Your country needs you for the Platinum Jubilee pageant
DO YOU have a Ford Cortina, a Vespa or a Raleigh Chopper lurking in the garage? Do you remember how to use a spacehopper, do the Lambeth Walk or still have outfits from the Summer of Love? If so, your country – or to be precise, your Queen – needs you.
The organisers of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee pageant are seeking members of the public who lived through each of the seven decades she has been on the throne, from the 1950s right up to the present day.
Anyone who has kept the original vintage clothes of their fashion heyday is invited to apply to dress up and walk in the parade, with a particular call-out for classic cars, motorbikes and bicycles to recreate 70 years of transport.
The Sunday Telegraph can today share organisers’ colourful plans for the all-singing, all-dancing pageant, which will see thousands of people parade down the Mall to Buckingham Palace watched by millions more.
Adrian Evans, pageant master, said he hopes to create “exuberance, excitement, spectacle and wow factor”, complete with the “sparkle dust” of Britain’s “national treasures” – actors, writers, artists and musicians – and members of the public.
“We won’t see the likes of this again,” he said of the Queen’s landmark 70 years on the throne. “We want it to be absolutely awesome for everyone, and particularly for Her Majesty the Queen. We want her to feel we have done her proud.”
The pageant will be the centrepiece of the Jubilee bank holiday celebrations, taking place over two and a half hours on the afternoon of Sunday, June 5. Culminating outside Buckingham Palace, with the Royal Family expected to be in attendance, it will see key moments from the last 70 years brought to life by performers, along with the full pomp and ceremony of Commonwealth military regiments and mischievous corgi puppets capering through the chaos.
Promising “gallons” of familiar faces, Mr Evans said the event was designed to acknowledge not just the contribution of the Queen to national life but to represent all those who have contributed to their communities in a difficult few years.
The parade will take place in four distinct sections, opening with the “big opening statement” of “For Queen and Country”; around 2,000 servicemen and women from the four home nations and Commonwealth friends for the full pomp and ceremony of the military marching bands. It is intended to “acknowledge, respect and thank the military” not just for their service overseas but help at home from administering Covid tests to providing emergency relief in floods.
The second chapter, “The Time of Our Lives”, is designed as a “scrapbook” of the historic moments the Queen has lived through, including the 1966 World Cup trophy she presented and the Moon Landing astronauts she hosted at the Palace.
It will travel from her accession in 1952, Mr Evans said, with the “black and white” 1950s “bursting into technicolour” to showcase music, fashion and fun.
Platinum Jubilee organisers are now specifically seeking vehicle “owners and enthusiasts” who have treasured cars synonymous with particular decades. They are also looking for a cast of 3,000 real people “who live and breathe these eras and fashions”, saying: “We’re looking for the real deal; those with original and authentic clothing, hairstyles and make-up.”
The third section of the pageant will see a dozen artistic companies enact “Celebration”; each tasked with a different theme to capture the best of “what we know and love about the Queen”. One company, Imagineer, run by Kathi Leahy and Jane Hytch, is creating puppet versions of her much-loved horses and corgis. Made by Lou Jones and Nadya Monfrinoli, the puppets will show the animals as they walk the route.
The fourth and final stage, outside Buckingham Palace, is intended to remain a secret to surprise the crowds. The entire performance will be filmed by the BBC. Anyone hoping to join the pageant cast should register their interest before March 4 at cast. platinumpageant.com.