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Dame Vera Lynn interview March 2010

Dame Vera Lynn at home in Sussex

Dame Vera Lynn is a distinguished and much-adored link to a bygone age. World War II seems, somehow, more than just a generation or two away to us living in 2010. The idea of a Britain and her allies at total war with Germany and Japan seems inconceivable today. Yet it was so and Vera Lynn came to embody the dogged and determined resolve of the British people in the war years of 1939-1945. As the forces sweetheart, she was the focus for servicemen abroad who missed their loved ones and she represented a British cautious optimism that things would turn out alright in the end, which, of course, they did.

In the same way that we couldn't have won the war without Sir Winston Churchill, without the Spitfire, without the Bletchley Park Enigma code-breakers, so it was also true (in my humble opinion) that we couldn't have won the war without Dame Vera Lynn's considerable influence on morale and the British spirit.

Her autobiography, Some Sunny Day, explains how Dame Vera worked with, socialised with or met most of the great and good from the entertainment industry and from other walks of life in her career.

Her work with charities and her caring for ex-servicemen and women is what has continued to warm her to the general public for over sixty years since the hopeful lyrics of We'll Meet Again were realised.

This is the interview that Dame Vera gave to www.retrosellers.com

Dame Vera Lynn at book signing
 for her autobiography 
Some Sunny Day

The White Cliffs of Dover
 

Digger: Hello Dame Vera, How are you?
 
Dame Vera: Okay thanks.
 
Digger: I think it’s fascinating how much your daughter Virginia sounds like you.
 
Dame Vera: Yes, we’ve been told that a lot.
 
Digger: Can I fire away with the questions?
 
Dame Vera: Absolutely.
 
Digger: Seeing you on TV recently, you are mentally alert and articulate and energetic, and looking great, more so than I am at 52. How are you able to do this?!
 
Dame Vera: Oh, is that the question?! (Both laugh) I thought that was a statement. (Both laugh)
 
Digger: The trouble with me is that I have a habit of asking questions that sound like statements.
 
Dame Vera: (Laughs) How do I do it? Well, I’ve sort of paced my life. I haven’t tried to overwork myself. Giving myself time for relaxation and family and things.
 
Digger: What do you do to relax?
 
Dame Vera: Well, I watch telly which I enjoy very much. Not being able to get about as much as I did.

 
Digger: Yes. What sort of programmes do you enjoy, Dame Vera?
 
Dame Vera: Um, archaeological, documentaries. Interesting things or things about the past.
 
Digger: We’re spoilt for choice these days for channels aren’t we?
 
Dame Vera: Yes, I’ve got Sky.
 
Digger: There’s always something interesting on, isn’t there?
 
Dame Vera: Oh, there’s so many programmes and you can just flick around. I love it, it’s wonderful.
 
Digger: What do you think Vera Lynn sixty years ago would have made of things like The Internet, satellite TV, mobile phones and sat navs?
 
Dame Vera: What would I have thought about it? I would have thought it would be absolutely fantastic. I mean to be able to be in contact. I wish it had been when I was out in the Far East, when I could have phoned back my family and told them I was okay.
 
Digger: You’ve lived through probably the biggest social and technological changes mankind has ever had.
 
Dame Vera: Well, I would think so, yes.
 
Digger: How does it feel being you now compared to you at 20 with all the changes you’ve witnessed?
 
Dame Vera: What you don’t have you never miss but, I mean, if it had been around at that time it would have been marvellous when I was travelling around all the time to have kept in contact with the news and my family and even professionally. It would have been nice to have been able to look back on those days now if today’s technology had been around then to record the moments.

 
Digger: Do you still write letters?
 
Dame Vera: Oh yes, yes. Virginia helps me with all the office work – she’s got a secretary to help her because we get so much mail still.
 
Digger: I suppose you get it from all over the world?
 
Dame Vera: Yes, we do. Australia, New Zealand, America and far flung parts of the world. People I've never heard of.
 
Digger: It’s still nice to hear from them?
 
Dame Vera: Oh, it is. It’s nice to know that my records are still being heard, if not in person.
 
Digger: Well done you.
 
Dame Vera: Yes, still heard everywhere.
 
Digger: Do you think there are characteristics that set the British apart from others during the war years and, if so, what were they?
 
Dame Vera: What set us apart? You know, we’re born and bred here and we’re very loyal and we think a lot of our country and our people and that’s what it is really.
 
Digger: We’re stubborn, aren't we?
 
Dame Vera: Oh, absolutely in all sorts of ways. And that leads to creativity in science and music and all sorts of ways too, you name it.
 
Digger: What do you think your biggest lessons have been in life, so far?
 
Dame Vera: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, you know what I mean? Be nice to them on the way up because you might need their help on the way down. (Laughs)
 
Digger: What goes round comes round, as they say.
 
Dame Vera: Absolutely, that’s so true.

 
Digger: Can you tell us about your work with the Dame Vera Lynn Trust?
 
Dame Vera: Well, it’s been going for many years since the fifties. It first started with just a room at the main school and then it developed. We managed to raise enough money to build a separate school. And it’s gradually developed from there. We look after the under-fives because we don’t get any grants or anything because they’re under school age. So we have to raise the money to keep it going and it really is a fantastic school. The girls are really wonderful who are the teachers. And the parents are so appreciative – they don’t know what they would have done without it.
 
Digger: You obviously enjoy the work.
 
Dame Vera: Oh yes, it’s lovely to see the children and as you go there over the years you can see the ones who have gone there constantly and see the improvement from just sitting doing nothing to walking with a frame. And it’s very gratifying to see that.
 
Digger: I don’t know if you’re like me but as I get older I get more childish. (Both laugh) What do you see as the biggest achievements of mankind in your lifetime and what gives you hope for mankind for the future?
 
Dame Vera: Oh dear, what a terribly hard question! (Thinks) I think medicine. It’s wonderful what they’ve achieved.
 
Digger: It’s a blessing and a curse because it means people live longer but that has financial consequences on the state. I have to retire ten years later than I would have done!
 
Dame Vera: But still, if they live longer it’s better for them to live longer, healthier.
 
Digger: That’s very true. Fifty years ago I would have been considered old.
 
Dame Vera: I’ve got a photograph of my grand-mama sitting there looking quite voluptuous in black and looking at her today you’d think she was ninety-something but she was only 52.

Digger: Did writing the biography Some Sunny Day exorcise any demons?
 
Dame Vera: Well, no, not really, I just experienced again the things that I’d done through my life. And I think it’s nice to do that and write positively rather than grumble about all the things that went wrong.
 
Digger: It’s a great book and I really enjoyed it.
 
Dame Vera: Oh did you? Good.
 
Digger: The events you’ve experienced and the people you’ve met and worked with are amazing. Do you keep any diaries?
 
Dame Vera: Only engagement diaries. The only little diary I kept was when I went into Burma and I was told not to carry a diary in case I was captured.
 
Digger: Oh my God! I wonder what would have happened if you had been caught? (Both laugh) You were one of our biggest non-secret weapons. It doesn’t bear thinking about. I know you’re humble about it but you were such a big thing from a propaganda point of view for our side.
 
Dame Vera: Yes, I suppose I helped a bit in that way!

Sir Winston Churchill		Londoners sheltering from  The Blitz
A Lancaster bomber, a Spitfire fighter and  a Hurricane fighter in a memorial fly-past
Airmen being scrambled summer 1940

 
Digger: Have you ever had any feedback from Germany or from Germans about how you had an impact on them at that time?
 
Dame Vera: Well, no, only nice letters from people who used to pick up my radio.
 
Digger: That’s good.
 
Dame Vera:  In Holland they were forbidden to listen to the BBC and they used to find all sorts of ways to listen to my programmes, you know. I came on Sunday night after the news. They would hide in cellars. And I got a letter where they made a hole in a hayrick and they used to go in there and listen to my programme. And meanwhile, a little man was outside on a bicycle peddling like mad, keeping the dynamo going to run the radio.
 
Digger: Ingenious.
 
Dame Vera: Can you imagine?
 
Digger: When you see our troops coming back in the coffins from Iraq and Afghanistan…
 
Dame Vera: Oh!
 
Digger: ... I know it’s a different type of warfare.
 
Dame Vera: Yes, but it’s still terrible and so unnecessary and it’s very sad.
 
Digger: Do we ever learn?
 
Dame Vera: No, we never do and the First World War was supposed to be the war to end all wars and it wasn’t to be. It’s very sad all of our young people growing up never knowing if they’re going to grow to be old-aged.
 
Digger: I can’t stress how big a heroine you are to us all. If I can be fit and alert like you in thirty years time I’ll be doing very well. Can I ask one last question? You are friendly with Petula Clark. Why hasn’t Petula been made a Dame yet?
 
Dame Vera: I really don’t know. Other people who live abroad have been honoured. And she was a real inspiration to the youngsters in the war.
 
Digger: It’s got to happen, don’t you think?
 
Dame Vera: Oh yes. It’s got to. Dame Shirley Bassey’s not old, but the excuse I was given why I was ‘waiting’ so long for it was that I was too young. (Both laugh)
 
Digger: I’ve got a good photo of you with another Dame - Dame Edna.

Dame Edna with Dame Vera

 
Dame Vera: He is outrageous but he had to behave himself when we were at St James’s Palace.
 
Digger: Maybe he was looking to get a real 'gong' as well?
 
Dame Vera: They can’t make HIM a Dame, though, can they?!
 
Digger: Dame Vera, I really appreciated your time and it’s been fantastic talking to you.
 
Dame Vera: Thank you. I look forward to seeing the article with Virginia.
 
Digger: Take care. Thank you.
 
Dame Vera: You too. Bye bye.

 Dame Vera with remaining airmen from
The Battle of Britain in 2000

  Dame Vera at The Cenotaph
 

  Dame Vera with Chelsea Pensioners