"Little Singers of Bethlehem" 1969, or perhaps not!

CHRISTMAS STORY 2. Once upon a time, a company who specialised in producing ‘Muzak’ tapes for shops and restaurants was inundated with requests from their customers for Christmas Carols. The company rejoiced in the rather boring name of Planned Equipment Limited or PEL – but boring or not, they were a most successful company and never wishing to miss a sales opportunity, a small upstairs recording studio in the backstreets of London, complete with string players, harpist and a baritone, was hired. The year was 1969 and London was awash with boys’ choirs. Many of these choirs undertook lucrative session work in various recording and film studios; they were rarely credited on the recordings and usually conducted by a session choirmaster. John McCarthy was the ‘go-to’ name at that time and he conducted many hundreds of these session recordings. So, it transpired that the choristers of a certain London choir, having feasted on buns from a nearby bakery, climbed the stairs to the smoke-filled studio – the musicians graciously stubbed out their cigarettes on the music stands in deference to their youth and lungs! The recording session went exceptionally well – the choristers were outstanding and the musicians were also rather good and PEL got their muzak tape of Christmas Music. Now, dear readers, this is where the story takes a most bizarre turn. A senior executive from Major Minor Record heard this very tape playing in a restaurant at which he was dining and he was most impressed with what he heard. Having tracked down the details of the tape, he reached an agreement with PEL that this fine recording should be issued by them, Major Minor, as an LP record. Like all grand plans, there is so often a fly in the ointment. This particular fly was the choir itself… one of the most famous and respected choir in London… legendary one could almost say. And there was no was they were going to be associated with a ‘muzak’ recording, no matter how fine the LP might be. So much haggling took place and eventually a deal was struck, and this very famous choir was suddenly reincarnated as ‘The Little Singers of Bethlehem’ directed by Omar Zamir. A pure invention, but suitably Christmassy, together with the renamed John McCarthy, sounding suitably foreign and Bethlehemy! The LP was issued in two versions, one with the choir only and one with Robert McDougal, the BBC newsreader, telling the Christmas story interspersed with the carols. Unfortunately, the cover was so naff, the so-called name of the choir so obscure and unknown, that sales were very poor and in almost 20 years of collecting, I have never seen a copy of either LP. The recording in the Archive, which we've had for almost 15 years, is one of the actual muzak reel-to-reel tapes, yet we never could discover the name of the choir. There were many guesses and much speculation but no proof. Which brings us the incredible ending of this story. Earlier this year (2022) I was in conversation with an ex-London chorister, when he casually mentioned a most unusual performances in which he took part. This was in a small, smoke-filled upstairs recording studio, in a London back street, near a baker’s shop, directed by John McCarthy. Yes, you’ve got it in one! and the 15-year-old mystery of ‘The Little Singers of Bethlehem’ is finally solved. So who were these mystery boys….. they were none other than the Temple Church Choristers. Enjoy listing to four tracks from the recording.