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Between 1970 and 1980, broadcaster Derek Jones invited a host of famous names to chat about their enthusiasm for nature and their encounters with animals. Delving into the BBC Sound Archive to select some of their favourite natural history recordings, they reveal their hitherto unknown passions – from birds and butterflies to the countryside and conservation.

From the very start of the recording era, the radio, the 78, and LPs have produced an unforgettable list of classic children’s favorites. Here, on this unique audio compilation, are many of the finest, performed by great stars of the past. Danny Kaye presents "Tubby the Tuba" and others; Spike Jones sings "Old Macdonald Had a Farm", Harold Fraser-Simpson is "At Buckingham Palace" (with Christopher Robin). There is "The Runaway Train", "The Owl and the Pussycat", and many more.

Many of the episodes on this volume were broadcast from Hollywood, but the program (which finally became The Spike Jones Show when it moved to a Sunday evening time slot in January 1949) traveled extensively in its last season—New Orleans, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Richmond, Philadelphia, Washington, New York, Boston, Chicago, Des Moines, and San Francisco.

This volume of The Spike Jones Show features episodes emanating from Las Vegas, Pueblo, Colorado, and Calipatria, California—where Spike grew up and started his first band—but most of the programs here were broadcast from Hollywood. The guest list reflects the change in locale. Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Peter Lorre (vocalizing “My Old Flame” with impressionist Paul Frees in tow), Don Ameche (doing “Quartet from Rigor Mortis”), Dinah Shore and Fred Astaire (performing “Cheek to Cheek”), Jerry Colonna, and Basil Rathbone are among those heard here.

Spike Jones and his City Slickers enjoyed perhaps their finest hour in March 1948, when they performed in Washington, DC at the request of President Harry Truman. They do a slam-bang up job on “I’m Just Wild About Harry” on the opening show in this volume, in anticipation of their visit. Getting The Spike Jones Show on the air took a lot of advance planning from week to week, with schedule and location dictated by the band’s lucrative road show and its cross-country tours of one-night stands.

The best comedy-novelty band of all time was at its peak when The Spike Jones Show (officially The Spotlight Revue, better known as The Coke Show) debuted on CBS, Friday, October 3, 1947. The show premiered in San Francisco where Spike and his City Slickers’ wacky Musical Depreciation Revue was holding forth at the Curran Theatre. The guest list here includes musical humorist Victor Borge (savaging “Clair de Lune” on the premiere), Tex Williams (doing his signature “Smoke Smoke Smoke”), Mel Torme and Frankie Laine.