Taken from Elio Pace's social media post:
*WEEKEND WOGAN 10th ANNIVERSARY SERIES - Show 35/35*
12.55pm, live on BBC Radio 2 on Sunday, 19 December 2010… my Christmas song, 'What A Day'… music by yours truly… words by yours truly, Helen McNee and Matt Daniel-Baker.
So here it is Ladies & Gentlemen… my VERY LAST *WEEKEND WOGAN* POST! And the very first official LIVE version release of 'What A Day’. ❄️🎄 I was extremely honoured when the show’s producer, Alan Boyd, (knowing it was Terry Wogan’s favourite Christmas song) told me he wanted me to close the year with the full and original Christmas version of ‘What A Day’. After all of the covers I had performed throughout the year, I was very proud to finish with one of my own songs. 🎹🎅🏻
At the beginning of this last video, Sir Terry Wogan wraps up the show by saying:
“This is the most fun I've ever had on radio or on television doing a show, it’s just been wonderful. The music has been brilliant from Elio, his singers and his band. We’ve had a tremendous time here. We’ve had wonderful audiences… It’s been a great pleasure and here’s to the next time...".
How do you think that makes me feel? To have been part of that statement, from probably the most legendary and most popular broadcaster in British history, is right up there as one of the proudest moment of my career.
There would be no more 'Weekend Wogan’ shows, live at the BBC Radio Theatre in front of an audience after this one. Terry and I had it confirmed just a few weeks later by the BBC that ‘Weekend Wogan’ would come back in the Spring of 2011 but this time from a studio in Broadcasting House (now renamed Wogan House) with no live audience and no house band. The end of an era in UK national radio. This was also the very last time I ever saw Terry. Unfortunately, our paths would never cross again. And even though he contacted me to appear as his guest on ‘Weekend Wogan’ on 20 December 2015 to talk about 'The Billy Joel Songbook', he became too poorly to do the interview and Terry passed away just over a month later.
So… I’m going to wrap this up by thanking Sir Terry Wogan for all he did for me, for the doors he opened, for the call to come and be his featured artist and house band in 2010. If you enjoy these 'Weekend Wogan' videos, you really have only one person to thank… Sir Terry Wogan… because without him pushing for me to do this show with him, none of these live recordings would ever have happened. Thank you Terry. Love and miss you. 💫❤️
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Terry's special guests for this final week were Gilbert O'Sullivan, Jimmy Carr and Nell Bryden.
Shout out and HUGE THANKS to the incredible band and singers that I had the enormous pleasure of working with on the show:
Bryan Hargreaves - Drums
Neil Fairclough - Bass
Darren Loveday - Guitar
Paul Newton - Trumpet
Adrian Fry - Trombone (my assistant Musical Director)
Peter Effamy - Sax
Adrian Revell - Sax
Kirstie Roberts - Background Vocals
Sue Acteson - Background Vocals
Chloe Buswell - Background Vocals
Niamh McNally - Background Vocals (Series 2)
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For more info, tour dates, CDs and DVDs and more, please visit www.eliopace.com/