Thaindian News

London, Mar 14 (ANI): Caribbean steel bands, Rodgers and Hammerstein showtunes, Canadian yodelling and Paul Simon’s pop hit You Can Call Me Al-all of them were the Queen Mother’s favourites, it has emerged.

Alongside the expected classical works, and timeless folk music, the collection also includes the wartime speeches of Winston Churchill, an album of lute music and comedy LPs by Tony Hancock and The Goons, reports the Daily Mail.

And although former aides said the Queen Mother was no particular fan of pop music, she was an avid listener of Terry Wogan’s Radio 2 breakfast show - making her probably the most famous TOG, or ‘Terry’s Old Gal’, as female listeners were called.

But despite her aversion to modern music, Paul Simon’s acclaimed 1986 album ‘Graceland,’ which featured a range of African musicians and contained the hit ‘You Can Call Me Al’, was apparently a particular favourite.

The list of much-loved albums at Mey includes a number of performances by Noel Coward, comedy sketches by Peter Sellers, episodes of BBC radio comedy Hancock’s Half Hour and the soundtracks to both Oklahoma! and, appropriately enough for the wife of a Monarch, The King And I.

Her collection at the remote castle, about six miles from John O’Groats on the North coast of Scotland, also featured Elgar’s Coronation Ode, written for Edward VII but also played when her husband, George VI, was crowned King, as well as a recording of Greensleeves, which is purported to have been composed by Henry VIII.

A Salvation Army Band LP is also in the collection, while the Queen Mother was also an admirer of French chanteuse Edith Piaf and owned her album La Vie En Rose.