Ivor Novello was born David Ivor Davies in Cardiff in 1893. He started singing from an early age, eventually joining the famous choir at Magdalen College School in Oxford.

Ivor was a complete failure as a pilot with the Royal naval Air Service in 1916, where he managed to crash on both his first and second solo flights, his resulting injuries left him grounded, falling back onto clerical duties for the rest of the war.

Known on stage as Ivor Novello (Novello was part of his mother’s name) since 1918, his first success came with the song ‘Keep the Homefires Burning’, composed during WWI. After the war, Novello starred in two silent films directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1927 and west end musicals of his own devising. His musicals in the 1930’s were expensive, spectacular productions, the best known being ‘glamorous Night’ and ‘The Dancing Years’. Novello’s talent went beyond that of song writing. He also wrote several comedies and dramas. Ivor Novello was also arguably the handsomest leading man Britain had in the silent cinema. In later years, Novello went to Hollywood appearing in numerous films, but his first love was always the stage. Large production costs and a huge cast requirement have prevented the shows from being re-produced in recent years.

On stage he was a deft comic actor (perhaps a little too forced for the tastes of the time) as well as an excellent romantic one, rather ironic for the ladies as Novello was homosexual and had a 35 year relationship with actor Bobbie Andrews. He also had an affair with Siegfried Sassoon. Ivor was sentenced to eight weeks imprisonment during WWII for misuse of petrol coupon. He continued to appear successfully in stage and write shows until his death in 1951 from coronary thrombosis.

His legacy lives on in the form of the Ivor Novello Awards for song writing. These are proffered each year to British songwriters and composers as well as to an outstanding international music writer. Novello’s songs, Waltz of My Heart and Her Mother Came Too were featured in the 2001 film, Gosford Park where the character of Novello himself appeared, played by Jeremy Northam. In June this year, the Strand Theatre in London, above which Novello lived for many years, was renamed the Novello Theatre.

’ Christmas With Novello’ is set just after the end of World War II. The war had influence of Novello’s works back then. With ‘The Dancing Years’, the intention was to set the play within the framework of invaded Vienna, the hero-composer having been condemned to death for his help in aiding the Jews to escape from Austria. The final version was watered down and references to Hitler removed. Despite the closure of theatres in the West End during the war, ‘The Dancing Years’ was able to tour with great success and the show finally opened at the Adelphi where it ran and ran. Songs include ‘Waltz of My Heart’, ‘My Heart Belongs to You’ and ‘I Can Give You the Starlight’. The sentimental duet ‘We’ll Gather Lilacs’ was also a favourite during the war and struck many British hearts. The song, however, was originally written to be sung by two female performers. ‘Christmas with Novello’ shows Ivor at his best, with his penchant for soaring, rapturous flights of respondent romance.