‘You are all I long for, All I worship and adore…’: Croydon pensioner delights Thames-side crowd at a recording for new television show
Vic Wallace, a 90-year-old member of the Croydon Male Voice Choir, stole the show on Saturday at a television recording staged in the shadow of Tower Bridge.
On a specially constructed stage on the Thames embankment, a production company was recording a new show for Channel 4, provisionally titled Your Song.
From the same team that produces The Great British Bake-off and The Piano, the programme is hosted by Alison Hammond (Claudia Winkleperson wasn’t available).
Your Song “will celebrate the nation’s hidden voices by giving non-professional singers the chance to perform a song that holds deep personal meaning to them”, according to the publicity blurb.
“These powerful performances will take place on a pop-up stage equipped with a live house band.”
Wallace’s back story clearly won over the producers. At 70, he underwent a quadruple heart by-pass. At 87, he suffered a stroke that left him unable to walk and unable to talk. All he could hear from his hospital bed was another man in the corridor, singing a song made famous by Frank Sinatra and Count Basie.
And given his chance on Saturday, Wallace belted out his own version of Fly Me To The Moon, including a bit of soft-show shuffle, to the delight of the large crowd.
Andrew Moore, the musical director of the Croydon Male Voice Choir, had been approached by the TV producers to suggest a singer with a story to tell. “Young Vic” quickly sprang to mind.
Mentor: Paloma Faith features on the new C4 show
According to Wallace’s CMVC colleague Dave Bannister, “Vic then went through a rigorous process before being selected to perform. This involved interviews with Vic and his family, as well as visits by the film crew to a rehearsal of the Sandilands Shanty Crew, a CMVC off-shoot of which Vic is also a member.”
And Bannister writes: “On Saturday afternoon, CMVC members and supporters gathered at the Horniman, a Thameside pub close to Potters Fields Park where the stage had been erected.
“After strolling along to the park and enjoying the previous performer, the choir raised its banner and struck up Robbie Williams’ Angels to the delight of the watching public.
“Alison Hammond interviewed Vic and his extended family, down to his infant great-grandson, before he took the stage to rapturous applause and cheering from the choir and audience.
“The rain then cascaded down, but this didn’t bother choir members and other supporters as they surrounded Vic to congratulate him. Even Alison Hammond came up and insisted we sing the chorus of Angels with her in front of cameras.”
Old trouper: Vic Wallace on stage on Saturday
According to Bannister, Wallace then went back to his hotel to prepare for another day’s filming on Sunday. His mates from the choir went back down the pub, as is their wont.
The programme’s format, just like The Piano, sees the performers get backing from a couple of mentors – Paloma Faith and Sam Ryder.
“The most inspiring and wonderful thing for me in music are the personal stories of individual people,” said songstress Faith.
“I am delighted to take part in your song so I can be closer to that inspiration.”
Your Song, or whatever they decide to call it, is expected to be screened by Channel 4 later this year.
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Great bloke, an inspiration to us all