This 4CD Box Set brings together 100 of the most popular and most enduring numbers from the dark years of World War II. Some are rousing and uplifting, even defiant, such as Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye and Sing As We Go. Some are hand-on-heart patriotic (There’ll Always Be An England); some, like Beneath The Lights Of Home, are achingly nostalgic, and there’s more than a passing mention of Australia (When a Boy from Alabama Meets a Girl from Gundagai).

There are dance tunes (Chattanooga Choo Choo, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Frenesi) and cool jazz (Blues In The Night); there’s fun and sometimes cheeky humour (Kiss Me Goodnight Sergeant Major and The Trolley Song). There’s a willingness to find something to smile about even in the deprivations of wartime living (FDR Jones) and an unquenchable optimism (Bless ‘Em All, On The Sunny Side Of The Street). There’s plenty of romance - lovers together (A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening, A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square) and lovers separated (Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree). But most importantly, there is the hope that defined an era, expressed in those immortal words ‘There’ll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover tomorrow, just you wait and see…’