Forces sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn celebrates 90th birthday

13 April 2012

The Imperial War Museum is hosting a reception today to mark the 90th birthday of Forces Sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn.

Current Forces Sweetheart Katherine Jenkins will perform wartime hits including We'll Meet Again and The White Cliffs Of Dover and lead a chorus of Happy Birthday for Dame Vera.

Entertainers June Whitfield, Bill Pertwee, Liz Smith, Frank Thornton and Roy Hudd will be joined by wartime broadcaster David Jacobs for the reception.

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90 today: Dame Vera kept up the spirits of millions with her songs and personality during the Second World War

Dame Vera was born on March 20, 1917 in London and her singing career was already flourishing when war broke out in 1939.

She was awarded the title Forces Sweetheart following a poll in the Daily Express, and travelled thousands of miles - often at great personal risk - to entertain the troops.

She also had a BBC radio show on which she performed songs such as We'll Meet Again, I'll Be Seeing You, Wishing, and If Only I Had Wings.

Dame Vera famously visited the Forgotten Fourteenth Army which was fighting the bitter Burma campaign, and in 1985 was awarded the Burma Star for her contribution to the war effort there.

President of the Burma Star Association Lord Slim will be attending today's reception, along with Winston Churchill's granddaughter Lady Soames, Lord Tebbit, Baroness Boothroyd, ballerina Darcy Bussell, novelist Jilly Cooper, Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes and wartime nutrition expert Marguerite Patten.

Dame Vera, who continues to support a number of charities and ex-servicemen's organisations, will also be joined by Second World War veterans who served in the Far East.

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