IT was incredible when the 20-piece BBC Big Band blasted out Glenn Miller songs; the fantastic tunes, the thrilling cacophony of the trombone, saxophone, drums and other assorted instruments blending to produce a wonderful swing sound.

If Moonlight Serenade, American Patrol and Over There can still pump the adrenaline nearly 80 years after the 1939-45 war, imagine the resonance these songs held for the young people fighting fascism at home and abroad back in the day.

With a little over a month to go until Remembrance Day, Our Finest Hour was a musical tribute to those who sacrificed so much in WW2 to repel the Nazi threat.

This evocative show comprised Churchill speeches and sounds of the time with Kevin Whately presenting newspaper reports, poems and narration to propel the story along.

From the debacle of Dunkirk in 1940 when British troops were stranded on French beaches and sitting ducks for German warplanes to the decisive victory of the RAF in the Battle of Britain a few months later, who can begrudge people still heartily singing the uplifting jazz, swing and dance hits by Vera Lynn, Gracie Fields and the Andrews Sisters?

Annie Gill delivered timeless classics including, It’s a Lovely Day Tomorrow , The White Cliffs of Dover, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, Sally and the heartbreaking We’ll Meet Again in her faultless mezzo-soprano tone.

Churchill might have been singled out by historians but this was a fitting tribute to the millions of real heroes, the unsung heroes; for many, these would have been the last songs they ever heard.

Ed Waugh