| Variations of Name | Derek George Barsham | Derek Mann |
| Biography | Derek Barsham was a singer. He famously sang Land of Hope and Glory on May 8, 1945, after Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared on the radio, The German war is therefore at an end."
He sang in his school choir and with the local Boys Brigade choir. A music master remarked to his parents about the quality of his natural voice and suggested that he would greatly benefit from a professional voice coach.
In 1947 he sang at the inauguration of the United Nations and, that same year, sang Ill Walk Beside You at the Boys Brigade rally in the Royal Albert Hall which was relayed live throughout the UK and America. The recording was so well received that it was chosen as a wedding gift for Princess Elizabeth and Lt Philip Mountbatten.
For some years Barsham worked in a bank but in 1952 he changed his name to Derek Mann and worked as an entertainer in America. In 1970 he performed on the P & O liner Canberra and later that year he became a producer and performer on cruise ships, and in 1977 he was appointed cruise director for the Royal Viking Line, retiring in 1997. |