麻豆社

Len Goodman investigates the phenomenon of Bandleader Major Glenn Miller.

He was one of the biggest selling recording artists between 1939 and 1943 and who years later, still remains one of the top sellers in the world.

Why? Is it because of his romantic music?

Or does the mystery that still surrounds his disappearance on a foggy day 80 years ago in December 1944 draw us like a moth to a flame?

The facts surrounding the meteoric rise and phenomenal success of the bandleader between 1939 and 1944 have been extremely well documented over the years.

What is more interesting is why the music of Glenn Miller achieved even greater popularity after the Second World War and has continued to attract new listeners around the world for the last 80 years.

One hugely important factor has to be his mysterious disappearance whilst on a routine flight to France across the English Channel on December 15th 1944. He took off and simply vanished into the fog.

A heady cocktail of the romantic Miller music laced with nostalgia and a huge dollop of wide-eyed fascination as to what actually happened in that small aircraft on that fateful foggy afternoon must be key to all of this.

Plus, speculation as to what Glenn Miller would have gone on to achieve in music and entertainment had he arrived safely in France and continued his career after the war.

Producer: Graham Pass

A Ping production for 麻豆社 Radio 2, first broadcast in December 2014.

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