:00:12. > :00:17.Join us for an evening of nostalgic glamour as we celebrate one of the
:00:17. > :00:22.great icons of British musical theatre, the actor, writer, heart-
:00:22. > :00:28.throb and composer Ivor Novello. His songs defined a gentler, more
:00:28. > :00:32.elegant age, an age of dressing for dinner, of lingering glances and
:00:32. > :00:36.romantic escapism. His hits included I Can Give You The
:00:36. > :00:40.Starlight, We'll Gather Lilacs and Keep the Home Fires Burning, and
:00:40. > :00:44.tonight we're going to bring the man and his music back to life with
:00:44. > :00:47.the help of Sophie Bevan and Toby Spence, with Sir Mark Elder
:00:47. > :00:57.conducting the Halle and Simon Callow leading proceedings, it
:00:57. > :00:57.
:00:57. > :01:54.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:01:54. > :02:00.promises to be a very glamorous Golders Green crematorium, a cold
:02:00. > :02:04.March morning in 1951, the hearse, heavy with mourners, passes through
:02:04. > :02:10.crowds thousands strong, many of them sobbing, held back in places
:02:10. > :02:15.by lines of police. This was Ivor Novello's last audience. He had
:02:15. > :02:19.been the most widely admired figure in the British theatre of his time.
:02:19. > :02:24.Struck down in his late 50s, he was the devicer, composer and star of a
:02:24. > :02:30.string of major musicals, shows which since the mid 1930s had been
:02:30. > :02:34.a byword for spectacle, glamour and romance. Only hours before his
:02:34. > :02:37.untimely death, he had been starring in one of the most
:02:37. > :02:41.successful of these, King's Rhapsody at the Palace Theatre in
:02:41. > :02:49.which he played a Ruritanian King who gives up his throne for love,
:02:49. > :02:54.and it was love, rather than sorrow, that defined the atmosphere at his
:02:54. > :03:01.funeral in a notoriously back- stabbing profession, he inspired an
:03:01. > :03:07.almost universal affection. At the funeral, as in the cinemas and in
:03:07. > :03:11.the theatres where he acted, women made up the majority of mourners,
:03:11. > :03:17.and, of course, as on stage, there was music - music that had been so
:03:18. > :03:22.much a part of his life since his earliest childhood in Wales. One
:03:22. > :03:30.tune, above all, written in the dying days of the Second World War
:03:30. > :03:39.had lyrics made all the more poignant by their author's death.
:03:39. > :03:49.We'll Gather Lilacs in the spring again and walk together down an
:03:49. > :03:55.
:03:55. > :04:05.English lane until our hearts have learned to sing again when you come
:04:05. > :04:13.
:04:13. > :04:18.home once more. Music had made Ivor a star, aged only 21, born in
:04:18. > :04:23.Cardiff as David Ivor Davis, he had been inspired or rather shoved into
:04:23. > :04:27.a musical year by his mother the formidable Clara Novello Davies,
:04:27. > :04:33.Mam, to he and his friends was a leading speech coach, director of
:04:33. > :04:38.the Royal Welsh Ladies' Quier. She had immense energy and unbounded
:04:38. > :04:43.ambition for her only son, Ivor, who by 1914 had only shown youthful
:04:44. > :04:47.prom was several songs published, one of them when he was 17, and
:04:47. > :04:49.when Mam announced she was about to write a patriotic number, he knew
:04:50. > :04:53.for the sake of the family reputation, he'd better get in
:04:53. > :04:58.there first. He worked on the song with an American poet, Lena
:04:59. > :05:03.Guilbert Ford, working together in his flat above the theatre that's
:05:04. > :05:07.now named after him - Ivor and Lina were struggling for a central image,
:05:08. > :05:16.a central idea for his song, when in came a maid and stoked the dying
:05:16. > :05:19.fire in his drawing room. That was it. They had their song. It
:05:19. > :05:29.perfectly captured the public's optimistic mood at the time. Surely
:05:29. > :05:37.
:05:37. > :05:47.# They were summoned # And the country found them ready
:05:47. > :05:54.
:05:54. > :06:00.# And although your heart is breaking
:06:00. > :06:09.# Make it sing this cheery song
:06:09. > :06:19.# Keep the home fires burning While your hearts are yearning
:06:19. > :06:21.
:06:21. > :06:31.# Though your lads are far away They dream of home
:06:31. > :06:32.
:06:32. > :06:42.# There's a silver lining Through the dark clouds shining
:06:42. > :06:43.
:06:43. > :06:53.# Turn the dark cloud inside out Till the boys come home
:06:53. > :07:03.
:07:03. > :07:12.# Overseas there came a calling "Help a nation in distress"
:07:12. > :07:22.# And we gave our glorious laddies Honour bade us do no less
:07:22. > :07:23.
:07:23. > :07:28.# For no gallant son of Britain To a foreign yoke shall bend
:07:28. > :07:38.# And no Englishman is silent To the sacred call of "Friend"
:07:38. > :07:43.
:07:43. > :07:53.# Keep the home fires burning While your hearts are yearning
:07:53. > :07:55.
:07:55. > :08:05.# Though your lads are far away They dream of home
:08:05. > :08:10.
:08:11. > :08:13.# There's a silver lining Through the dark clouds shining
:08:13. > :08:23.# Turn the dark cloud inside out Till the boys come home. #
:08:23. > :08:24.
:08:24. > :08:34.APPLAUSE
:08:34. > :08:59.
:08:59. > :09:00.Alarmed
:09:00. > :09:00.Alarmed at
:09:00. > :09:04.Alarmed at the
:09:04. > :09:11.Alarmed at the way Germany had been whipping up sympathy in the neutral
:09:11. > :09:15.country by sending its orchestras on tour, Britain had retaliated
:09:15. > :09:20.with John Thorpe whose musical talents were more than matched by
:09:20. > :09:25.his devastating good looks, which Noel Coward later remarked, "There
:09:25. > :09:29.are two perfect things in this world - my mind and Ivoror's
:09:29. > :09:33.profile." It was these good looks that launched his next career when
:09:33. > :09:40.a Swiss film director happened to see a photograph of Ivor, brushing
:09:40. > :09:48.away the fact that he was a composer, not an actor at all,
:09:48. > :09:52."Theese ees the boy I want", he was cast in L'Appel d Sang, Call of the
:09:52. > :09:57.Blood, in 1919 to the delight of his friends and bank manager, so
:09:57. > :10:00.his career began as leading silent movie star. Two of his films were
:10:00. > :10:05.directed by a promising young man called Alfred Hitchcock. His real
:10:05. > :10:08.love was the theatre, and like many an actor before him, he used his
:10:08. > :10:12.cinematic stardom to get through the stage door into the West End.
:10:12. > :10:15.Not content with that, he took to writing plays himself, autwhile
:10:15. > :10:22.continuing to write music for reviews and West End shows,
:10:22. > :10:32.including Tabs, Arlette and Who's Hooper. In Golden Moth his lyricist
:10:32. > :10:38.was none other than PGwoodhouse. Ivor had a lively sense of humour,
:10:38. > :10:42.most memorably demonstrated in Dion Titheradge's And Her Mother Came
:10:42. > :10:45.Too. Mam saw the joke but she still pressed him to continue writing
:10:45. > :10:49.operas, the career she always wanted for him. As the years went
:10:49. > :10:54.by, her taste for the bottle noticeably increased. Whenever she
:10:54. > :10:59.stayed in his country house in Berkshire, Ivor hid the alcohol. He
:10:59. > :11:05.frequently had to bail her out too with large cheques. Nonetheless, he
:11:05. > :11:10.always made sure that at his first nights Mam had a box of her own
:11:10. > :11:14.filled with flowers. The nearest she got to her dreams for Ivor were
:11:14. > :11:21.when in late 1934 the West End producer Harry Tennent took him to
:11:21. > :11:26.lunch at the Ivor Novello. He was - - Ivy. He was worried about the
:11:26. > :11:30.Drury Lane which had been a white elephant since the Cavelcade three
:11:30. > :11:35.years earlier. Aware of the meeting's potential importance,
:11:35. > :11:38.Ivor ensured this was one occasion when mother did not come true. Ivor
:11:38. > :11:48.said, "You compose? Don't you have something up your sleeve for us,
:11:48. > :11:48.
:11:48. > :17:01.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:17:01. > :17:10.something that could save us from When it opened in May 1935 glam
:17:10. > :17:17.lived up to its nights with lavish sets, a huge cast and a dazzling -
:17:17. > :17:21.this being a Ivor Novello show, the gypsies wore lace and cloth of gold.
:17:21. > :17:28.The hero and heroin swam to the shore arriving without a hair out
:17:28. > :17:34.of place. The leading lady was the American opera singer Mary Ellis,
:17:35. > :17:44.while Ivor, now 42, would play the hero. The public now clasped him
:17:45. > :17:53.
:17:53. > :18:03.even closer to their collective # How can we sanctify this hour
:18:03. > :18:14.
:18:14. > :18:24.# Through shadows of fate # The favours of heaven
:18:24. > :18:29.
:18:29. > :18:34.# Where morning to night without aim
:18:34. > :18:40.# I wandered and sighed in my loneliness
:18:40. > :18:50.# Alone until you came Alone until I heard your name!
:18:50. > :19:05.
:19:05. > :19:11.# Fold your wings of love around me
:19:11. > :19:17.# Fold them close till they have bound me
:19:17. > :19:27.# I'm your slave and your defender I surrender
:19:27. > :19:32.
:19:32. > :19:39.# Fold your wings for ever sharing
:19:39. > :19:43.# Peace and joy beyond comparing
:19:43. > :19:53.# Life's true delight has just begun Now our two hearts are one
:19:53. > :20:01.
:20:01. > :20:09.# My feet that used to stumble along In fear from day to day
:20:09. > :20:13.# Have found at last the road of my dreams
:20:13. > :20:21.# Have found the straight highway
:20:21. > :20:27.# Love's shining highway! Ah!
:20:27. > :20:33.# Fold your wings of love around me
:20:33. > :20:39.# Fold them close till they have bound me
:20:39. > :20:49.# I'm your slave and your defender I surrender. #
:20:49. > :21:09.
:21:09. > :21:16.# Fold them close till they have bound me
:21:16. > :21:23.# I'm your slave and your defender I surrender. #
:21:23. > :21:33.APPLAUSE
:21:33. > :21:40.
:21:41. > :21:41.Ivor
:21:41. > :21:41.Ivor could,
:21:41. > :21:43.Ivor could, as
:21:44. > :21:50.Ivor could, as we have just heard, write a magnificent tune, though
:21:50. > :21:53.other people's work occasionally influenced his own. At one of his
:21:53. > :21:56.first nights the audience included an actress with whom he often
:21:56. > :22:00.worked in straight plays - Dame Lillian Braithwaite. Noted for her
:22:00. > :22:05.waspish wit, she was sitting next to a friend who, when the overture
:22:05. > :22:08.started, turned to her and said, knowingly, "Oh, naughty Ivor!
:22:08. > :22:11.That's an old Welsh hymn," to which Dame Lillian replied, "Which is
:22:11. > :22:19.more, my dear, than we can say of the composer!"
:22:19. > :22:22.LAUGHTER Ivor's musicals, or musical plays,
:22:22. > :22:25.as he always called them, provided three hours of much-needed escapism
:22:25. > :22:34.- at first from the Depression and, latterly, from the Second World War
:22:34. > :22:37.and the austerity that followed it. But they were not pure escapism.
:22:37. > :22:40.The first and last of them, Glamorous Night and King's Rhapsody,
:22:40. > :22:45.were indeed Ruritanian, but those that came between were not entirely
:22:45. > :22:47.unconnected to the world of their time. There were references to
:22:47. > :22:55.contemporary political and social events, while the set and costume
:22:55. > :22:59.designs reflected the height of art deco elegance. Unapologetically gay,
:22:59. > :23:03.he sometimes fell, although briefly, in love with his leading ladies.
:23:03. > :23:09.This was entirely platonic, which so much in his personal life, he
:23:09. > :23:14.used as material for a song. Why Isn't It You from crest crest is
:23:14. > :23:24.about a man and a woman, though matched perfectly in every other
:23:24. > :23:28.
:23:28. > :23:38.way, lacked the essential spark of # Something is wrong
:23:38. > :23:45.
:23:45. > :23:55.# We have not that vital spark # Why should we miss a chance
:23:55. > :24:15.
:24:15. > :24:22.# You've got the size of eyes # You've got the lips for me
:24:22. > :24:32.# But, honey, tell me why Why isn't it you?
:24:32. > :24:32.
:24:32. > :25:16.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:25:16. > :25:21.# Why isn't it you?
:25:21. > :25:27.# Why should we miss a chance like this when chances are few?
:25:27. > :25:30.# You've got the size of eyes I idolise
:25:31. > :25:34.# Your arms invite a glam'rous night
:25:34. > :25:41.# What are we to do? #
:25:41. > :25:49.# What are we to do? #
:25:49. > :25:51.# You don't react when I attract
:25:51. > :25:53.# What am I to do?
:25:53. > :25:56.# You've got the lips for me The hips for me
:25:56. > :25:58.# The feet for me The beat for me
:25:58. > :26:08.# But, honey, tell me why Why isn't it you?
:26:08. > :26:13.APPLAUSE
:26:13. > :26:19.David
:26:19. > :26:19.David Laws
:26:19. > :26:22.David Laws Crest
:26:22. > :26:32.David Laws Crest of the Wave was followed in 1938 at Drury Lane by
:26:32. > :26:39.Ivor's single foray into Shakespeare, Henry V. He made an
:26:39. > :26:44.unlikely warrior king, but he looked lovely in the armour! In
:26:44. > :26:47.1939 he opened another show at The Lane: The Dancing Years. In many
:26:47. > :26:50.ways the most surprising of his musicals, it told the story, over
:26:50. > :26:59.many years, of the love affair between Rudi Kleber - Ivor, now 46,
:26:59. > :27:01.playing another 20-something - and an opera singer, Maria Ziegler. The
:27:01. > :27:04.story is told in flashbacks, opening in prison in contemporary
:27:04. > :27:08.Vienna, where Rudi has been imprisoned by the newly installed
:27:08. > :27:10.Nazis for helping Jews escape from Austria to Switzerland. The
:27:10. > :27:13.Anschluss had happened only the previous year. This made The
:27:13. > :27:16.Dancing Years an astonishingly political piece for its time - not
:27:16. > :27:23.something its author was noted for - and the British Government was
:27:23. > :27:26.deeply unhappy. The last thing they had expected was that a West End
:27:26. > :27:31.stage would be a platform for criticism of the regime they had
:27:31. > :27:34.been trying to appease for years. But it was still an Ivor Novello
:27:34. > :27:37.musical, and though it showed the Nazis for the thugs they were, it
:27:37. > :27:40.was, overall, a passionate and inspiring plea for music, beauty,
:27:40. > :27:50.glamour and romance in a world that seemed to be turning its back on
:27:50. > :28:18.
:28:18. > :28:26.# My foolish fancies used # But now a little love
:28:26. > :28:36.# Has changed my ways and taught me And brought me
:28:36. > :28:36.
:28:36. > :28:46.# The joy of giving
:28:46. > :28:48.
:28:48. > :28:58.# I can give you the starlight Love unchanging and true
:28:58. > :29:03.
:29:03. > :29:13.# I can give you the ocean Deep and tender devotion
:29:13. > :29:19.
:29:19. > :29:29.# I can give you the mountains Pools of shimmering blue
:29:29. > :29:35.
:29:35. > :29:45.# Call and I shall be All you ask of me
:29:45. > :29:49.
:29:49. > :29:57.# Music in spring Flowers for a king
:29:57. > :30:07.# All these I bring to you. #
:30:07. > :30:35.
:30:35. > :30:45.# I can give you the starlight Love unchanging and true
:30:45. > :30:48.
:30:48. > :30:55.# I can give you the mountains Pools of shimmering blue
:30:55. > :31:05.# Call and I shall be All you ask of me
:31:05. > :31:15.# Music in spring Flowers for a king
:31:15. > :31:25.# All these I bring to you. #
:31:25. > :31:34.
:31:34. > :31:44.APPLAUSE
:31:44. > :31:47.
:31:47. > :31:57.David
:31:57. > :32:01.
:32:01. > :32:11.APPLAUSE
:32:11. > :32:11.
:32:11. > :32:19.# When first we met I heard a voice within
:32:19. > :32:26.# "The scene is set And here's your heroine"
:32:26. > :32:29.# I raise'd my eyes
:32:29. > :32:38.# My breath was taken by that sweet surprise
:32:38. > :32:48.# Your heart was mine By law divine
:32:48. > :32:48.
:32:49. > :32:55.# My life belongs to you
:32:55. > :33:01.# My dreams, my songs, all that I do
:33:01. > :33:06.# No moon No morning star can shine
:33:06. > :33:14.# No happiness is mine Without you near me
:33:14. > :33:20.# When years have pass'd into the shade
:33:20. > :33:26.# You'll hear my last serenade
:33:26. > :33:36.# For ever echoing anew No matter where you go
:33:36. > :33:41.# Your list'ning heart will know
:33:41. > :33:51.# My life belongs to you
:33:51. > :33:54.
:33:54. > :34:02.# And now at last The skies are fine again
:34:02. > :34:09.# Our tears are past And you are mine again
:34:09. > :34:13.# Night after night
:34:13. > :34:21.# I've dream'd of capturing this true delight
:34:22. > :34:31.# Our toils are done Now we are one
:34:32. > :34:33.
:34:33. > :34:40.# My life belongs to you
:34:40. > :34:46.# My dreams, my songs, all that I do
:34:46. > :34:51.# No moon No morning star can shine
:34:51. > :34:59.# No happiness is mine Without you near me
:34:59. > :35:05.# When years have pass'd into the shade
:35:05. > :35:11.# You'll hear my last serenade
:35:11. > :35:21.# For ever echoing anew No matter where you go
:35:21. > :35:22.
:35:22. > :35:26.# Your list'ning heart will know
:35:26. > :35:36.# My life belongs to you. #
:35:36. > :35:41.
:35:41. > :35:48.APPLAUSE
:35:48. > :35:58.APPLAUSE
:35:58. > :36:04.
:36:04. > :36:04.APPLAUSE Like
:36:04. > :36:04.Like the
:36:04. > :36:05.Like the 19th
:36:05. > :36:07.Like the 19th century
:36:07. > :36:12.Like the 19th century opera composers whom Mam hoped he would
:36:12. > :36:14.take after, Ivor liked to put dance pieces in all his musicals. These
:36:14. > :36:17.ranged from the jazz-age dance routine of Careless Rapture's Wait
:36:17. > :36:27.For Me to balletic interludes like this brief excerpt from the
:36:27. > :36:27.
:36:27. > :38:32.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:38:32. > :38:34.APPLAUSE After a roof-raising national tour,
:38:34. > :38:38.Ivor took Dancing Years to the Adelphi. Drury Lane had been shut
:38:38. > :38:45.on the outbreak of war by the Government, who then did a quick U-
:38:45. > :38:49.turn - some things never change - and gave the lane over to the armed
:38:49. > :38:54.forces entertainment organisation, ENSA, otherwise known as Every
:38:54. > :38:59.Night Something Awful. LAUGHTER
:38:59. > :39:04.Then something awful really did happen to Ivor. It was during this
:39:04. > :39:12.second London run of the Dancing Years that he suffered the only
:39:12. > :39:19.catastrophe in a life, in otherwise a procession of triumphs, exchanges
:39:19. > :39:24.the comfort for the theatre for a grim cell in Wormwood Scrubs where
:39:24. > :39:30.he served for a petrol rationing sense. It was an age that meant
:39:30. > :39:35.social and often professional death. On his night the return to the
:39:35. > :39:41.theatre, he anxiously walked from his flat to the stage door of the
:39:41. > :39:46.Adelphi. He needn't have worried. The public had been appalled at the
:39:46. > :39:51.vindictiveness of the sentence, and he had a three-minute standing
:39:51. > :39:56.ovation. Rudi attempts a reconciliation with his opera
:39:56. > :40:00.singer mistress after a brief breakup. The moment was given added
:40:00. > :40:10.impact that night after his recent enforced separation from his loving
:40:10. > :40:13.
:40:13. > :40:15.audience. IVOR: Here's something I'd like you
:40:15. > :40:18.to try out, something I wrote last night.
:40:18. > :40:21.MARIA: Another waltz? IVOR: No, It's not another waltz -
:40:21. > :40:24.a simple little tune, not a money maker. I wrote the words, too. I
:40:24. > :40:29.hope you like it. MARIA: It's dedicated to me?
:40:29. > :40:32.IVOR: They're all dedicated to you! MARIA: Oh, Rudi! Your handwriting!
:40:32. > :40:37.Say it for me. I've no wish to spoil it.
:40:37. > :40:40.IVOR: "My Dearest Dear, if I could say to you in words as clear as
:40:40. > :40:48.when I play to you, you'd understand how slight the shadow
:40:48. > :40:54.that is holding us apart. MUSIC
:40:54. > :41:04.So take my hand. I'll lead the way for you. A little waiting and
:41:04. > :41:04.
:41:04. > :42:08.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:42:08. > :42:18.# How slight the shadow # A little waiting
:42:18. > :42:18.
:42:18. > :43:23.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:43:23. > :43:33.# How slight the shadow # A little waiting
:43:33. > :44:10.
:44:10. > :44:12.Like many other leading theatre figures, Ivor went to Normandy to
:44:12. > :44:15.entertain the troops in the immediate aftermath of the D-Day
:44:15. > :44:24.landings. As well as playing old favourites
:44:24. > :44:34.like Home Fires, he introduced a new song, We'll Gather Lilacs. He
:44:34. > :44:34.
:44:34. > :44:38.then put it into his next show, Perchance to Dream. With the Allies
:44:38. > :44:46.facing the expected loss of up to a million men in the planned invasion
:44:46. > :44:52.of Japan. The song expressed the longing of the simple pleasures of
:44:52. > :44:55.peacetime. Both the song and the theatre were major hits.
:44:55. > :44:57.The cast of Perchance to Dream included, believe it or not,
:44:57. > :45:01.Margaret Rutherford! She was an unworldly woman who, when invited
:45:01. > :45:03.to a theatrical party at Ivor's flat, was rather bowled over by the
:45:03. > :45:07.lavish decorations and the host of impossibly beautiful young men who
:45:07. > :45:12.fluttered round Ivor's two grand pianos. At a loss for words, she
:45:12. > :45:22.cried out, "Oh! Ivor! It's - it's like fairyland!"
:45:22. > :45:25.
:45:25. > :45:33.LAUGHTER His last major show was King's
:45:33. > :45:43.Rhapsody in 1949. The Royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince
:45:43. > :45:53.
:45:53. > :45:56.Philip of Greece had been enlivened by King George VI's decision to
:45:56. > :45:58.bring back pomp, circumstance and full-dress uniforms to the streets
:45:58. > :46:02.of London when Princess Elizabeth married Philip of Greece in 1947.
:46:02. > :46:04.King's Rhapsody had a royal court 21-gun salutes and, to top it all,
:46:04. > :46:08.a full-blown coronation. The plot has an interesting modern resonance.
:46:08. > :46:11.A crown prince is forced to marry a blonde virgin to please his mother
:46:11. > :46:12.and produce an heir. But though she is beautiful, he much prefers his
:46:12. > :46:22.less attractive long-standing mistress.
:46:22. > :46:24.
:46:24. > :46:28.This makes him unpopular with the public, who take the side of his
:46:28. > :46:32.young wife. Here any parallel ends as Ivor's character, after becoming
:46:32. > :46:40.King, eventually agrees to abdicate so his now teenage son can take the
:46:40. > :46:50.throne. LAUGHTER
:46:50. > :47:00.Leaving a broken-hearted Princess to feel about the husband who had
:47:00. > :47:00.
:47:00. > :48:06.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:48:06. > :48:16.# Showing the skies # The leaves of summer
:48:16. > :48:16.
:48:16. > :49:00.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:49:00. > :49:10.# But still you drift # Showing the skies
:49:10. > :49:10.
:49:10. > :50:14.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:50:14. > :50:24.The show proved that for royalty, as for Ivor's audiences music was
:50:24. > :50:35.
:50:35. > :50:45.the best antidote to life's # Then all my doubts and fears
:50:45. > :51:21.
:51:21. > :51:31.# The music carried me # My darkest night
:51:31. > :52:05.
:52:05. > :52:15.# And as a stranger # No loyalty to meet me
:52:15. > :52:15.
:52:15. > :53:06.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:53:06. > :53:16.# Come home, come home # Then all my doubts and fears
:53:16. > :53:52.
:53:52. > :54:02.# The music carried me # My darkest night
:54:02. > :54:03.
:54:03. > :54:58.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:54:59. > :55:03.The show was a huge success. Each night Ivor gleefully wrote his
:55:04. > :55:10.record-breaking box office receipts up on his dressing room mirror many
:55:10. > :55:13.lipstick. They proved that he was more than a match commercially for
:55:13. > :55:17.American imports like Carousel and Oklahoma! And that when it came to
:55:17. > :55:20.glamour he had something that no cowboys or showboats could match.
:55:20. > :55:22.People who saw his musicals all agree that he had an extraordinary
:55:22. > :55:32.presence, that he effortlessly commanded the stage and that those
:55:32. > :55:54.
:55:54. > :56:04.warm Welsh tones seemed somehow to # Roam through
:56:04. > :56:28.
:56:28. > :56:38.# She will turn our darkness # That I may hold you
:56:38. > :57:04.
:57:04. > :57:14.# Like a ling'ring star # Wond'ring where you are
:57:14. > :57:14.
:57:14. > :58:01.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:58:01. > :58:11.# Roam through # She will turn our darkness
:58:11. > :58:11.
:58:11. > :59:08.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:59:08. > :59:14.# That I may hold you Ivor was still appearing in King's
:59:14. > :59:20.Rhapsody when he wrote gay marriage. Among the songs was Vitality which
:59:20. > :59:24.became her trademark number. It was a quality that Ivor himself was now
:59:24. > :59:28.noticeably lacking. A chainsmoker since he'd taken it up for a film
:59:28. > :59:33.part in the 20s, he had been dogged with ill health, pneumonia, heart
:59:33. > :59:36.trouble. A visit to his holiday home in Jamaica failed to make any
:59:36. > :59:40.real difference despite the sunshine he so loved. On the flight,
:59:40. > :59:44.his flight had been battered by a terrifying thunderstorm. His fellow
:59:44. > :59:51.passengers turned white with fear. Ivor sought comfort in music,
:59:51. > :00:01.composing his last song about a man facing death and saying goodbye to
:00:01. > :00:01.
:00:01. > :00:45.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:00:45. > :00:55.# We shall feel # Pray for me
:00:55. > :01:21.
:01:21. > :01:31.# Try to see how # Pray for me
:01:31. > :02:02.
:02:02. > :02:12.# Worlds away # Round the world
:02:12. > :02:12.
:02:12. > :02:54.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:02:54. > :03:04.# Pray for me # Try to see how
:03:04. > :03:28.
:03:28. > :03:38.# Pray for me # Worlds away
:03:38. > :03:38.
:03:38. > :04:28.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:04:28. > :04:34.He returned from the Caribbean and gallantly went on stage as King
:04:34. > :04:40.Nikki of Murania still playing the packed houses. On March 25th he had
:04:40. > :04:43.dinner in his flat with his producer Tom Arnold drinking his
:04:43. > :04:47.customary champagne. Not much later in the early hours of the morning
:04:47. > :04:52.he suffered the heart attack his closest circle had long feared. The
:04:52. > :04:57.doctor was called for, but Ivor knew he was dying. Ivor Novello's
:04:57. > :05:01.style and the shows expressed were now utterly out of fashion. The
:05:01. > :05:05.glamour and romance he embodied only occasionally glimpsed in
:05:05. > :05:10.today's West End, but the affection that surrounded his name lingers -
:05:10. > :05:14.strikingly, his plot in the actor's church, St Paul's, Covent Garden,
:05:14. > :05:18.makes no reference to any of his extraordinary successes, but more
:05:19. > :05:23.personally pays tribute to his well-deserved reputation for
:05:23. > :05:27.kindness. His greatest memorial, finally, of course, is his music,
:05:27. > :05:37.the legacy of a mutual love affair that he and the British theatre-
:05:37. > :05:48.
:05:48. > :05:58.going public shared for over 30 # Love made the song
:05:58. > :06:07.
:06:07. > :06:17.# Love rules the heart # But true devotion
:06:17. > :06:21.
:06:21. > :06:27.# Your tender arms have fettered me
:06:28. > :06:34.# This flower of sound is all your own
:06:34. > :06:44.# Love made the song for you alone
:06:44. > :06:45.
:06:45. > :06:49.# This refrain
:06:49. > :06:53.# Shall echo when I think of you
:06:53. > :06:59.# And drive my lonely fears away
:06:59. > :07:02.# Once again
:07:02. > :07:07.# This harmony will say
:07:07. > :07:17.# "My whole life through I shall be true"
:07:17. > :07:18.
:07:18. > :07:25.# Love made the song I sing to you
:07:25. > :07:31.# Love rules the heart I bring to you
:07:31. > :07:37.# My weary feet had gone astray
:07:37. > :07:46.# But true devotion showed the way
:07:46. > :07:52.# No pow'r on earth can set me free
:07:52. > :07:58.# Your tender arms have fettered me
:07:58. > :08:05.# This flower of sound will never die
:08:05. > :08:15.# Although we have to say goodbye. #
:08:15. > :08:27.
:08:27. > :08:32.APPLAUSE
:08:33. > :08:42.APPLAUSE
:08:43. > :08:54.
:08:54. > :08:54.The
:08:54. > :08:54.The song
:08:54. > :08:59.The song from
:08:59. > :09:04.The song from Ivor Novello's crest crest, an appropriate conclusion to
:09:04. > :09:12.tonight's concert summing up the role that romance played in all of
:09:12. > :09:18.Ivor's shows and in his music too. Warm applause here from the
:09:18. > :09:24.audience at the Royal Albert Hall. I think we may have just witnessed
:09:24. > :09:28.the start of a real Ivor Novello revival. Sir Mark Elder conducting
:09:28. > :09:38.the Halle, leaving the stage with tonight's stars, Sophie Bevan, Toby
:09:38. > :09:38.
:09:38. > :11:07.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds
:11:07. > :11:17.Spence and the highly entertaining # We'll gather lilacs
:11:17. > :11:22.
:11:22. > :11:29.# Until our hearts have learned to sing again
:11:29. > :11:39.# When you come home once more
:11:39. > :11:45.# And in the evening by the firelight's glow
:11:46. > :11:52.# You'll hold me close and never let me go
:11:52. > :12:00.# Your eyes will tell me all I need to know
:12:00. > :12:10.# When you come home once more
:12:10. > :12:11.
:12:11. > :12:14.# Although you're far away
:12:14. > :12:17.# And life is sad and grey
:12:17. > :12:23.# I have a scheme a dream to try
:12:23. > :12:26.# I'm thinking, dear of you
:12:26. > :12:29.# And all I mean to do
:12:29. > :12:36.# When we're together you and I
:12:36. > :12:41.# We'll soon forget our care and pain
:12:41. > :12:51.# And find such lovely thing to share again
:12:51. > :12:54.
:12:54. > :13:02.# We'll gather lilacs in the spring again
:13:02. > :13:10.# And walk together down an English lane
:13:10. > :13:18.# Until our hearts have learned to sing again
:13:18. > :13:27.# When you come home once more
:13:27. > :13:35.# And in the evening by the firelight's glow
:13:35. > :13:42.# You'll hold me close and never let me go
:13:42. > :13:52.# Your eyes will tell me all I need to know
:13:52. > :14:02.# When you come home once more
:14:02. > :14:05.
:14:05. > :14:15.# We'll gather lilacs in the spring once more. #
:14:15. > :14:28.
:14:28. > :14:34.APPLAUSE
:14:34. > :14:43.APPLAUSE
:14:43. > :14:43.APPLAUSE We'll
:14:43. > :14:45.We'll Gather
:14:45. > :14:45.We'll Gather Lilacs
:14:45. > :14:49.We'll Gather Lilacs from
:14:49. > :14:53.We'll Gather Lilacs from Perchance to Dream, one of Ivor Novello's
:14:53. > :14:57.biggest hits from 1954, a song which summed up the public mood at
:14:58. > :15:07.the time, so beautifully sung by Toby Spence and Sophie Bevan. Sir
:15:08. > :15:09.
:15:09. > :15:15.Mark Elder conducting the Halle Orchestra and Simon Callow written
:15:15. > :15:18.by Paul Ibell. All of us, I am sure, won over by those lush Ivor Novello
:15:18. > :15:21.melodies and the wonderful sentimental but affecting emotion
:15:21. > :15:24.of the songs. Well, that's all from the Royal
:15:24. > :15:34.Albert Hall for tonight. The next Prom on television is on Thursday
:15:34. > :15:35.