I used to know Dame Vera Lynn well 40 or so years ago when I was managing director of a commercial radio company and she was its president. I regularly used to visit her at her home in Ditchling in Sussex and she used to make me tea – she told me I was sweet enough already so didn’t need sugar – or pour me a glass of wine.  I also met her husband, Harry Lewis, several times though he passed away many years ago.

When we were applying for a radio licence from the Independent Broadcasting Authority, we had to attend a couple of very formal interviews with the IBA board.  We knew that the Chairman of the IBA would say to us at the end of the first interview ‘We will contact you if you are called to a second interview’.  Dame Vera immediately piped up and said: ‘I hope We’ll Meet Again!’  All formality then collapsed.  There was a grand piano in the room where we were interviewed and with the IBA Chairman playing it, Dame Vera led us in a chorus of the song……

She was a lovely lady, full of fun, who served our nation well and I, for one, will miss her.

Michael Fabricant