With a speech by Her Majesty, the event was hosted by Simon Callow and featured readings, humour and music from World War II, with a choir of 150, an 80 piece orchestra and a host of celebrities including Bruce Forsyth, Petula Clark, Claire Sweeney, Laura Michelle Kelly and a special - and surprise - appearance by Dame Vera Lynn. Beginning at 3pm, the event was broadcast live on BBC1 and displayed on large LED screens to the crowds lining The Mall. Working for Unusual Services to supply the lighting was PRG Europe, with Alan Thomson and Loz Wilkinson as project managers. Alan has worked for Unusual Services on many similar projects in the past.
PRG Europe brought in Paul Cook as lighting designer, who explained: "My brief was to ensure the lighting was in keeping with the tone of the event and not too 'light entertainment', so we had to be careful not to overdo it, while ensuring that everyone on stage could be seen clearly by both the live and the viewing audiences. The stage was built in front of the Horse Guards buildings, which became the backdrop to the set; the stage was effectively open on all four sides, with clear plastic drops at the side and rear. To ensure the buildings looked good on TV, we uplit them with par cans, which worked really well, even though the day itself was brilliant sunshine. Forty VL3000s provided spots of colour for the cameras in the roof of the stage and 48 par cans on the legs ensured sparkle."
The event was followed by a parade of 600 veteran's standards from Horse Guards Parade down The Mall to Buckingham Palace and then what was for many people the highlight of the day: a fly past of vintage World War II aircraft, with a Battle of Britain Lancaster dropping a million poppies over the 500,000 people gathered in The Mall.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
