Henry Hall (musician)

Henry Hall ( May 2, 1898 - October 28, 1989 ) was a British musician and band leader . His active time extended from the 1920s to the 1950s.

Henry Hall was born in Peckham, London and served in the British Army. His musical career was rather slow at the beginning, but he was later hired by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway to provide musical entertainment in their hotel chains, including in Gleneagles , where he was previously a band leader . There he was discovered by the BBC and in 1932 occupied as the successor to Jack Payne in the role of leader of the BBC Band Orchestra , which Hall brought in a large fan base as a result. His trademark at the time was the line "It's Just the Time for Dancing" at the beginning of the show and usually "Here's to the Next Time" at the end. . In 1932, Henry Hall recorded the song Teddy Bears' Picnic with the BBC Band Orchestra, which sold over a million times and proved extremely popular.

In 1937 Hall left the BBC to tour with his band, largely made up of people who had worked with him on the BBC. During his performances he toured concert halls across Great Britain and the rest of Europe, causing a stir on one occasion when he omitted parts of his performance that were by Jewish composers at a performance in Nazi- ruled Berlin.

During World War II , Henry Hall played for the morale-raising troops and later expanded his practice to include music producer and agent . He also directed the BBC show Henry Hall's Guest Night , which was broadcast on radio and later on television, and Face the Music .

His son, Michael, served in the Royal Navy and later entered show business, eventually becoming a well-known chairman at the Player's Theater in London.

Hall wrote an autobiography called Here's to the Next Time . From his appearance in BBC The Voice of Britain from 1935 a language excerpt with the line "This is Henry Hall speaking" was created, which was still often used for contemporary documentaries at later times.

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