Big band dance music

“Today’s modern ballroom dancing is now, strictly speaking, an institution on television. But 96 years ago, big band dance music on radio was truly born in Perthshire,” writes Fraser Elder.

“Craigie readers were fascinated by my quiz item and local ballroom memories were revived along with recollections of radio dance band music and step-by-step lessons!

“In June 1924, the opening of the Gleneagles Hotel by the Caledonian Railway Company heralded the historic broadcasting event by appointing Henry Hall as resident entertainment director, fronting the orchestra which, in time, would become the most famous in Britain in the Roaring Twenties.

“The newly founded BBC in London was alerted to the grand opening of the hotel and the corporation appointed Hall as their musical director. His orchestra was filled with A-list musicians for the first outside broadcast from north of the border.

“The live show from Perthshire was a great success and Hall’s band was installed as the Perthshire hotel’s resident orchestra during the summer seasons. They were then signed as the winter residents in the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool and became the country’s top dance band.

“The dance band radio craze was further accentuated in the pre-war era with Hall being joined on BBC radio by the inimitable Victor Silvester and his band. Silvester, a former world ballroom dancing champion in 1922, would later sell 70 million records with his unique sound dance lessons with big band accompaniment.

“In 1974, Gleneagles Hotel celebrated its 50th anniversary with Henry Hall as the guest of honour. I was privileged to interview him, fittingly for transmission by BBC Radio Scotland. In the 1970s, he was a radio favourite with his weekly Henry Hall’s Guest Night programme and during our broadcast he remarked: ‘That night in Gleneagles 50 years ago was the start of something special for big bands in broadcasting’.”