Russell Davies - 25/07/2010

The show opens (and closes) with a salute to singer Annie Ross on her 80th birthday. After this he presents a celebration of all things Blackpool on the occasion of that town's bid to be a World Heritage Site: Basil Rathbone singing I Do Like to Be Beside The Seaside; Frank Sinatra appearing in Blackpool in 1953; and Stanley Holloway's famous Lion And Albert monologue. The centenary of Ellingtonian trumpeter Cootie Williams is marked with four numbers: one featuring him with Adelaide Hall; one of Nina Simone singing the vocal version of his Concerto For Cootie - Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me; Mel Torme performing Round Midnight (Williams is credited as part-composer); and a rarity by Williams' 1944 sextet, on which he sings. Russell also acknowledges the anniversary of The Battle Of Britain with a 1940 recording of Anne Shelton singing A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square, coupling this with another song by the same composer and performed by Rebecca Kilgore.