Our Boys kept me safe in war says Vera at 100
DAME Vera Lynn has praised the soldiers who kept her safe while she sang in Burma during the Second World War.
In a TV show to mark her 100th birthday the “forces sweetheart” reveals several unheard stories behind her rise to global stardom.
Dame Vera, who turns 100 on Monday, says on tonight’s BBC Two programme: “I always knew I was being very well looked after – the boys never left my side.”
The programme takes viewers through Dame Vera’s career, from singing in working men’s clubs in London, aged seven, to hosting her own radio show Sincerely Yours, which passed messages between soldiers fighting overseas and their families at home.
Her daughter Virginia LewisJones will share some of her mother’s fan mail, which she still receives – including a birthday message from the Queen Mother.
Meanwhile, stars including Aled Jones, Bradley Walsh and Dame Esther Rantzen are to take to the London Palladium stage to tell the story of her career in song.
Dame Vera, who was awarded Dame Vera Lynn and her daughter Virginia Lewis-Jones in the BBC special, above, and, right, entertaining at a 1958 Daily Express event the title “forces sweetheart” by the Daily Express in 1939 after a readers’ poll, said: “To reach my 100th year is in itself an achievement, with all the wonderful people one meets and the many fans from across the world who have supported me.”
One veteran will recall that he was so desperate to see Dame Vera perform he took a dangerous two-hour trip through the Burmese jungle to meet her, while another describes her singing as “the best bottle of medicine”.
Dame Vera Lynn: Happy 100th Birthday is on BBC Two tonight at 9pm