Desmond Carrington After Seven

Vera Lynn has been singing all her life. She began in working men's clubs when she was seven, sang with professional dance bands when she was a teenager, and became a soloist in her 20s.

In the 1940s her wartime radio series, Sincerely Yours, helped to make her the 'Forces' Sweetheart' when she regularly broadcast messages from home to servicemen and women overseas. Memorable recordings of songs like The White Cliffs of Dover and We'll Meet Again quickly established her as the most popular singer in Britain and she was constantly featured on radio and TV throughout the 50s and 60s.

By 1975, when she was created a Dame of the British Empire, Vera had become a showbusiness icon. And in 2009 she topped the UK Album Charts at the age of 92, with an album of greatest hits which beat off competition from the re-mastered Beatles. This is another chance to enjoy Desmond Carrington in conversation with Vera Lynn at her Sussex home in 2005. In this revised repeat, extracts from their conversation feature alongside some of her many hundreds of records.

Another chance to hear a 2005 interview with Dame Vera Lynn.

Desmond Carrington looks at the careers of entertainers who created their own unique style