s see if we can fill that shell with stuff about the Wersi organ.

Well, obviously, the Wersi is run by the open-architecture-system which is a graphical user interface that runs on … oh, read it yourself! Let’s get back to Mr Klaus Wunderlich who was playing piano at age seven and by about 20 was touring pubs with his trio. About four years

later, Wunderlich had his first Hammond organ which upped the ante within the group but it seems as though they were up to the challenge as he released over a hundred LPs and THE HIT WORLD OF KLAUS WUNDERLICH (SPA-R 434) made No. 27 in the UK charts in 1975. You get your money’s worth with this one as there are ten medley tracks featuring between two and four tunes each so offering bits of 28 songs in all including ‘Waterloo’, ‘Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep’ and ‘Amazing Grace’. The second of two Wunderlich LPs is THE PHASE 4 WORLD OF KLAUS WUNDERLICH (SPA 532) which offers 12 full length tracks including ‘Love is Blue’, ‘Up Up and Away’ and ‘Strangers in the Night’. EASY LISTENING ROUND-UP PRIMO SCALA, RAY MIRANDA, JOSE PIRATA, GORDON FRANKS, HAWAIIANS and DAVID WHITAKER

Primo Scala is a pseudonym for Harry Bidgood, best known as leader of his accordion band though he also played piano with, for example, the Piccadilly Hotel Dance Band from whom he resigned to take up the position of recording manager and musical director at Vocalion Records. Bidgood has a large recorded portfolio though most were under various nom d’accordions; names such as the Midnight Merrymakers, Riverside Dance Band, Kentucky Revellers, Roma’s Accordion Band, Porto’s Accordion Band and Rossini’s Accordion Band. He turns

up on THE WORLD OF EASY LISTENING VOLs. 1, 2 and 5 (SPAs 289, 290 and 293) performing ‘Up Up and Away’, ‘Blue Skies’ and ‘See You in September’. The Ray Miranda Orchestra performs ‘Tea for Two’, ‘Tico Tico (Tico-Tico No Fuba)’ and ‘Melodie d’Amour’ on THE WORLD OF EASY LISTENING VOLs. 1, 3 and 6. José Pirata and his Orchestra can be found on THE WORLD OF EASY LISTENING VOL. 1 (‘Always True to You in my Fashion’), VOL. 3 (‘I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles’) and VOL. 6 (With a Little Help from My Friends’). Do

you remember those fantastic records on the excellent Embassy label referred to early on? Well, Gordon Franks was the musical director, conducting the majority of the recording sessions during the 1960s. Gordon Franks and his Orchestra turn up on all six of THE WORLD OF EASY LISTENING VOLs. with a total of eleven songs; tunes such as ‘La Dolce Vita’, ‘Les Parapluies de Cherbourg’ and ‘Carnival’. ‘A Walk in the Black Forest’, ‘Music to Watch Girls By’ and ‘Caravan’ comprise the Hawaiians contribution to our collection and can be found on VOLs. 2, 4 and 5. David Whitaker was still making hits at age 61 arranging and producing Nick

Berry doing the Buddy Holly song, ‘Heartbeat’, the theme tune to Heartbeat, the ITV bobby-on-the-beat drama series. It reached No. 2 and hung around the charts for eight weeks. ‘The Look of Love’, ‘Samba de Verao (Summer Samba)’ and ‘Amapola’ are three of the four songs that represent David Whitaker’s work on THE WORLD OF EASY LISTENING VOLs. 2, 3 and 4.

NATHAN WILLIAMS, TONY OSBORNE, STEVE GRAY and ARTHUR GREENSLADE

There is also a seventh volume called THE WORLD OF YOUR EASY LISTENING FAVOURITES (SPA 435). On this record we find Nathan Williams and his Orchestra, Tony Osborne’s Brass Buttons, The Steve Gray Orchestra and Arthur Greenslade and his Orchestra. Osborne and Gray are the poor relations here as they have just the one track each whilst Greenslade has four and Williams has six! Tony Osborne, who is

is also mentioned in the piece on Laszlo Tabor in a previous post, had a hankering to be a piano player but with most bands having just one piano but several trumpet players, he opted for that instrument as a means to finding work a little more easily. Amongst other work, he ended up playing in the BBC orchestra that backed the WORLD OF funny men, the Goons on their radio show. Osborne was also a busy arranger and it was in this capacity that he found himself working with WORLD OF star Gracie Fields. During the song ‘Around the World’, the engineer noticed what sounded like an electronic click on the soundtrack – turned out to be Gracie’s clacking false teeth! Sadly, not the song here – we have ‘The Old Fashioned Way’.

Pianist Steve Gray worked as a session pianist and keyboard player for some of the greats of the music world including Quincy Jones, Henry Mancini, Peggy Lee and Sammy Davis Jnr. He was also the keyboardist in the prog/classical band Sky, their second mention in this writty. He was a busy man but managed to knock up concertos for piano and guitar, a couple of operas and a requiem mass. Amongst others, Gray spent some time in the Johnny Howard band thus keeping things in the WORLD OF family. His song here is ‘And I Love You So’.

Arthur Greenslade has worked with a number of the musical elite, playing piano accompaniment to such as Val Doonican, Tom Jones, Billy Fury and Engelbert Humperdinck, all of WORLD OF fame. Even before this he had been under Cyril Stapleton’s wing. He also played on albums and singles by WORLD OF’s Them, Cat Stevens and the Bachelors. On SPA 435 he has a go at ‘King of the Road’, ‘Puppet on a String’, ‘The Continental’ and ‘Brand New Key’. Nathan Williams takes on ‘Something’, ‘The Windmills of Your Mind’, ‘Till There Was You’, ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him’, ‘Vincent’ and ‘If’.

THE INTERNATIONAL ALLSTARS

On THE WORLD OF PHASE 4 STEREO VOL. 2 (SPA 114), the International All Stars present a straight forward version of ‘Greensleeves’ with flute and orchestra. Perfectly

pleasant but does not stimulate this listener. As the International ‘Pop’ All Stars, however, they have four tunes on THE PHASE 4 WORLD OF FOREIGN FILM THEMES (SPA 161) and these are a little more like it. Upbeat ‘Anna’, the theme from Italian film Riso Amaro (Bitter Rice), skips along playfully in contrast to the doleful ‘Nadia’s Theme’ which was used for the Italian Rocco and his Brothers. Thoughtful ‘La Strada’ from the Italian film, the title of which, in English means ‘The Road’, compares neatly with the classical guitar of ‘Forbidden Games’ from the French film, Jeux Interdits.

JOHNNY KEATING

Early on, composer and arranger, Johnny Keating was involved with the Ted Heath Band and had a hit with the version of the ‘Theme from Z Cars’ which is popularly played as the teams emerge from the tunnel at football grounds up and down the country including Watford and Everton at time of writing. His contribution to the WORLD OFs is to conduct a dreary and rather messy version of ‘Londonderry Air’. The well-known melody is ambushed by vandalistic interlopers from time to time involving, for starters, plinks and plonks caused, possibly, by a mischievous cat dropping his paws on the piano keyboard during the quiet verses at the beginning and at the end and then the most horrendous trashing of one’s mental equilibrium at about 2min 20secs when there does ensue ten seconds of unlistenable discord; a crescendo of all the storms you’ve ever witnessed rolled into one which leaves as suddenly as it came and incredibly, the melody quietly meanders like it ever did as if nothing had happened. It DID happen though … didn’t it? Oh, I’m tired … need to get some … sleep …

MAURICE LARCANGE

French composing accordionist Maurice Larcange plays ‘Plaisir D’Amour’ with the Roland Shaw Orchestra and Chorus on THE WORLD OF PHASE 4 STEREO (SPA 32) and ‘Paris for Lovers’ with Claude Martine Orchestra & Chorus on THE WORLD OF PHASE 4 STEREO VOL. 2 (SPA 114). ‘Plaisir D’Amour’ was the B-side of a single called ‘Marieke’ whilst ‘Paris for Lovers’ was the title track of a Phase 4 Stereo album on the London label by Larcange. At age 17 years, Maurice Larcagne was spotted wandering the beaches and bars of Brittany with his accordion and thus his performing career began. Later, he founded an accordion school for young people and is held in high regard by guardians of the historical significance of the French song.

WERNER MÜLLER

German Werner Müller has three tunes, one on each of the abovementioned SPA 32 and SPA 114 along with THE PHASE 4 WORLD OF LATIN FIRE (SPA 408) though the latter two carry the same song; ‘Delicado’. There is also THE PHASE 4 WORLD OF WERNER MULLER (SPA 136). Müller was composer, conductor and leader of a light classical, easy listening orchestra who occasionally worked with WORLD OF’s Caterina Valente.

WILL GLAHÉ

‘Liechtensteiner Polka’, which crops up on SPA 114, was a minor hit in the UK but you’ll not be surprised to learn that Will Glahé’s other tune, off of SPA 32, Wien Bleibt Wien, was not. Incidentally, it means ‘Vienna Remains Vienna’ and maybe if the Brits of the day realised that it was a drinking song, it may have been more popular. No such problem in the US, however, where they anglicised the title of ‘Polka Rosamunde’ to ‘Beer Barrel Polka’.

CAMARATA

Salvador ‘Tutti’ Camarata was a co-founder of London Records, Decca’s American arm. His musical career began as a trumpet player in big jazz bands such as those of

Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey but it was to classical music that he turned for the bulk of his work. He orchestrated and conducted classical pieces for London and featured prolifically on the Phase 4 Stereo label. He appears just two times amongst the WORLD OFs, however; conducting the Kingsway Symphony Orchestra through Carmen’s ‘Habanera’ by Bizet on SPA 114 and the ‘Dance of the Tumblers’ from Rimsky Korsakov’s Snow Maiden on SPA 407. Camarata also had a number of years as Music Director and Producer with Disneyland Records during which time he arranged classical pieces as educational works for children.

ROBERT SHARPLES AND BERNARD HERRMANN

As well as composing and conducting, Uncle Bob Sharples, as Hughie Green would call him, Musical Director on Hughie’s TV talent show, Opportunity Knocks. He also wrote incidental music for Follyfoot and several themes for TV programmes. Bob Sharples conducted one tune on SPA 407 but his main claim to fame in our collection

is that he conducted the orchestra through the LP, THE WORLD OF ALBERT KETÈLBEY (SPA 187) whilst Bernard Herrmann gets two pieces, ‘North by Northwest’ on THE PHASE 4 WORLD OF THRILLERS (SPA 160) and Ravel’s ‘Five O’Clock Foxtrot’ on THE PHASE 4 WORLD OF SPECTACULAR DANCES (SPA 407). Bandleader Herrmann was known most as a writer of scores for film (e.g. Citizen Cain, Cape Fear and Taxi Driver) and TV (Twilight Zone).

FOR THE CHILDREN

There is a record called THE WORLD OF THE VERY YOUNG (SPA/A 165) which is subtitled (For children aged from four to seven) but heck! Who’s gonna stop us from peeking in? There are four ‘bands’ per side containing multitudinous songs and stories presented by

myriad singers and story tellers. Singing seven songs, arranged here by Anne Mendoza, Joan Rimmer and Patrick Shuldham-Shaw, are the children of the Choir of Hampstead Garden Suburb School who are helped out in the singing department variously by the song arrangers. Joan Rimmer plays piano here and there whilst James Blades plays various percussion. Songs include ‘This Old Man’, ‘Oats and Beans and Barley’ and ‘Yankee Doodle’. Other songs, including ‘Peanuts’ and ‘Mister Banjo’ are sung by those mentioned above as well as Mary Rowland and Esme Lewis with Alf Edwards. Stories are read by actors Tony Church, Michael Hordern, Patrick Wymark and Prunella Scales amongst others. And there are yet more songs presented by folkie from the South West, Cyril Tawney. He proudly sings such as ‘The Snail’, Old Daddy Fox’ and ‘I Had a Little Cock …!’ Hmmm, well … moving on …

Michael Hordern, Tony Church and Patrick Wymark all crop up, telling stories, on THE WORLD OF CHILDREN (SPA 200) as well. Also making their one and only appearance in the WORLD OF collection are actress/child actress, author, one-time girlfriend of Beatle, Paul McCartney and cake entrepreneur Jane Asher and actor, filmmaker, theatre director

and comedian, amongst so many more titles, Peter Ustinov. Spike Milligan, whose name peppers this manuscript, also tells three of tales here. Lesser known names include actress Margaretta Scott (Mrs Pumphrey in BBC TV’s All Creatures Great and Small) who narrates two extracts from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland; actor Frank Duncan (The Lotus Eaters) who seems to have been type-cast as a mouse and the March Hare in the Alice in Wonderland bits mentioned above as well as Ratty in two Wind in the Willows extracts; actor Carleton Hobbs, who played Sherlock Holmes on radio in the 1950s and 60s who gets one outing as the Mad Hatter; actress Vivienne Chatterton (Mrs Mountford in BBC radio’s Mrs Dale’s Diary) who plays Lewis Carroll’s dormouse; actor Richard Goolden who was actually most well-known for the part he portrays here, Mole from Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows and Norman Shelley (Colonel Danby in BBC radio’s The Archers) who does Toad.

NURSERY RHYMES Now for one of those rare moments within the splendid series of records known as the WORLD OFs. A uniqueness indeed. Now, I realise that THE WORLD OF MANTOVANI (SPA 1) has a kind of gatefold sleeve variation with a single card cover that opens up to reveal the

more conventional sleeve encasing the gem of that record but THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF NURSERY RHYMES: VERA LYNN: KENNETH McKELLAR (SPA 485) has a real proper gatefold sleeve. The outer cover contains a stupendous meshing of all of the nursery rhymes on the record by way of cartoon characters depicting a brief scene from each song, the images extracted from the tortured mind of one David Anstey. There’s Jack and Jill taking a tumble, Georgie Porgie sneaking away from a crying lass; there is the king from Sing a Song of 2½p, having just opened up the pie and releasing four and twent … hmmm, nine blackbirds … there goes your iambic pentameter! Both front and back folds are open along the vertical edge and so can both take a record though there is but one disc. Incidentally,(!!FACT ALERT!! the first gatefold album to house more than one LP was Bob Dylan’s double album, Blonde on Blonde.

Anyway, Of the 54 songs here, Kenneth McKellar takes the majority with Vera Lynn taking care of 19 of them. They are all here: Humpty Dumpty, Three Blind Mice, Baa! Baa! Black Sheep, Hey diddle diddle etc. etc. Now, I recognise all but one of these tunes and I can’t help wondering if Mr McKellar has made one up, namely, ‘I Love Little Pussy’! It’s just that I can’t recall being taught this one in my infants’ school, that’s all I’m saying. Oh … (to quote WORLD OF comedy giant Frankie Howerd) … suit yourself!

There is a sub-series within the WORLD OFs called THE WORLD OF CHILDREN’S STORIES and gathered together here you will find THE RAILWAY STORIES narrated by Johnny Morris and William Rushton, BEDTIME STORIES and NATURE STORIES read by Liz Hunt, GOBBOLINO told to us by Jimmy Thompson and MY NAUGHTY LITTLE SISTER by Kaye Webb.

JOHNNY MORRIS Thomas and his friends make their entrance at THE RAILWAY STORIES VOL. 1 (PA 270) and runs for four LPs read by Johnny Morris and a further three records THE RAILWAY STORIES (SPA 559-561) which are read by William Rushton. You’ll notice that the earlier

four are presented in mono whilst the later three are recorded in stereo. Also, Johnny Morris’

readings are on the Decca record label whilst those of Willie Rushton are on Argo. You may not, therefore be surprised to note that the mono records appear on the regular orange label with silver or black DECCA logo and lettering whilst the stereo LPs crop up on the usual blue with the dark blue ARGO and lettering of the later issues, generally. But, PA 270 (at least) also comes in a purple made-in-England label with silver lettering – most unusual but very attractive, I think. Also, you may notice that Side 1 is dated 1965 whilst Side 2 is 1961 and whilst the MORRIS discs (PA 270-273) are identified as volumes 1 – 4, the Rushton ones are not. And who are Kaye & Ward, who are indicated to the left of the spindle hole? Well, Nicholas Kaye Ltd. and Edmund Ward Ltd. amalgamated as Kaye and Ward and published The Railway Series from 1967 to 1988. Prior to this, publishing was overseen by Edmund Ward on his own. Further, the back sleeves of the earlier albums accommodate fine cartoon drawings of the engines and other characters with the track listing etc. displayed in the cloud of smoke issuing from the choo choo featured but the later ones show just the

narrator in line-drawn form resplendent in the familiar apparel of a railway signal man. Johnny Morris gets a monochrome photograph of his sunny visage. At time of writing, these are simply observations, I’m afraid, as I have yet to find explanations for the many differences but hey, do not these mysteries add to the charm and charisma of this wonderful collection of records? In case you are wondering, even having reached this point in this writing, the answer is ‘Yes. Indeed it does!

There is, though, one tedious repetition that is encountered by the inquisitive explorer

(arrowed below) of the back of record sleeves and that is the words of the author of the Thomas stories, Reverend Wilbert Awdry. This short missive explains how his enthusiasm for all things railway stemmed from his father’s interest and that when the Rev’s own son fell ill, he would invent adventures for his track-living cast of characters. Perpetuating the suggestion that behind every good man, there is a good woman, it was Mrs Awdry that had the idea to commit the tales to paper so that we can all enjoy them today and forever. It is this story, told word for word on all four Johnny Morris records with a similar one on all three of the Willie Rushton ones, that I find a little tedious. Any road up, to date, there exist 42 books in the Railway Series though the later 16 were actually written by Christopher, Wilbert’s son, whose measles was the catalyst for the whole shebang. The author actually featured in something like four of the stories as The Thin Clergyman though, sadly, none of these appear in our record collection.

The track listing on the back covers of the Johnny Morris records is followed by a credit claiming that the stories are a Delysé Records Production. Delysé was a record company started by pianist Isabella Wallich, the first woman record producer and record company owner. Ms Wallich reckoned there was no point in recording established artist such as Beethoven as their work was covered by other labels. She concentrated, instead, on more unusual genres such as Welsh folk music and spoken word pieces, particularly stories for children. Enter Thomas the Tank Engine. Rev Awdry’s stories were first released as 45rpm EPs and when the label called it a day due to financial difficulties, the records were distributed by Decca and Argo as well as EMI.

So, what of our two narrators? Well, Johnny Morris was the fresh-faced softy who, among many other projects, put the words to the expressions and activities of zoo animals on his tea-time BBC children’s TV programme, Animal Magic, whilst getting a little hands-on fun with the in-mates themselves. He also narrated a personal favourite of young me, Tales of the Riverbank; drama-charged, lunchtime stories about Hammy Hamster, Roderick Rat and GP, a guinea pig; real animals in real time action fumbling around close to water. That is, when not racing around in cars or relaxing at home … in a house! Didn’t seem odd to me at all at the time. When not larking around with animals, his attention turned to trains. Volumes one to eleven of Reverend Awdry’s legendary Thomas the Tank Engine adventures, were narrated by Johnny M but only the first 8 were transferred to vinyl at this time. Later, in order to complete the LP assemblage, Willie Rushton was drafted in to re-record the final three volumes (actually, he recorded 18 of ‘The Railway Stories’ but only three need bother us

here). But who was Willie Rushton? Well, William Rushton was a comedian prone to satire, especially when amongst his funny chums including such as WORLD OF entertainers Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden of the

Goodies on radio shows like I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue. He was also an actor, writer and general performer. Rushton was also a co-founder of satirical magazine Private Eye to which Peter Cook (Pete of THE WORLD OF PETE & DUD fame) contributed. Incidentally, Rushton appeared on Pete and Dud’s show Not Only… But Also and found himself on stage with Spike Milligan. In training for the Thomas tales, Willie read on the children’s story-time TV programme, Jackanory. Kenneth Williams, Peter Sellers (one of the Goons), George Melly and, once again, Spike Milligan also read for children’s pleasure on the show so there you go … more evidence that the WORLD OF world is quite incestuous, really. Probably the most bizarre collusion between two luminaries from our record collection involves Rushton and Tony Hancock. Well, Hancocks’s Ashes, actually. Willie was charged by Tony’s brother, Roger, with bringing Hancock’s ashes home from Australia to England after the comedian’s sad suicidal demise. You couldn’t make it up, could you? Well, actually, Rushton and others DID make up a comedy drama for radio entitled ‘Hancock’s Ashes’ in which they imagined what might have transpired during Willie’s flight and passage through customs.

LIZ HUNT

Elizabeth Joyce Hunt was an actress but whilst visiting Jamaica she discovered a penchant for entertaining children with story-telling sessions. She recognised the power of simple stories in teaching moral values and used to make them up on the spot; her love of children imbuing her words with the charm and wit that enraptured children understand. Back home she recorded these tales, some of which she told on her TV appearances on BBC’s Playschool and Once Upon a Time. It is the stories of her sister, Anne Mills, however, that we can listen to on THE WORLD OF CHILDREN’S STORIES: BEDTIME STORIES (PA 274) and NATURE STORIES (PA 275). We have two stories on each side of both LPs told in Liz’ fine Queen’s English. Come with us now as we go ‘Down on the Farm’.

JIMMY THOMPSON Jimmy Thompson was an actor of stage and screen but he may best be remembered

for his roles in BBC TV’s Pinky and Perky, two lovable but irritatingly perky pig puppets that were rather, well, pinky. Fine preparation for a career in acting out the personalities of so many characters. Characters such as the titular cat in THE WORLD OF CHILDREN’S STORIES: GOBBOLINO (PA 276). Gobbo the witch’s cat and his friends and family (all cats) are presented most life-like, you know, in the way that cats talk … well, the miaows are lifelike, anyway. Thompson was largely a comedy actor cropping up in the sixties and seventies in things like A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to the Forum and Charley’s Aunt on the stage and the Carry On films at the cinema. You might have thought that he was squeaky clean but he upset Liberace by referring to him as a ‘Sugar Plum Fairy’ and ended up in court. I’m not sure what the fuss was about, really. It was said during a successful West

End review and the Sunday night at the London Palladium! It seems that the flamboyantly coiffured, sparklingly attired pianist was not disputing the ‘Sugar Plum’ bit but didn’t like the implication that he was homosexually inclined. All was sorted amicably with an apology and a donation to an actor’s charity.

The Gobbolino stories, five in all on the record, were written by Ursula Moray Williams, who published more than 70 children’s story books, several of which have been read on BBC’s Jackanory.

KAYE WEBB Publisher of Puffin Children’s Books, Kaye Webb had ambitions to introduce reading books as entertainment for children and was instrumental in the publication of affordable,

attractively presented titles to attract parents as well as children. Kaye was with Puffin for 18 years during which time she oversaw a boost in dynamism and enthusiasm for producing material for young readers. The Puffin club encouraged authors to meet their readership arranging fun activities which children could associate with books. Webb’s passionate devotion extended to reading children’s stories for Decca to add THE WORLD OF CHILDREN’S STORIES: MY NAUGHTY LITTLE SISTER (PA 277) to our record collection. There are four short stories on each side, all written by Dorothy Edwards. Dorothy invented the Naughty Little Sister stories to amuse her daughter whilst the family were on holiday. They were based upon the antics of her own sister, Phyllis. Like most of the other contributors to this section, Dorothy Edwards also wrote for Playschool and Jackanory.

Now let’s finish off with a sing song:

DAVE AND TONI ARTHUR THE WORLD OF CHILDREN’S STORIES: SING A STORY: DAVE AND TONI ARTHUR (SPA 509) is the only other record, other than Willy Rushton's SPAs 559-561 that is, in this mini-series which has been recorded in stereo as it contains music. Dave and Toni were a married couple though sadly the union lasted just 14 years. Still, be of stout heart, dear reader

because all of the work we are concerned with happened within this period. The couple were stalwarts of BBC children’s programmes including Playschool and Playaway, Toni being a regular presenter with Dave joining her when it came to song interludes. Such harmonic melding would have been useful preparation for their later career as a folk-singing duo. Towards the end of their marriage, Mrs A moved on to presenting her own kids’ show, Take a Ticket To … whilst, by now, Mr A had dropped out of performing in front of the camera to researching for the programmes. Both continued working together and apart on TV and radio shows and Toni Arthur, at time of writing, is an English theatre director whilst Dave is still singing folk songs with guitar and banjo as well as writing a varied kettle of fish as well as broadcasting and has become a well-respected folklorist.

STARS ON SUNDAY Persons of a certain age will remember Stars on Sunday on the telly with varying amounts of enthusiasm. The show fell into what was known as the holy hour; the interface between

events like coming back from the park muddy then having my Sunday bath and Thunderbirds or the end of the weekend and another week of school beckoning. That’s what Jess Yates meant to me! Mr Yates was the sweetly cloying presenter of the show which had a line-up of stars from far and wide singing religious songs or performing Church-appropriate tunes or bible readings. Two LP records, namely, THE WORLD OF STARS ON SUNDAY (SPA 210) and THE WORLD OF STARS ON SUNDAY VOL. 2 (SPA 285) illustrate the cross-section from the land of celebrity that were invited to perform. WORLD OF personalities that feature are Gracie Fields, The Beverley Sisters, Moira Anderson and the Band of the Blues and Royals though to those I suppose we can, due to their virtue of being on these WORLD OFs, now add people such as Anita Harris, Eartha Kitt, The King’s Singers and Hughie Green. Hmmm. Do you know the story of Green and Yates involving Paula Yates, also a TV personality? Paula presented

youth music show The Tube and The Big Breakfast and grew up with apparent parents Elaine and Jess Yates. So far, so good. Why wouldn’t you take your father’s name? Except, and you may have reached the punch-line before me here, her father was Hughie Green! Anyway, enough of the gossip. Other WORLD OFs that appeared on the show, though not on these two records include John Gielgud, Val Doonican, Matt Monro and Harry Secombe. Gracie Fields graces both LPs performing ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ (SPA 210) and ‘Forgive Me Lord’ (SPA 285); the Beverley Sisters chime in with ‘Morning has Broken’ (SPA 285); Moira Anderson does ‘How Lovely are Thy Dwellings’ (SPA 285) whilst the Band of the Blues and Royals, along with the State Trumpeters parump their way through ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ (SPA 285). All four of these artists will have had their moment of glory elsewhere in this tome. Mention is made now of those whose appearance on these two LPs amounts to their only showings in our current discussion:

On THE WORLD OF STARS ON SUNDAY (SPA 210) The York Celebration Choir: Onward Christian Soldiers/The Hallelujah Chorus The Poole Family: Thank You Ronnie Ronalde: Bless This House Max Jaffa: Meditation Elizabeth Larner: A Prayer Maggie Fitzgibbon: What a Wonderful World Stuart Damon: The Sound of Silence The 1,000 Voice Choir: The Holy City Eartha Kitt: Nobody Knows (the Trouble I’ve Seen) 100 Boys Parish Churches Choir: Ave Verum On THE WORLD OF STARS ON SUNDAY (SPA 285) The York Celebration Choir: The Battle Hymn of the Republic The Poole Family: Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven Ronnie Ronalde: Ave Maria Max Jaffa: Canto Amoroso Neil Reid: Jesus is Coming Again Anita Harris: Somebody Bigger than You and I Georgia Brown: Mother’s Sabbath Candles Peter Glossop: Friend of Mine National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain: Introduction Allegro Spiritoso/Introduction from Act 3 Lohengrin The Doncaster Wheatsheaf Girls’ Choir: Homing Pearl Fawcett: La Fileuse Julie Rogers: Six Weeks Every Summer

The King’s Singers: Peter Go Ring Dem Bells

Coronation Street star Violet Carson had more strings to her bow than many may have realised. As if featuring on a WORLD OF record wasn’t enough, she was an accomplished pianist, a singer of music hall and light opera style songs, broadcaster on radio’s Children’s Hour and Nursery Sing Song. She also presented, interviewed and acted for radio and contributes ‘Beautiful Garden of Prayer’ to SPA 210. Violinist Max Jaffa spent a while with WORLD OF’s Mantovani and his orchestra, playing on the original version of the hit, ‘Charmaine’. Max had a bubbly personality and was known as the ‘Happy Musician’ though his piece on SPA 210 is a sedate-sounding ‘Meditation’. Anita Harris is best known as a songstress of pop songs since the late 1960s such as ‘Just Loving You’ which went top 10. She continues to perform and her shows, these days, consist of songs and stories from her varied career all suffused with humour. Early on in her career, Anita starred in a couple of the celebrated Carry On films; Carry on Follow that Camel and Carry on Doctor working alongside Kenneth Williams and Frankie Howerd of WORLD OF fame. Dig out the records to get a true taste of this Sunday TV special. You’ll find that where you’d expect to find the Decca logo, here resides the York Records one, reminiscent of the logo of Yorkshire Television, the ITV region from which the show was broadcast.

CHEEKY CHAPPIES GEORGE FORMBY and ALAN RANDALL You know the sort. Chirpy grin. Squeaky voice. In a word, George! In two words, George Formby!! In forty years of showbiz, George made more than 230 records with his banjo ukulele and perky personality. He also starred in 21 films and made countless stage appearances – go on, count ‘em! Formby was born George Hoy Booth; Hoy being his mother’s maiden name and Booth, his dad’s. Before GF made a career out of being daft, his Dad, George Formby senior, was already entertaining crowds with his own brand of humour. His real name was James, incidentally. It seems that his chosen stage name was derived from a combination of George Robey, a star of the music hall and when ‘Formby’ was noticed on the destination plate on the front of a train. When Pops Formby passed away, his little boy borrowed it and became Britain’s most popular entertainer.

George Formby junior became one of the Queen’s favourite performers but one wonders what Her Majesty thought of the saucy innuendo that ran through many of the ditties that he

sang. The lyric for When I’m Cleaning Windows, for example, tells us of the time that he saw pyjamas lying side by side and of the ladies nighties he has spied and also, when he was cleaning windows, it wasn’t unusual to see what goes inside! In another tune he was pleased to tell about the many escapades undertaken with his little ukulele in his hand. Or at least, he would have been pleased to tell us if the BBC hadn’t banned these two songs. Never fear. WORLD OF fans. These and much, much more are available for you to play in your own home on two volumes of THE WORLD OF GEORGE FORMBY (SPA 50 & 446).

There is such a thing as The George Formby Society which has regular conventions and attracts hundreds of fans from around the country. One fanatical member was Alan Randall, another ukulele player that recreated the George Formby experience after the star’s death.

The Windsor Express reckoned that Alan Randall’s vocals and ukulele playing were ‘indistinguishable’ from that of GF himself. However, Randall had more than one string to his bow. He was a jazz vibraphonist, keyboard player and drummer and was known to leap from one instrument to the other in his exhausting act. And guess what – you can compare his Formby impression with the real thing because, SPA 492 is THE WORLD OF ALAN RANDALL upon which he does a bunch of GF songs. During The Second World War, the British

Armed Services were kept amused by the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) and you’d think they would be crying out for acts such as George Formby’s but no, it took him over 5 months to be signed up. Soon he was boosting civilians’ sense of wellbeing by visiting workplaces such as factories as well as playing in theatres and concert halls. As well as giving concerts, his films were also very popular. Especially one that had him parachuting into Germany and punching Mr H on the nose!

THE FORCES SWEETHEARTS British troops were also entertained by the ladies of show-business who were variously

called the Forces’ Sweethearts. Perhaps the singer most associated with this term is Vera Lynn (SPA 12, 99, 143, 255 and 308).

VERA LYNN As part of ENSA, Vera Lynn toured wherever troops were stationed, singing songs such as the instantly recognisable, ‘We’ll Meet Again’, ‘The White Cliffs of Dover’ and ‘There’ll Always be an England’. At the start of the War, British

servicemen voted Lynn their favourite songstress and a couple of years in, she had her own programme on the radio which was broadcast to those doing their bit abroad. She was busy at home visiting hospitals and was particularly appreciated in the maternity units, sending special messages to husbands on the front lines but it was performing in front of troops in places such as Egypt, Burma and India where she really made her name. Vera has always been popular at home or abroad as evidenced by Decca

commemorating her career with five volumes of WORLD OFs.

In my collection, THE WORLD OF VERA LYNN VOL. 5 comes, as do many others, as a Canadian issue as well as the normal UK version. They share the same cover image of Vera with the LP title centred across the top but where the boxed DECCA logo features towards the top right corner of the UK issue, the LONDON logo in the WORLD OF font can be found on the Canadian. Also, beneath 'LONDON' is

the word 'STEREO' followed by the album

catalogue number BUT whereas the UK LP is SPA 308, the Canadian version is SPA 145! Also, on the UK issue are the usual six tracks on side 1 and seven on side 2 but on the Canadian, just five on each. Missing on the Canadian issue are ‘Dream’, ‘As Time Goes By’ and ‘Goodnight my Love’. Further, the label colour of the Canadian record is a deep red, a colour which is not used for any of the UK issues. Stuff you need to know.

Of course, Vera Lynn wasn’t the only ‘WORLD OF’ star to be active during the war.

ANNE SHELTON Patricia Sibley is better known as Anne Shelton of THE WORLD OF ANNE SHELTON (SPA 140) fame. During the war, Malta found itself in the way of Italian forces trying to supply German troops in North Africa and came in for a mighty bashing but the brave people of this little island withstood every onslaught. Why am I telling you this? Because Anne Shelton had a radio show called ‘Calling Malta’ which was the only contact between Britain and its ally during this testing period. Ms Shelton also flew out to perform in front of servicemen; one time she travelled on a mail plane to Berlin where she sang in Hitler’s actual theatre.

THE BEVERLEY SISTERS A trio of sisters also sang for the boys abroad during the Second World War. Joycelyn

and her younger twin siblings, Hazel and Babette Chinery, later known as Joy, Teddy and Babs of the Beverley Sisters (SPA 130), performed for the British Expeditionary Forces towards the end of the war and, in 1980, made something of a career comeback singing, once again, for British troops. Back in the 40s, though, the Sisters were signed up for a show at the London Palladium with, amongst others, Gracie Fields but Ms Fields refused to work with them without providing a reason!

GRACIE FIELDS In 1939, Gracie Fields (SPA 82 and 425) became ill with cancer and, during her recovery from treatment, suffered something of a nervous breakdown. She went to Italy for a change of scenery but things would not have been helped by the declaration of war whilst she was there. Never mind. Whilst there were audiences to entertain, she knew that she could be useful and she joined up with ENSA to perform for our servicemen. As we have seen, there were plenty of artists who entertained the troops but not many that paid for members of the Forces to travel free in their home towns like Gracie did for transport around Rochdale.

Incidentally, the splendid Decca record company were not to be outdone in contributing to the war effort. British prisoners of war took delivery of several Decca portable gramophones and a bunch of records … and yes, I do realise this is Gracie’s second mention. And …?

Now, that's enough for one Blog Post, I reckon. Well, next time we will be starting our journey in Ireland where we will investigate the characters and music of that fine, green country. Then we'll be jumping aboard the ferry to Scotland for a grand old tartan time following which we'll make a bee-line for the choirs of Wales and finally, England. I recommend comfy, baggy clothing for the journey.

References available on request

Regarding the LP cover images, they are photographs of the records in my own collection and are taken by my own hand. All images are, however, copyright of Decca.

Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of any image in any form should be considered prohibited.

Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the text in any form is prohibited, restricted by permission of the author.