The Bands That Mattered - Episode 1

Brian Matthew celebrates the golden age of British dance bands, when some of the biggest and most glamorous stars on the pop scene were bandleaders. Four of the best - Bert Ambrose, Roy Fox, Jack Hylton and Lew Stone - were dubbed "the bands that mattered" and over the next five weeks Brian tells their stories. He begins with Bert Ambrose, who held sway at The Embassy Club and The Mayfair Hotel, was the favourite of royalty and employed, among others, Ted Heath, Anne Shelton, Stanley Black and Vera Lynn. With the help of many interviews from the BBC archives and historic recordings of his various bands, Brian reveals how Benjamin Baruch, the son of a Jewish wool merchant, became Ambrose - leader of the West End's foremost dance orchestra and one of the most glamorous figures of his day. Writer Tony Staveacre has scoured the BBC's sound archive and interviewed many musicians and friends to assemble this vivid portrait of an era Robert Graves called "The Long Garden Party". The series includes contributions from Ambrose and Roy Fox; band members; experts like Russell Davies, as well as Brian Matthew himself, who personally knew many of the figures in this remarkable story. We also hear the music created by these men and the "bands that mattered". Music to which a whole generation danced in the great houses and palaces, prestigious hotels, swanky night-clubs, ballrooms and - by listening live nightly on the BBC - in private homes.