Most of us over the age of 50 will remember Two Way Family Favourites, broadcast on the BBC Light programme every Sunday morning in the 1960s. It was a regular fixture in our house. Cliff Michelmore and Jean Metcalf presented the radio show, playing requests from families to their loved ones in the forces and vice versa – hence ‘two way’. The family favourites were a mixture of songs from the musicals: My mother would sing dreamily along to Shall we Dance ? Moon River, and Some Enchanted Evening, whereas I had my own playlist: Sparky’s Magic Piano, or The Ugly Duckling by Danny Kaye, with its uplifting climax ‘You’re a very fine swan indeed!’. My favourite of all, though, was Champion, the Wonder horse, because the Sixties was the cowboy decade. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCXvGR4IP3s. Like many women, my mother had a soft spot for Russ Conway, with his shy smile, playing Sidesaddle. 
My father, in the meantime, would be tasting his legendary gravy for salt, and after sharpening his knife on the doorstep, would chop the mint for the Sunday ritual of Welsh lamb and mint sauce. I can still hear the sound of the sharpening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ieth9gTRaZI
Two Way Family Favourites
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