• Warning: Spoilers
    "The Man with the Golden Trumpet" they called Eddie Calvert who came up through the Brass bands of Northern England to headline at Variety theatres throughout the U.K and what remained of the Empire.His big hits like "Oh mein Papa","Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" and "John and Julie" coincided - rather like the Coronation - with the Empire's last gleaming.African chiefs in colourful robes smiled unthreateningly,Queen Salote of Tonga disdained the use of an umbrella during the procession,Young Elizabethans all over the country crowded round the two or three Television sets per street and peered at their 12" or 14" screens aware that in a few days time they would have to be writing an essay "What I did on Coronation Day". For John and Julie that would have proved a mammoth task. Coming up to London to see the procession,they become separated from their parents and meet an Ealingesque cross - section of the population before being restored to the bosom of their Enid Blyton - like family. There is a sunny assumption that every adult is not a potential paedophile but a helpful protective presence that it would take a naive filmmaker to replicate today."John and Julie"'s touching innocence is one of its attractions in an infinitely more hostile world. Sumptuously coloured,it evokes the world of "Eagle",,"Spangles" "Dollar" bubblegum,"Muffin the Mule" and "Mr Turnip",all of whom John and Julie would have been aware of. How fortunate they were to have been growing up in such exciting times. In retrospect the Coronation can be seen as the last true evocation of the spirit of the Blitz where class divisions were laid aside,old enmities put on hold and most of Britain spoke with one voice of optimism and hope fuelled by respect for the monarchy in the person of the bright,fresh young queen who represented so many hopes and dreams. Just eight years after the end of the second world war the New Elizabethans gave notice that the country was under new management after years of austerity and sacrifice."John and Julie" personifies that optimism in its purest form.