George Formby super-fan The Queen gets a special jubilee video

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George Formby fans from around the world have come together online to make a video for The Queen.

It features one of the Wigan-born entertainer’s most famous songs, Leaning On A Lamppost.

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Formby, said to be Her Majesty’s favourite musician, was Britain’s most popular entertainer and film star throughout the 1930s and 40s.

He frequently played for the Royal Family and the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, as well as entertaining over three million troops during the Second World War.

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And while the BBC banned or censored him for his saucy lyrics, the Royal Family were only too happy to hear the unexpurgated versions of his songs.

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Gyles Brandreth revealed that Her Majesty not only knew Formby’s songs but frequently sang them.

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Although Formby died in 1961, the George Formby Society serenaded The Queen with When I’m Cleaning Windows at her 92nd birthday concert at the Royal Albert Hall, led by Frank Skinner, Harry Hill and Ed Balls.

George FormbyGeorge Formby
George Formby

When the pandemic hit in March 2020, the society had to to cancel its Blackpool conventions.

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Undeterred, some members went online, using Zoom to hold nightly Formby “virtual thrashes”, attracting players not just in the UK but from around the globe, with participants from the United States, Canada, Cyprus and Germany.

The Zoomers, as they call themselves, were delighted to receive a message of congratulations from Buckingham Palace on reaching their 365th consecutive nightly session (including Christmas Day)

They still meet regularly online and, by way of thanks for The Queen’s 70 years dedicated service, have come together virtually to make their video.

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The son of a music-hall star, Wigan-born George Formby was a stage, recording and film star famous around the world from the 1930s to the 1950s.

With his trademark banjo ukulele, he is said to have entertained three million servicemen and women during the Second World War, sometimes just behind the front line.

His frequently saucy songs saw him banned by the BBC. Other notable fans include George Harrison, John Lennon,Joe Brown and Peter Sellers.

“I know all his songs and I can sing them,” the Queen is reported to have told her correspondence secretary.