BBC Radio 2 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Light Programme.

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The Bands That Mattered

The Bands That Mattered: Episode 4

Episode 4

BBC Radio 2 - The Bands That Mattered, Episode 4

Brian Matthew celebrates British dance bands with a profile of Lew Stone.

Brian Matthew celebrates the golden age of British dance bands with a profile of Lew Stone. His widow, Joyce, recalls the glorious musical atmosphere of the 30s.

Brian Matthew continues to celebrate the golden age of British dance bands, when some of the biggest and most glamorous stars on the pop scene were bandleaders. The fourth and final subject of this series is Lew Stone, who's rated today as the very best of the 1930s bandleaders.

He took charge of a band at The Monseigneur Restaurant in Piccadilly by accident, when the American trumpeter/leader Roy Fox fell ill and Lew stepped up from the piano stool to take his place. He went on to set the style for one of the most successful broadcast and recording dance bands of the pre-war years, when the congenial atmosphere and unique swirl of talent that centred on the West End spread out to ballrooms and theatres nationwide.

Brian Matthew tells the first part of the Lew Stone Story, in which his widow Joyce (now 97) recalls the glorious musical atmosphere of the 1930s.

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Brian Matthew celebrates the golden age of British dance bands.

Brian Matthew celebrates the golden age of British dance bands, profiling four of the great band leaders: Bert Ambrose, Roy Fox, Jack Hylton and Lew Stone

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