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FIRST EDITION
First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2009
Copyright © 2009 by Margaret Lynn Ltd
Sections of this book were previously published under the title Vocal Refrain in 1975.
Front cover photographs © 2005 Topfoto/Topfoto.co.uk (Vera Lynn in wartime uniform); Bettmann/Corbis (aeroplanes); US Army/Handout/CNP/Corbis (background)
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780007318919
Ebook Edition © June 2020 ISBN: 9780007343362
Version 2020-06-22
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To my wonderful Harry, with whom I was so fortunate
to share my life for all those years.
And to ‘The Boys’, to whom we all owe so much—
your spirit and humour live with me to this day.
Never forgotten.
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Overture & Beginnings
Chapter Two: One-&-six for an Encore
Chapter Four: A Taste of Ambrosia
Chapter Five: Wild About Harry
Chapter Seven: Sincerely Yours
Chapter Eight: Off to see the Burma Boys
Chapter Nine: A Journey with a Legacy
Chapter Ten: A House is a Home
Chapter Eleven: After the Interval
Chapter Thirteen: Round & About
Chapter Fourteen: Everybody’s Talking
Chapter Fifteen: Never Quite Retired
Imust thank all my family, of course, for their constant support and love.
And there are too many others whom I have met and worked with over the years to thank here, so I will mention just three: my dear friend Wally Ridley, for his help in those Denmark Street days; Joe Loss, for selecting me for my first broadcast; and Norman Newell, who produced all my early records. These three men were instrumental in making my life the extraordinary event that it has been.
Iwill always remember the moment war was declared at the beginning of September 1939. I was sitting in the garden of the new house I had bought in Barking with Mum and Dad. Life was going well for me: I was singing with Bert Ambrose’s band, fulfilling what was really the only ambition I had ever had: to be the best singer with the best band in the land. Before the announcement came, anyone would have told you that times were not easy, but my life was certainly not bad.
On that day I remember we were all drinking tea in the garden, my dad sitting in his deckchair as he loved to do. He was always brown from sitting in the sun. Naturally we had the radio on all the time because everyone was interested in what was going on. For weeks everyone had been on tenterhooks, not knowing what was going to come. And that’s when I heard the news. The first thought that came into my head was a selfish one: Oh dear. There goes my singing career. Everything I have dreamed of, I thought to myself, is over. The men—including all the musicians I knew in the band—would all be going away to fight. And I would be headed straight for the munitions factory. I was only twenty-two. It seemed like the end