National Treasures - Jubilee Special

[ardcarp]

Warning! Do not watch this programme for more than five minutes. You will be appalled. However, very early on, two chaps were interviewd who sang as trebles in the 1953 Coronation. One was a Wabbey chorister and the other one of the choristers chosen from around the country who spent a month at Addington Palace training for the event. There were a few historic clips. (Anyone know who the conductor was in the outdoor shot?)

Grit your teeth and just a little further on there is a quick snatch of James O'D conducting the current Wabbey trebles, and a brief interview with two...who spoke with more maturity than anyone else in the programme...the rest of which was Blue Peter minus.

[ardcarp]

PS It was on BBC 1 at 9pm tonight.

[Barbirollians]

A programme so dreadful that one is tempted to ask for a refund on the licence.

[weston752]

Anyone know who the conductor was in the outdoor shot?

Most probably Edred Wright, formerly Director of Music at Kings Canterbury, and long associated with the RSCM. Here is a quote from his obituary in the Daily Telegraph:

'For the Queen's Coronation, he was asked to choose 24 boys to represent the United Kingdom in the choir. He travelled to Dublin, Cardiff, Belfast and Edinburgh to select promising young singers whom he then trained. As one of the assistant conductors at the Coronation, he faced a tricky situation because of the lack of room, and had to conduct with his back to most of the choir.'

Weston752