We celebrated the 73rd birthday of Van Morrison tonight.  We played tracks from across his 50+ years career, showing the diversity of his music.

We also remembered the 79th birthday of Jerry Allison. He was the drummer with Buddy Holly & the Crickets.  He co-wrote Peggy Sue. Buddy had originally named the song Cindy Lue but changed at Jerry’s request. Peggy Sue was his girlfriend (eventually his wife), and altered the title as a way of asking her to come back after a breakup. Clearly it worked! Jerry has recorded with a wide range of artists including Eric Clapton.

New music tonight included a new track from Ward Thomas and a new artist to the show, Lauren Diagle. She comes from Louisiana and has already been nominated for a Grammy award. We had a chart rundown for 31st of Augusts 1963 to celebrate the 55th wedding anniversary of regular listeners Phyl & Derek in north London. We also remembered that on 31st of August 1974 Radio North Sea International ended broadcasting. Keith Rogers, a presenter on Phoenix98FM until earlier this year, was one of their DJs. It was amazing to work with him. We heard from a number of listeners, including new listeners Chris in Sussex and Phil Stear. Phil will be on the show in three weeks time talking about his book.

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