Teddy Bear's Picnic - Val Rosing with Henry Hall & his Orchestra

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A song written by John Walter Bratton in 1907, with lyrics added by Jimmy Kennedy in 1932, Teddy Bear's Picnic went on to become an all time children's favourites across the globe. Henry Hall and his Orchestra provided the music for the 1932 recording by the BBC. Up until the early 1960s, BBC sound engineers used this record to test and calibrate frequency response of their studio audio equipment., due to its good recording quality and it's large tonal spectrum of music. It was possibly last played by the BBC at the end of the final transmission from their old regional transmitters at Washford in the early 1980s.

Teddy Bear's Picnic is one of my personal favourites, which I never get tired of listening to. As a kid growing up in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), this was the theme song of 'Children's Birthday Greetings' at 6.00 pm broadcasted by the Radio Ceylon on the English Commercial Service in the late 60s and early 70s, which later went on to become the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC).

Also I listned to the song often on the piano in primary school, Holy Cross College, Gampaha W.P. Sri Lanka, played by our singing teacher, a nun, Sister Verina. After 40+ years, I still remember how Sister Verina taught us the song line by line. She is an accomplished pianist, a violinist and a vocalist with a great voice, probably the 'Singing Nun of Ceylon'!! I dedicate this presentation to Sister Verina.