Dame Vera Lynn has beaten The Beatles
DAME Vera Lynn beat The Beatles yesterday - becoming the oldest star ever to have a number one album at the amazing age of 92.
The Fab Four swept into the album charts, with their remastered hits helping them to hold down 17 positions.
Four albums - Sergeant Pepper, Abbey Road, Revolver and Rubber Soul - are in the top 10.
But they were kept off the top spot by World War Two favourite Vera, whose We'll Meet Again - The Very Best of Vera Lynn also trumped modern upstarts like The Arctic Monkeys and Jamie T.
Amazingly it is her FIRST number one album and her recordings are the oldest ever to have topped the charts. Dame Vera - dubbed The Forces' Sweetheart by adoring troops - said last night: "I am extremely surprised and delighted, and a big 'Thank you' to all my fans for putting me there."
HMV's Gennaro Castaldo said the fact The Beatles albums went on sale late in the week damaged their chances of a number one.
He added: "We've seen huge demand for the remastered Beatles albums since Wednesday - but sales have been spread across all the releases, especially the box sets.
"The fact they were only out for four days also seems to have counted against their prospects of a number one.
"This has left the door open for Dame Vera.
"Her album has been selling consistently in recent weeks and has been steadily growing in demand.
"It's a lovely surprise, that nobody could have imagined a few weeks ago. And it's ironic that it took one revered British icon to block the historic return of another to the top of the charts."
It is 70 years to the month since Vera, then 22, walked into the Decca studios and first recorded the iconic single We'll Meet Again.
The song became an anthem of hope for young soldiers leaving their sweethearts behind to face Hitler's war machine. It has since been covered countless times.
Dame Vera pushes aside Bob Dylan, 68, who until now was the oldest artist to achieve a number one album with Together Through Life in April.
Decca MD Dickon Stainer said: "It's an incredible achievement and a reminder of what makes Britain great.
"Dame Vera is still a shining light for the nation and she's proven you're never too old to be a hero." Jamie T, whose album Kings & Queens is at No2, said last night: "I didn't expect to be kept off the top spot by someone easily old enough to be my great-grandmother, but I'm happy for her."
East London-born Dame Vera's career began at the age of seven in working men's clubs and she later became a band singer.
She famously threw herself into helping the war effort in the dark days of the early 1940s, setting up her own radio show, visiting hospitals and touring Egypt, India and Burma to sing for the troops.
Her last public performance was outside Buckingham Palace in 1995 on the 50th anniversary of VE day.
Vera married musician Harry Lewis in 1941 and had one daughter. Now widowed, she lives in East Sussex.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...he-charts.html
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