Heigh-Ho Says Rowley

Dame Vera Lynn has, with apologies for the admittedly hackneyed phrase, a haunting and evocative voice and The Frog's Wooing is my favourite, not least because of the impeccably clear diction. She was the first Br*tish artiste to reach number one in the USA, in 1952, two years before, surprisingly, her only UK number one in 1954. Is there anyone who can listen to any of her recordings without coming out in goose pimples?

From 1949, for about ten years, Vera Lynn was accompanied by Barry Gray, who wrote most of the music used by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, including my favourite The Man From MI5.

Both tracks can be found, along with several Century 21 TV themes, here.

I clearly remember Twizzle, which I always thought dated from the early sixties, but for years I could only recall a few images and hum a few bars of Torchy The Battery Boy, until I discovered the vintage television sites on the web. I saw again images that I had not seen since 1960, when I was four years old. Thank Englishman Tim Berners-Lee for the World Wide Web.

Once introduced to space travel I was more than ready for Fireball XL5, a year or two later.