Dame Vera to rival X Factor winner at Christmas

Dame Vera to rival X Factor winner at Christmas
Dame Vera to rival X Factor winner at Christmas (Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

Dame Vera Lynn is to take on this year's X Factor winner in a bid to grab the Christmas No 1. The "Forces' Sweetheart" is to release a revamped version of well-loved song We'll Meet Again, along with a recording of White Christmas to take on the reality show victor head to head. The 92-year-old star, who kept up the nation's spirits during the Second World War, has already made an incredible chart comeback this year. She recently became the oldest artist to reach the top of the album chart with her greatest hits collection, We'll Meet Again: The Very Best Of Vera Lynn. Her new version of We'll Meet Again sees her backed by label-mates, the 60-piece Fron Male Voice Choir who perform along with her original vocal. She was just 22 when she recorded the original in 1939, but cutting-edge studio techniques - previously used in movies - allow her voice to be isolated to perform with the choir. Dame Vera said: "I'm amazed this is possible. It's wonderful." The X Factor winner will release their single on the same day as Dame Vera's, on December 14, and will form formidable competition. X Factor stars have dominated the festive chart for several years and often become the year's biggest seller with only one week's sales. The reality show winner has topped the charts for the past four years at Christmas with Shayne Ward, Leona Lewis, Leon Jackson and Alexandra Burke each taking their turn.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.