Chart entered : 12 December 1952
Chart peak : 5
Number of hits : 15
We've got all sorts of firsts here. Winifred was the first black female to make the chart and the first to top it ( though not with this one ). She was also the first person to have a writing credit on their hit. She's also the first person to score a topical hit with the opportunistic follow -up " Coronation Rag " which is hardly Ghost Town but still. She influenced scores of young pianists ; among those to acknowledge her are Elton John, Keith Emerson and Richard Stilgoe ( who owns the piano on which this was recorded ). She is also an absolute terror to pop quizzers faced with 15 often similarly titled piano instrumentals to choose from when she pops up.
Winifred was from Trinidad, still a British colony in 1952, and came to London in 1946 to study at the Royal Academy of Music paying her way by working in clubs and theatres. There she caught the eye of impresario Bernard Delfont who became her manager and soon got her a contract with Decca. It's not hard to understand Winifred's appeal in Fifties Britain. She brought a dash of exotic sunshine to a country that had only just binned its ration books yet her music was so deeply suited to the British music hall tradition that only the most ardent racist could object.
"Britannia Rag " written for the Royal Variety Performance of 1952 is completely typical of her style, a jolly little ragtime tune that could have soundtracked a Chaplin movie. It's done and dusted in just over two minutes and I'm completely stumped for anything else to say about it.
Winifred concludes the line-up from 1952.
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