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Legends: Vera Lynn - Sincerely Yours

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Vera Lynn - Sincerely Yours

24/11/2006

BBC Four - Legends, Vera Lynn - Sincerely Yours

Documentary which follows the dramatic story of Dame Vera Lynn's rise to stardom.

Documentary, using unseen footage and exclusive interviews, which follows the dramatic story of `Forces Sweetheart' Dame Vera Lynn's rise to stardom and her impact during WW2.

A revealing and film about a singer who continues to occupy a distinctive corner of the nation's heart. It follows the dramatic story of Vera Lynn's rise to stardom, from the almost forgotten world of the big band singers of the 30s with songs that were dismissed as sentimental twaddle to her battles with the BBC, her struggle to survive the musical chaos of the 50s and 60s and her phenomenal ability to communicate with her audience. 

The film uses rare and previously unseen footage and exclusive interviews with Dame Vera and her daughter, Virginia Lewis Jones, to narrate the complex and professionally turbulent portrait of a legendary entertainer. More than any other singer, Vera Lynn personifies the moment history met popular music. Her three key songs during the war years epitomised the mood of the time - We'll Meet Again was the optimistic one, The White Cliffs of Dover was the patriotic one and Yours was the love song. Completely untrained as Vera was, it was her gift to convey a belief in the lyric which endeared her to her fans. Today, her name remains synonymous with the values of an era long gone.

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