Sausage Rolls for Everyone<\/em>, featured Ed Sheeran and Elton John. Whether you loved, hated or never heard their hits the good news is they donated all the profits to the Trussell Trust who oversee foodbanks throughout the country.<\/p>\nHas there been any Welsh involvement in Christmas Number ones I hear you ask? Well yes there has! There was Tom Jones in 1966 with The Green Green Grass of Home<\/em>, Dave Edmunds with I Hear You Knocking <\/em>in 1970 and 1985 when Shaky hit the top spot. That\u2019s it as far as individual artists are concerned but Spencer Davis as part of the Spencer Davis group achieved the top spot with Keep on Runnin\u2019 <\/em>in 1965 followed in 1983 by Only You <\/em>sung by the Flying Pickets whose lead singer Brian Hibbard was from Ebbw Vale. Of course, if you want to include John Peel\u2019s festive 50 voted on by his listeners, Melys hit number one with Chinese Whispers <\/em>in 2001.<\/p>\nSince our daughters were born over 40 years ago, the most played record has been an LP called Christmas Songs & Carols for Little Children <\/em>by the Sunbury Junior Singers of the Salvation Army conducted by Joy Webb. Joy Webb was, and I am going off at a tangent here, a founding member of the Joy Strings who in the 1960\u2019s had two minor hits in the charts with It\u2019s an Open Secret <\/em>and A Starry Night. <\/em>All their performances had them dressed in Sally Army gear. The aforementioned LP has been played in our house each Christmas, admittedly sometimes only once!<\/p>\nSo here are a few album ideas for an alternative Christmas sound track. I am forgetting Now\u2019s The Christmas Album <\/em>which has all the popular hits. The main contender has to be A Christmas Gift for You <\/em>produced by Phil Spector. Amazing tracks by the Ronettes, The Crystals, Darlene Love and the wonderfully titled Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans. They rattle through some standards with that famous Wall of Sound. Bob B sings The Bells of St Mary. <\/em>Quite appropriate for us here in Wenvoe don\u2019t you think! The album was overlooked, as on the eve of its release President Kennedy was assassinated.<\/p>\nOne of my favourite LPs is the Waterson\u2019s Sound, Sound Your Instruments of Joy <\/em>which includes Martin Carthy who this year at the age of 84 was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize. The album cover states the record reminds \u201cus of what we\u2019ve lost since the flood of Victorian hymnals notably Hymns Ancient and Modern <\/em>(1861) pushed out so many notable traditional melodies.\u201d I appreciate unaccompanied singing is not everyone\u2019s taste but give it a try!<\/p>\nI am going to pass over Elvis\u2019 many attempts at Christmas songs LPs which are not to my taste. One album that is not in Jude\u2019s fave list, although she is a big Bob Dylan fan, is his Christmas in the Heart album. She had the CD in her stocking one year and having played the first two tracks shouted out \u201cthat can go in the bin.\u201d Santa was so upset! Sssh it\u2019s still on our shelves!<\/p>\n
Space is short, so here are a few other individual song suggestions – Steve Earle\u2019s Christmas in Washington <\/em>sung by Joan Baez, The Leisure Society\u2019s The Last of the Melting Snow<\/em>, Donovan\u2019s Little Tin Soldier <\/em>(what\u2019s Christmas without a tin soldier and a ballerina falling in love!) and St Etienne\u2019s I was born on Christmas Day. <\/em><\/p>\nMy favourite Christmas song is Bing Crosby\u2019s White Ch\u2026\u2026. Only joking! My fave is a controversial choice and could result in my ostracisation (if that\u2019s a word) from the village. IT IS, deep breath, the B side of John Lennon\u2019s Happy Xmas (War is Over) <\/em>which is Yoko Ono\u2019s Listen the Snow is Falling. <\/em>Give it a listen! Happy Christmas pop pickers!!<\/p>\nNigel Billingham<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IT\u2019S NUMBER ONE – IT\u2019S TOP OF THE CHRISTMAS POPS! By the time What\u2019s On readers read this article Christmas music will have been everywhere for months. Many people will already be fed up with hearing Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade, Lonely this Christmas by Mud, Wonderful Christmas Time by Paul McCartney and Queen\u2019s Thank God its Christmas plus numerous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[334,127,428],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-4fF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10777,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=10777","url_meta":{"origin":16347,"position":0},"title":"December Update","author":"Alan Williams","date":"13th December 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"o WOMEN\u2019S INSTITUTE Our members met on November 4th for a Fish and Chip Evening, courtesy of the Fish Shop at the Murch, Dinas Powys. There were 24 members present and we all enjoyed our meal, as well as a Word Quiz. Our President entertained us with the customs and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Womens Institute"","block_context":{"text":"Womens Institute","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=37"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5220,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5220","url_meta":{"origin":16347,"position":1},"title":"MEMORIES OF CHRISTMAS PAST","author":"Alan Williams","date":"22nd December 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I was brought up in a mining community where, following the 1926 strike until well into the Thirties, there was quite a lot of poverty. Perhaps you would like to know what Christmas was like when I was a little girl. People had very little money to spend on Christmas,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12601,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12601","url_meta":{"origin":16347,"position":2},"title":"Bangs Of Expectation","author":"Alan Williams","date":"7th December 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"BANGS OF EXPECTATION The first Christmas crackers were known as \u2018Bangs of Expectation\u2019. Crackers came about because confectioner Tom Smith needed a way to market French-style sweets wrapped in paper. The story goes that he was inspired to add an explosive element by the sight of a log crackling on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/cracker-12-22.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14174,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14174","url_meta":{"origin":16347,"position":3},"title":"“Christmas is Murder” by Val McDermid","author":"Alan Williams","date":"9th April 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Christmas is Murder\" by Val McDermid \u00a0 A book of twelve short stories with different themes: detective, revenge, supernatural and historic. The settings were varied. Several readers felt that short stories worked well for bedtime reading. The stories were generally felt to be well written, but not chilling. Members who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10257,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=10257","url_meta":{"origin":16347,"position":4},"title":"Tuckers Christmas Reindeer Sale","author":"Alan Williams","date":"17th September 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"TUCKERS CHRISTMAS REINDEER SALE This year\u2019s Tuckers Christmas Reindeer Sale will be taking place on Saturday 20th November from 10am - 5pm at our home (in the garden) 29 Vennwood Close. Mike\u2019s Christmas Garden Reindeers will be on sale along with some hand-crafted Christmas themed items from Wenvoe. \u00a0 \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Latest News"","block_context":{"text":"Latest News","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=70"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6826,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6826","url_meta":{"origin":16347,"position":5},"title":"December in the Library","author":"Alan Williams","date":"10th December 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Saturday 21st December in the Library 10-10:30 am, Storytelling. Join us when the Christmas Elf will be reading magical Christmas stories for the under 5s. 12 noon, Raffle. The winning raffle tickets will be drawn for your chance to win one of our fabulous Christmas hampers. Secret Santa In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Community Hub"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Community Hub","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Picture17.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16347"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16347"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16388,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16347\/revisions\/16388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/a>The first download number one was Killing in the Name <\/em>by Rage Against the Machine after a fan led campaign to revive a 1992 single. Ladbaby hold the record for the most Christmas number ones five times from 2018 to 2022 although one, Sausage Rolls for Everyone<\/em>, featured Ed Sheeran and Elton John. Whether you loved, hated or never heard their hits the good news is they donated all the profits to the Trussell Trust who oversee foodbanks throughout the country.<\/p>\n