VE Day 80 – A Swinging Celebration

Vernon Kay is your host for this special concert from the Alexandra Palace Theatre featuring the BBC Big Band and the strings of the BBC Concert Orchestra directed by Mike Lovatt.

The 8th of May 1945 was a day of joy throughout the UK. After 6 long years, the war in Europe was finally at an end. In every city, town and village, the streets were filled with people celebrating the long awaited news. It would also be a bittersweet occasion for many who had lost loved ones in the war or were awaiting their safe return.

Our Swinging Celebration features big band classics of that era, including Flying Home, Skyliner, Opus One and Caravan. Guest vocalist Anna-Jane Casey explores the Doris Day and Vera Lynn songbooks, with hits including My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time, Sentimental Journey and I’ll Be Seeing You. Also featured are Gary Wilmot leading the Great British Singalong in a selection of wartime favourites. Singer and saxophonist Ray Gelato gets the joint jumpin’ with Louis Jordan favourites, including Five Guys Named Moe and Caldonia, and the stunning 6-piece vocal harmony group Accent perform What Is This Thing Called Love, Birth of the Blues and There! I've Said It Again.

During the interval, Kate Garner visits the BBC's original TV studios, where she talks to Alexandra Palace curator Kirsten Forrest about the pioneering days of television between 1936 and September 1939, when the service was closed for the duration of the war.