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18 September 1954 was the Last Night of the Proms in its sixtieth season. Flags and banners were waved, revellers sang and jigged along to Land of Hope and Glory, Jerusalem and Henry Wood’s Sea Songs in a jubilant, highly-charged Royal Albert Hall.

You might think that's pretty standard for the Last Night of the Proms. But in fact, 1954 was the year that launched the now-traditional Last Night ritual. And at the helm was the conductor Sir Malcolm Sargent, with his brylcreemed hair, a carnation in his pocket and a voracious smile – a blend of charismatic musician and canny showman. That charismatic and canny personality had won Sargent his first taste of the Proms back in 1921. Aged 26, he won a competition to have his overture – Impressions of a Windy Day – performed by Henry Wood and the Queens Hall Orchestra in Leicester. But it was another 26 years before Sargent took up the role of Chief Conductor of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Proms, in 1947.

In this post–war era, promenaders were spirited and exuberant and the Last Night party was becoming a throbbing headache for the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳. An experimental subdued Last Night in 1949 with Sibelius’s 7th Symphony was a flop – so Sargent reinstated the Sea Songs in 1950, adding Pomp and Circumstance for good measure. The audience loved it; the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ hated it and called the programme "unworthy". The formula was repeated the next year: "Bedlam", lamented ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Programme Controller Kenneth Adam as the emotional jamboree of Union Jacks, streamers and mass participation spilled out across six million televisions. There was yet another attempt to tone things down in 1953; Jerusalem and Rule Britannia were in, but Sea Songs appeared only as an encore and wasn’t broadcast. The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ switchboard was jammed with complaints.

And so, in 1954, after years of shuffling the cards, Sargent’s winning hand was in place: Sea Songs and Rule Britannia (in Sargent’s own arrangements), Jerusalem and Pomp and Circumstance. Over the next 65 years, the Last Night has become a tradition, a ritual, a community that allowed strangers to become instant friends. Sargent may have masterminded the programme, but the night when classical music lets its hair down belongs firmly to the audience.

This is one of 100 significant musical moments explored by ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 3’s Essential Classics as part of Our Classical Century, a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ season celebrating a momentous 100 years in music from 1918 to 2018. Visit bbc.co.uk/ourclassicalcentury to watch and listen to all programmes in the season.

This archive recording features the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Concert Orchestra with conductor Paul Daniel.

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