Dame Vera Lynn

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Dame Vera Lynn began her career singing in London's working men's clubs at the age of 7 and became the Forces' Sweetheart after being chosen by the BBC to win the propoganda war as the 'girl next door' reuniting soldiers and their sweethearts via the Radio programme, 'Sincerely Yours'. These programmes and her trips to places like Burma with ENSA during the rest of the war years, cemented her in the hearts of those troops forever and not just in the UK. Dame Vera was a trailblazer she knew her own mind and always chose her own songs and she was a record breaker, she became the first artist to have a no 1 in the US Charts with 'Auf Wiedersehn' and the first centenarian to be in the UK Charts in 2017 at her 100th birthday. Tessa Dunlop, author and historian, presents this celebration of the formidable 'Forces Sweetheart' with archive and interviews including Katherine Jenkins, Virginia Lewis-Jones and fellow centenarians. Image: Vera Lynn, pictured in 2007 (Credit: Fiona Hanson/PA Wire)