VE Day, Humphrey Lyttleton & All That Jazz: Music & Politics

Having election day and the 70th anniversary of VE Day next door to each other made me wonder if our Dave might be feeling somewhat akin to Winston in 1945.  There was Churchill having fought off Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito and the rest of the buggers only to be booted out by the electorate who’d definitely had enough of the ruling classes and fancied a bit more equality (after all, the war had introduced the various classes to each other in huge numbers and they seemed to like each other more than they’d expected to).

Buckingham Palace - VE Day

So Dave has only had to deal with Nigel, Ed, Nick, Angela, the Greens and the bankers - hardly the axis powers – but he's probably feeling miffed that we don’t love him more than we do and won’t give him the thumping majority he and Winston felt they deserved after five years hard slog. 

Enough of the dazzling political insights and on to something far more interesting - Jazz and VE Day.  Humphrey Lyttleton writes here about blowing his trumpet during the VE Day celebrations.  He was amazed to discover that a recording of him playing to the crowds in the Mall existed – I heard it on the BBC a while ago but couldn’t locate it on the web so we’ll have to just make do with Humph’s recollections for now:

Humphrey Lyttleton

‘On 8 May 1945, V.E. Day, there was an atmosphere of excitement from early dawn. I had no official duty to perform that day, so around noon I took the train up to London, joined some friends and headed for Buckingham Palace where over one hundred thousand people had assembled by lunchtime. Never one to pass up an opportunity for an impromptu ‘blow’, I had my trumpet at the ready. 

We're Going To Hang Out The Washing On The Siegfried Line

I let fly with jazzed-up versions of ‘Run, Rabbit, Run’ and ‘We’re Gonna Hang Out the Washing on the Siegfried Line’. People began singing and a tiny space was formed in the crowd for dancing. It wasn’t long before I had a band. A man appeared with a trombone, someone else turned up with a big drum and, finally, a sailor joined us who just happened to have brought along the huge horn from an old-fashioned gramophone. Into this, tuba-fashion, he blew some ripe raspberries. 

Harry Bidgood: Run, Rabbit, Run, 1939

Throughout the day the Royal Family appeared on the balcony of the Palace and each time we serenaded them. Towards evening, some people turned up with a rickety hand-cart, and that was when my friends really landed me in it. Literally. They hoisted me into the cart and I was pushed at terrifying speed down The Mall, with the rest of the band puffing along behind.’ Humphrey Lyttelton

Humphrey Lyttleton

And to prove there’s no hard feelings, here is Humph entertaining the Jerrys a little over 10 years after all that WW2 stuff.

Humphrey Lyttleton: Fool's Rendezvous 1957