Worth the wait...

BASCA Director Gary Osborne was presented with his Ivor Novello Award on Friday evening during a special ‘Friday Night is Music Night’ broadcast which was dedicated to the prestigious Awards.

Gary, who is also the chairman of the Ivor Novello Awards committee, received his award from Paul Gambaccini, long-time host of the annual Ivor Novello Awards ceremony and presenter of Friday night’s show.

In 1979, Jeff Wayne won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Instrumental or Popular Orchestral Work, despite the fact that the album features lyrics written by Gary Osborne, and includes performances by singers such as David Essex, Justin Hayward, Phil Lynott and Julie Covington.  Although an award statuette was made for Gary, he was not invited to the ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, in 1980, and never received his award.

The uncollected trophy ended up at a car boot sale in Surrey, where it was purchased in 1987. The new owner put it in his shed and forgot all about it for 20 years!  It wasn’t until he was moving house that he re-discovered it.  He then contacted BASCA, as the organisation that runs the Ivors, to see about returning it to its rightful owner.

BASCA is delighted that Gary has finally been presented with his greatly deserved award – albeit 32 years late!

You can hear the special Ivors edition of ‘Friday Night is Music Night’ on BBC iPlayer until Friday 18^th May: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01h6158