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Every Christmas Eve just after 3pm, a small choirboy steps up to a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ microphone and sings the first verse of Once in Royal David’s City.

This tradition of opening the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King's College, Cambridge with a lone boy treble is well known.

What is not so well known, is that the director of music chooses the soloist as the red transmission light begins to flash, giving a 12- or 13-year-old boy just a few seconds to come to terms with the fact that he is going to sing live to a global audience of millions.

Here, former choristers share their experiences of that heart-stopping moment.

Rupert Peacock sang the solo in 2012 and 2013. He has very vivid memories of his first time:

“Obviously all of us know how the music goes but I thought, ‘If I forget the words on live radio that’s going to be quite bad.’ So I remember actually looking at the copy rather than singing from memory.”

It might seem cruel to put this kind of pressure on a small boy but a number of musical directors at King’s College have continued a tradition started by Sir David Willcocks in the late 1950s and in 2018; his later successor Sir Stephen Cleobury explained why:

“I thought it was a good idea psychologically to do the choice in that way because if you line somebody up a week or a fortnight before, they’ve got a lot of time to think about it and perhaps become anxious. Generally speaking I think they are energised by being called forward (at the last minute).”

The nine lessons have remained the same since 1918 but the director of music chooses different carols each year to reflect the readings that precede them. However, the emotional heart of the service is that Once in Royal David’s City solo.

Cellist Guy Johnston, who won the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳’s Young Musician of the Year in 2000, was a chorister at King’s in the early '90s, his brother Magnus (now a violinist) was a chorister there before him but it was older brother Rupert who actually sang the Once in Royal solo in 1989.

Then, at the age of 18, Rupert had a terrible car accident and sustained a brain injury that changed his life for ever which is why his Once in Royal David’s City solo has become such an important memory for Magnus and the rest of the Johnstons:

“I think that’s why for us as a family the King’s story is so special, because it’s one of the few memories that we have of all of us together with Rupert. As time goes on it becomes harder and harder to identify with his brain injury who he was.”

Jill Etheridge is the head of boarding and house master for the choristers at King’s College School. She was also the mother of three King’s choristers one of whom – Tom – sang the Once in Royal solo in 2006. As a parent, she also found the experience completely nerve wracking:

“It’s terrifying because you know that your son is really wanting to get the solo... desperately wanting to get the solo... and so you know that at the end of it if he hasn’t, he’s going to be deeply upset. As a parent that’s a tough thing. And then there’s just that awful sinking feeling when you hear the first note, you worry he’s not going to hit the high note.”

For many people, that pure treble voice singing the first verse of Once in Royal David’s City, signals the start of their Christmas. And, it’s not just people celebrating in the UK as the 2008 soloist, John Wimpeney, recalls:

“I remember being told by Mr Cleobury that someone had actually sent him a letter (to say) that he had listened to me from the top of Mount Everest. At the time I was subtly proud about it. To think that someone had not only climbed to the top of Mount Everest but (had) then deemed my singing important enough to tune in and listen to me on Christmas Eve, was rather humbling really.”