The answer? - MPs and peers plan to gift the Queen a LAMP-POST. The Mail on Sunday (Brendan Carlin, Political Correspondent) understands that this is what Parliament intends to present to the Queen next year to mark her Platinum Jubilee. I was shocked to read about the choice of gift to commemorate the Queens Platinum Jubilee, 70 years of devoted service on the throne. When I read it, It made me laugh and I genuinely thought, this has got to be a Wind-Up! A panel of MP's and Peers, headed by senior Tory MP and Solicitor General Michael Ellis, have apparently decided on a LAMP-POST and they're now inviting sculptors and artists to submit designs. The Queen is the longest serving British Monarch and will mark her Platinum Jubilee on February 6th next year (2022). I think she deserves something better than a Lamp-Post to mark such a wonderful milestone and occasion. The Queen has an incredible rich history of radio broadcasts, making her very first radio broadcast as HRH Princess Elizabeth, in October 1940, aged 14. The tradition of the Royal Christmas Message began in 1932 with a radio broadcast by King George V and since 1952, the message has been read by The Queen. These days of course the Christmas Day message is broadcast on radio, television and social media, but it all started on the radio. The Queen gave her very first public speech, when she became monarch in 1953, on the radio. She has even been the victim of a radio hoax call, when a Canadian DJ pretending to be the Canadian Prime Minister, managed to prank call her. The radio presenter got through to Buckingham Palace and spoke to the Queen on-air for 15 minutes, a moment she personally shared with me at a function for the arts at Windsor Castle. The Queen asked me 'And what do you do' – I told her I was a Radio and TV presenter and did Wind-Up phone calls on my radio show, at which point her majesty replied 'Oh yes, I've had one of those' It was a truly surreal moment, I was bonding with the Queen, we were sharing some common ground, it was a wonderful and crazy moment. I feel The Queen deserves something far more interesting to mark her Platinum Jubilee than a Lamp-Post. The Queen has spent over 70 years on the radio and I feel it would be quite fitting to mark and celebrate this. 'Queen Elizabeth Radio' (Working Title) I’m sure we can all come up with a better name, please send me your radio station name suggestions, will be a 24/7 Radio Station, playing the very best music from her 70 year reign with stories/anecdotes from those who have met her, from members of the public to some of the biggest stars in the World. It will be a totally unique Radio Station, unlike anything that has ever been heard before. In the digital age it will be a gift to the Monarch and the people, allowing members of the public to interact with the radio station, sharing their own stories of when they met the Queen etc Maybe each member of the Royal family could contribute in some small way with special recorded memories of a very special person. Celebrating The Queens 70 years on a radio station (24/7) that will be heard across the UK on DAB and across the World via the Queen Elizabeth Radio App, will be a far better Platinum Jubilee Gift than a LAMP-POST, something her children, Great Grandchildren and Great Great Grandchildren can enjoy forever. After all, we're marking a truly historic occasion. Additionally, a statue of a Radio could be made and placed in Central London to mark her 70 years of radio broadcasts, I know how much MP’s, Peers and Royalty appear to enjoy their statues.
Get ready to listen to 'Queen Elizabeth Radio' (70 years of hits, 70 years of memories). (c) Steve Penk 2021
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