07/02/2012 The One Show

Hello and welcome to The One Show live from Buckingham Palace, with

Matt Baker. And Alex Jones. We are in these gorgeous surroundings by

Royal and attention to help launch a special concert to mark the

Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Tonight's guest is fit for royalty as he has

been given the honour of choosing the artists who will perform. He is

tinkling the ivories in the music # Weary laugh. Gary, thanks for

joining us in these posh surroundings. Do you know why I was

playing that? It is one of the Queen's favourite songs. I don't

just randomly play that number. Just before we came on air, Gary

was entertaining the audience here. This has to be one of the grandest

places you have played. It is beautiful but it is what I'm used

to! As Matt said, you have got responsibility of being chief

Booker for the biggest concert. Are you feeling the pressure? Now you

have mentioned it! Will be all right. Shortly Gary will give us

all the details on how you can enter a ballot for tickets to the

spectacular concert to mark the Diamond Jubilee in June. It will

take place outside Her Majesty's front door with the likes of Tom

Jones, Elton John and Paul McCartney. If everybody has the

same chance of getting in invite as tickets are not on a first-come

first-served basis. Her also coming up... The moment we took to the

floor to perform a dance together right here in the palace. How we

have dusted down our dancing shoes. Her what a debut! You can see what

happened later. Dan Snow has been finding out how major royal

celebrations have changed over the years.

We are pretty good at pageantry. In fact, the British do a big royal

event better than anyone. Concorde coming in with the Red Arrows.

would imagine that monarchy and ceremony have marched in perfect

harmony throughout history. But the relationship between pomps and the

Palace is more chequered than you might think. Certainly in the 16th

and 17th centuries, monarchs like Henry VIII and Charles the second

revelled in public displays of grandeur. By the mid- 19th century,

the pageantry had been getting less and less frequent and frankly we

were terrible at it. One aristocratic Observer watch Queen

Victoria open Parliament in 1860. He was extremely unimpressed. "some

nations have a gift for the ceremonial. In England, the case is

the reverse.". Queen Victoria hated royal magnificence and shunned

public appearances, but within 40 years, the British had rediscovered

their gift for pageantry, culminating in Victoria's

spectacular Diamond Jubilee. What changed and why? Alastair Bruce is

an expert on royal ceremonies. There was a need in the 19th

century to make the Crown much more available to the public's

understanding. Queen Victoria, having hidden away after her

husband died, was persuaded to use history and pageantry to put itself

back on the stage. It opened up the dressing-up box. They brought up

the traditions of Britain and covered it with gold, a purple and

red. Through the great events like the golden and diamond jubilees,

Queen Victoria becomes the obvious and visual personification of the

great monarchy in the centre of this enormous empire. If Queen

Victoria has Jubilee celebrations were the beginning of the new-age.

Royal traditions were reinstated and reinvented as the British once

again celebrated their monarchy in extravagant style. This magnificent

Star Gold State coach is around 250 years old, but for much of

Victoria's reign they did not seem much use. She found it too

distressing to use the Net -- right in it. At the beginning of the 20th

century it was used more often. If this symbolises Britain's growing

reputation for pomp and pageantry. That was cemented by a new

tradition, the grand ceremonial of a Royal Wedding. There used to be -

- they used to be private affairs, but in 1922, when Princess Mary got

married, George V made it a public event by staging it in Westminster

Abbey fought off so royal ceremony is not set in stone. It evolves to

suit changing times, a process that has continued during the current

Queen's reign. Peter Whittle has studied how royal celebrations have

been transformed. Her they are still in essence the same, we still

have carriages and balcony appearances, but there are subtle

alterations here and there. If you look at the Silver Jubilee in 1977,

there were a massive number of carriages. It is very Victorian. By

the time of the Golden Jubilee, more minor members of the Royal

Family went in a big minibus. In the past couple of decades there

has been more emphasis put on the Queen and her immediate family and

is not so good necessarily to have a massive extended family on

display. For Golden Jubilee was a far less aristocratic occasion than

previous royal celebrations and included a parade that was about

the people rather than simply for them. We had biker's, people from

the Notting Hill Carnival, floats representing each decade. It was

much more of a festival. It worked very, very well and the way in

which it was presented, with these pop concerts, and with this parade,

really showed the monarchy was trying to evolve in the way it

presented itself. Last year there was another massive occasion, the

Royal Wedding. That could boost the diamond jubilee celebrations.

there are long periods between these events, people essentially

forget what has to happen. Because we had a Royal Wedding last year,

it acted as a curtain-raiser for the Royal -- Diamond Jubilee. I

think we are going to see possibly the biggest royal occasion for 60

years. Be prepared for the Diamond Jubilee to be a huge celebration of

a remarkable 60 year reign. It will stretch from one end of that land

to the other. It will be spectacular and it will be a party

fit for a queen. There you are, Brian May was

definitely the stand-out moment from the Golden Jubilee. You are

integral to organising the diamond jubilee. How will you topic? They

will have to fly me in. For me or Russell Grant! A on a piano.

Fantastic. This is a hugely important week, but this isn't

special day. 60 years to this very day when the Queen arrived back

from Africa. The first time she arrived in Britain as Queen. Her

landing at Heathrow. The most amazing thing about this is she

gets greeted by Winston Churchill, her first prime minister. The first

of 12 prime ministers she has worked with and granted an audience

to. We have to remember that was a sad day for the Queen because she

had just found out her father had died the night before. Absolutely,

wearing black. We are in the music room, which like all of the palace,

is steeped in history. Why is this room at so monumental? It is the

music room, it has great acoustics. It has this gorgeous... It is like

an Aladdin's cave. Three are sitting here, this is 1790. The

French Revolution was raging. tell! It is sold. We saw during the

film, it is difficult to work out which position you should be in.

you sit back, you can't touch the floor. A lot of christenings

happened. The chapel of Buckingham Palace was destroyed during the

Blitz. They had nowhere for christenings so Prince Charles was

christened in this room. He is sitting on his mother, then

Princess Elizabeth. That began the tradition and Prince Andrew,

Princess Anne and then Prince William were christened in here,

using water from the River Jordan. A very special room for the family.

And the famous creature of the Queen and the Obamas was taken last

year. From Winston Churchill to Barack Obama. Incredible. Just over

700 rooms in this palace and every single one is steeped in history.

Over 50 guest bedrooms. Play your cards right and you might get a

room tonight! 19 reception rooms. All of the rooms are appointed with

this incredible furniture and paintings. Thank you. The biggest

event at the Palace this year it is of course going to be the diamond

jubilee concert. Gary is one of the chief party planners. We keep

piling it on. You at home have a chance to go to this concert.

Anita Rani with all the information you need. -- here is.

It is going to be the concert of a generation, and exclusive ticket

for an evening with some of the world's biggest artists. The

diamond jubilee concert will be taking place on June fourth right

here in front of the Queen Victoria Memorial at Buckingham Palace. It

will be the centrepiece of the celebrations and when I say it will

be huge, I mean it is going to be massive. The event has an amazing

line-up. The ones I can tell you about our Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey,

JLS and Elton John, to name a few. It will be a wonderful show with so

many great artists. It runs the gamut of British musical history. I

have never performed outside Buckingham Palace. It will be fun.

It is an extremely important historic event. I was extremely

honoured to be asked. It is not just Gary Barlow who Her Majesty

the Queen has appointed to key rate the concert. There's another

familiar name in charge, Robbie Williams. Not that Robbie Williams!

But after working with many in of music's biggest names and staging

huge events from Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday concert to the

Queen's golden jubilee, this man certainly knows how to entertain

you. There are 10,000 tickets being given away, where will they be

seeded? We will be removing the plants from the flowerbeds and

building large stands for the audience and there will be 5,000 in

each of those stands. They really are hot tickets. They should be

fantastic. Hopefully one of the finest concerts ever. I are you

excited? Yes. It is not often you get to put on and a concert in

front of Buckingham Palace. I always like doing something

challenging and this is certainly a challenge. This is the really

important bit. There will be a ballot of 5,000 pairs of tickets

and each ticket holder will be able to nominate a guest, but how do you

get your hands on them? Everyone has got a fair chance. Tickets will

be randomly drawn after the closing date in a way that reflects

population spread across the UK so tickets are not first come first

served. He can enter the balance on line. -- you can enter the ballot

To apply, you must be 18 or over. The applicant needs to have a

residential address in the UK. can also buy it if you have a

British PO Box address. Remember, there's no rush. There's as much

charges being selected whether the application is received today or on

March 2nd. The Queen's Diamond Jubilee is going to be the nation's

celebration and the concert will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Whether you're a lucky enough to have a ticket or if your party her

nylon at home, it will be a right royal knees-up.

Indeed. You have Plan B concert before. Maybe not on this scale.

What do you do? Do you ring up all the artists individually? I was

asked to do this six months ago and one of the first things I wanted to

do was change the look of the stage and that is why it was in the back

garden last time. By moving it to the front it will make it a whole

new experience for everybody. To open it out to the public. We're

hoping to have about half a million people there. It will be a massive

concert. You did a press conference this morning. We heard some names

on the bill. From the horse's mouth, give us a run-down. Now you are

testing! One of the most exciting artists is Elton John. He has

always been a big hero of mine so to be able to book him for this was

incredible. Sir Paul McCartney, Tom Jones, JLS, Dame Shirley Bassey. It

will be a great event. A do you contact them personally? Her in the

past I have done these shows before and I have always found that the

personal approach is the best. To speak to them and tell them what

you are trying to do is the best way of doing it. The question on

everybody's lips, especially the girls at home. Will take that

perform? Nothing has been decided. Come on! Nothing has been decided

yet, but over the next couple of months, we are putting more acts on

the bill. Watch this space. mentioned... They will be fighting

for dressing rooms. 53 guest rooms. It will be difficult because I am

getting the biggest! There's no rush at all. I would say on the

contrary. You might forget so get a online right now and book your

ticket! March 2nd is the key date. You have until midnight on 2nd

March. That is not a lot of tickets to go round. Get on the internet

right now all right in! After the A ballot is open for this

spectacular concert. 5000 pairs of tickets are available. Applicants

must be 18 years or over from today. The Diamond Jubilee Concert 2012,

Do people still use the post? Absolutely. Successful applicants

will be able to take a guest, who might - that must be aged 30 not

over from today. Only one application per person. You must

have a residential address here in the UK. Football terms and

conditions you can go to the website. As well as performances

from Shirley Bassey and Jessie J, lucky ticket-holders will be

invited into the gardens at Buckingham Palace for a special

picnic before the concert. Every year, Her Majesty hosts garden

parties for invited guests from all over the country. Christine Walkden

has been to meet the few of you who have been to tea with the Queen.

just love a good rummage around a celebrity garden. And let's face it,

they don't come much more famous than this one. And what a treat -

I've got an invitation to go and look at the gardens of Buckingham

The garden was first laid out by James I in 1609 as a mulberry

plantation to grow silkworms. Over the course of 250 years, it was

enlarged and sculptured into 40 acres of beautiful parkland. This

is quite special. This is spicy, a rich fragrance. The Acorn of this

tree was sewn on the day that Prince Charles was born. Since

Elizabeth II came to the throne at 60 years ago, over 1 million people

from all walks of life have received a personal invite from the

Queen to take tea with her on her back lawn. The tradition began in

1868, when Queen Victoria wanted to meet more of her subject. They also

acted as a way of introducing young debutants to high society. In the

1950s, they became a way of rewarding acts of public service.

Today, around 8000 people attend each of the garden parties, held in

June and July each year. I wonder what it's really like going to the

palace and meeting the Queen. The people gathered here have done just

that. Wendy Silcock, Susan Ward and her husband, Charles, all attended

garden parties at Buckingham Palace. Wendy was invited for her work with

charities. Jenny came with a woman's group and Susan represented

arts organisation, the overseas League. The first invitation came

from the Lord Chamberlain. After the excitement of jumping up and

down and running around like a headless chicken, I wrote back and

said any day would suit me! thought, panic, I've got nothing to

wear. Names for garden party invites are put forward by

government, armed services and different charities and societies.

In Buckingham Palace everyone tends to rush through. I wanted to take

my time and have a good look around. The food looked fantastic. Pristine

and tiny and decorative. They had quite a few small cakes. They have

little cucumber sandwiches and a cup of tea. At 4pm the band strikes

up with the national anthem, which gives the Queen had queued to

appear on the steps of the palace. We were standing quite far away at

that point. I was trying to look over people's heads, can you see

them? Goosebumps came. One of the Lord Chamberlain... They were

looking for people in groups of four. Christine piped up and said,

well, we are free. He said, that will do. He led us towards the

Queen and there we were. Fantastic. I was lucky because I was asked if

I'd like to meet her. I said, who have you got? They went through the

list and I said, yes, I'll have the Queen, please. And here is the big

moment for Charles and Susan. and remember what I'd talked to the

Queen about. Susan reminded me afterwards. I was about to launch

into a deep analysis of the railway timetable! An honour to cherish.

One of those surreal moments that you would never expect. She was

just beautiful. The whole day was beautiful. Garden parties clearly

leave a real impression on those who been. And for me, and I think

the Palace, they are a great way for the Queen to meet a few more of

her subjects to have helped society. I just wonder what the head

gardener really thinks about all those people trampling over his

lovely lawn. The closest thing we have to royalty on The One Show,

apart from Dan Snow, his Gyles Brandreth. I'm honoured to be here.

The last time I was in this room, about a year ago at a charity event

hosted by the Duke of Edinburgh, I was making my speech and Prince

Philip Barrett may continue. He could sing, we've heard that story

before, some you put to - that some new material please. Eventually I

ground to a halt. He was a Royal heckler. He is a remarkable person.

They are a remarkable double act. The support he has given the Queen

these past 60 years is extraordinary. When I was writing a

book about them about 10 years ago, I went to the Royal Variety Show

with them. During the interval the Queen came out. She is immediately

surrounded by people. I stood in the corner of his crowded room and

across the room, the Queen was quite small, standing in this

circle of show business people. The Duke of Edinburgh was across the

room and caught her eye and simply lifted his glass and smiled at her.

She smiled back. The curious thing is, no one is normal with the Queen

except for the Duke of Edinburgh. And nobody can say to the Duke of

Edinburgh, Philip, do shut up! Except for the Queen, and she does.

Here we are at this palace where they now live, they didn't want to

live here. In 1952, when the Queen became Queen, they were living in

Clarence House. They wanted to stay there. But Winston Churchill said,

no, this is the headquarters of the Royal Family. You move here. The

reason they wanted to stay as a family was for the first five years

of their marriage, from 1947 to 1952, they were almost an ordinary

naval couple. Stationed in Malta, where Prince Philip was a naval

officer. The Queen was almost like a normal naval wife. She went to

the local beauty salon, she drove Prince Philip's car around the

island. She once had an encounter with a fellow on a donkey who would

not move. A short path, the Queen in her MG, the fellow on the donkey.

These multi is, he was across Maltese, he stood his ground. He

didn't know she was going to be the Queen. What is interesting about

the Queen is she is given by duty, sustained by faith. But she is

actually an normal human being. anyone who saw the documentary last

night, her energy is incredible. She never stops. But when she does

get spare time, how does she relax? 387 engagements last year. This is

a woman in her mid- 80s. She watches the TV. Your rickshaw

challenges nothing compared to that. She listens to the radio, does the

odd crossword puzzle, been known to play the odd game of Scrabble, she

enjoys music of the light and popular kind, particularly from her

generation. She does a very good impression of George -- George

Formby. If you did when I'm Cleaning Windows Add your concert,

I tell you, the Queen could join in because she can do an impression of

George Formby. We were thinking Ming -- we were thinking of opening

with that. As the Queen specified the type of music she'd like to

here at the concert. We've had a few requests from the Prince's

about the type of artists they died. The Queen has specified she would

like to focus on the Commonwealth, although we are having artists from

all over the world, global artists. What we are trying to do with the

concert is give every decade of her reign a chance to be heard

musically. We'll be doing music from the 50s, 60s, right the way

through to now. What would you say that her stand-out moment would be

from all of those decades? What is extraordinary about the Queen is

she's delivered the goods in the same way for 60 years. Calmly. She

never gets flustered. Not a celebrity, she has just Queen. The

same person with a crowd of a million as with one person. You

won't notice the difference with her. But the stand-out moment, I'd

pick -- I'd pick baby son one. Last year she went to the Republic of

Ireland. Independent Ireland where a member of her own family had been

killed by the IRA. And yet she went there, turned up, delivered the

goods, look the part and learned some words of Gaelic. It goes

without saying that it is wonderful that we can be here from Buckingham

Palace. It is. That wasn't the only privilege we were given. No, let's

just say it was a day that we will Music and dance have always played

an important role in life at Buckingham Palace. From grand

occasions to private performances from musical genius, such as Mozart

who played for George III and Queen And to events held here in the

largest room in the palace. The ballroom. Opened in 1856 by Queen

Victoria with a celebratory ball to mark the end of the Crimean War, it

has hosted countless occasions At the invitation of Queen Victoria,

some of the world's greatest musical talents, such as

Mendelssohn and the Orchestra of Johann Strauss the second, have

passed through the palace gates. But years later, another future

Queen helped bring music and dance to the Palace. Contrast the

formality of Palace piano lessons for the young princess. With the

joy of witnessing crowds celebrating the end of the war,

with popular songs, but kind that Vorm years later, and a rare

glimpse of Elizabeth. Now married but not yet ground. Dancing with

Prince Philip in Malta. That was a very public event, but there is a

piece of music that is said to be a personal favourite of the couple.

Inspired by a visit to see the musical Oklahoma in 1947, the year

they were married. It is called people will say we are in love. It

was the song that the couple danced to at a ball held here at

Buckingham Palace, just three days before they were married.

almost 65 years later, Matt and I have the honour of performing our

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 81 seconds

own dance in the Palace to this That was amazing! Look no further,

there are the headliners for the diamond jubilee concert. Like

Torvill and Dean without the ice skates. Seriously, if you want to

we will do that on the roof. I will keep it in mind. That is all we

have got time for for tonight. you want to enter the ballot for

tickets to the diamond jubilee concert on fourth June, go to the

website. Remember, there is no need to rush, or they might be, as Gary

said. For any time before the 2nd March when the ballot closes,

because tickets are not come -- are not on a first-come first-served