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The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund of which Queen Elizabeth II is patron. All proceeds are donated to the fund.
The performance is broadcast on television and is considered by many to be a tradition of the Christmas season, as it is held in late November or early December each year. ITV is now the sole broadcaster, having shared that responsibility with the BBC from 1960 to 2010.[1]
The first performance, on 1 July 1912, was called the Queen Mary. After correspondence with Sir Edward Moss the King said he would command a Royal Variety show in his Coronation Year 1911, provided the profits went to the Variety Artistes' Benevolent Fund, as the EABF was then known. It was planned to be in the Empire Theatre, Edinburgh, part of the vast Moss Empires group, but the building went on fire a month before the show. After the death of Sir Edward Moss, Alfred Butt was chosen as the impresario and it was staged in 1912.[2] This was a lavish occasion, and his London Palace Theatre was lavishly decorated, complete with some 3 million rose petals.
Top performers included British Broadcasting Corporation began to broadcast it on radio.
From 1928 through to 1938, the impresario/producer and manager of the London Coliseum and from 1930 to 1937 he held the shows at the London Palladium. His 1938 show returned to the London Coliseum. Throughout WW2 from 1939 - 1944 no shows were presented. The show resumed in 1945 after WW2 ended.
From 1960 to 2010, the BBC and ITV broadcast a recorded version of the show, alternating the production between their two main channels, with the BBC producing and televising the 'even years' and ITV televising the 'odd years'. In both 1976 and 1978, the BBC broadcast the show live. The BBC usually staged the show in a West End theatre, and ITV in regional theatres outside London. From 2011, ITV have exclusive rights to televise the show.[1] The show has been frequently staged in the London Palladium theatre, and in the 1950s and 1960s a television show based on the same idea, called Sunday Night at the London Palladium and hosted by many entertainers, including Bruce Forsyth, ran for over 20 years.
Almost every conceivable sort of act has at one time or another been presented to the monarch at the Royal Command Performance, including Laurel and Hardy in 1947, the Beatles in 1963, the Supremes in 1968 and the Blue Man Group in 2005. At the Beatles' show on 4 November 1963, John Lennon delivered a line to the well-heeled audience which has passed into legend: "For our last number I'd like to ask your help: Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewellery ..."
The money raised by the Royal Variety Performance provides most of the funding for Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund and its home, Brinsworth House, a home for retired members of the entertainment profession and their dependants.
After the first Royal Variety Performance on 1 July 1912 presented by Sir Alfred Butt, it was seven years before the next show, on 28 July 1919 held at the Coliseum Theatre presented this time by Sir Oswald Stoll. The orchestra was conducted by Edward Elgar. In 1921 it moved to the Hippodrome, and was held in November. It was the first time that the Royal Variety Performance became an annual event. In 1923 it moved to the Coliseum Theatre. Then after a gap in 1924, moved to the Alhambra Theatre in February 1925, where it remained in 1926, held on 27 May. It was the first Royal Variety Performance to be broadcast, with the BBC providing live radio coverage.
In 1927 there was another move, this time to the Val Parnell compèring. It was the start of seven successive years at the venue.
In 1935 the Royal Variety Performance was held in the Silver Jubilee year of King George V and Queen Mary. This was the last time King George V attended – he died three months later, in January 1936.
There have been two Royal Scottish Variety Performances, both attended by Queen Elizabeth, and presented by Howard & Wyndham Ltd in Glasgow's Alhambra Theatre, which Sir Alfred Butt had opened, in 1958 and 1963.[2]
Since 2007, one act of the Royal Variety show has been selected by the British public through the ITV television talent show Britain's Got Talent.
A public telephone vote decides the most popular act in each semi-final, which then progresses to the final, along with a second act chosen by the judges. The grand final is then broadcast live and all the acts perform again for the public vote.
There have been a total of 17 theatres that have staged the 81 Royal Variety Performances, and the 1912 Royal Command Performance. Out of the total of 82 shows, 75 have been in London theatres and seven in other cities and towns.
Note: Where no town or city is noted in the theatre column in the following table, the venue is situated in London.
A total of 16 members of the Royal Family have attended the 86 Royal Variety Performances, and the 1912 Royal Command Performance.
In the 1960's, the televised edition of the show was the number one rated show for the entire year in the UK in 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1967 and 1968, with the show ranked 6th in 1964, 3rd in 1966 and 2nd in 1969.[7]
In the 1970's, the show top the annual rankings in 1975 and ranked 8th in 1970, 4th in 1971, 9th in 1976 and 3rd in 1977.[8]
Ratings sourced from BARB.
Notes:
Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Let It Be, Apple Records, Billy Preston
Diana Ross, Mary Wilson (singer), The Temptations, Motown, AllMusic
Channel 4, ITV Breakfast, Bbc, Channel 5 (UK), UTV (TV channel)
CBeebies, United Kingdom, Doctor Who, BBC Television, BBC Radio
London, West End theatre, Cats (musical), United Kingdom, Frank Sinatra
Ant & Dec, ITV (TV network), Robbie Williams, Britain's Got Talent, Emma Bunton
Never Mind the Buzzcocks, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Carmarthen, Bbc
The Beatles, Devon, Hamburg, Cheshire, Hamster
London, Strike It Lucky, YouTube, Jedward, ITV (TV network)
Musical theatre, Oklahoma!, Broadway theatre, World War II, Authority control