IN THE BEGINNING

In the beginning there was radio, and a wind-up gramophone, and records known as "78s" made from brittle, breakable, shiny black stuff. It was wartime in England, I was very young and the only song I can recall from that time is "Bless 'em all, bless 'em all, The long and the short and the tall, There'll be no promotion this side of the ocean, so cheer up my lads bless 'em all".

With the war over, and a few more years passed, newfangled "LPs" arrived. Instead of containing just one song on each side, they were able to carry five or six , and they were unbreakable. A new player was needed, of course. The first LP I ever bought was of Mario Lanza singing songs from "The Student Prince". 78-type records were still available, and around this time Bill Haley and his Comets, with seminal rock and roll, burst upon the music scene in England. I bought several "78" records of his offerings, but was never greatly enamoured of this new music, preferring to stick with songs from the shows, and big band ballads (I was always something of a square!)

In the late 1950s/early 1960s, after "45s" had been around for some time (these smaller versions of the LP, carried one song on each side) juke boxes were becoming all the rage in coffee bars and pubs. Juke boxes carried dozens of 45s. The now burgeoning popular music industry was throwing up new product at an alarming pace. Buddy Holly, The Beatles, Elvis, and others too numerous to name filled our ears. None of this impressed me much, to be honest. None of it "got to me".

In the early 1960s I met and married an Italian. We spent some short periods in Italy, and as it happened Italian songs were quite fashionable at that time. "Ciao Ciao Bambina", "Three Coins in the Fountain", and some others by Dean Martin and Perry Como. These were more to my taste. My then husband also helped me to appreciate a singer I had until then overlooked (amazingly!) Frank Sinatra. Now I'd found "the real deal"!