The London Palladium has attracted the finest artists from the world of variety and entertainment for over a hundred years. In 1930 the Palladium hosted its first Royal Variety Performance and the following year the Crazy Gang came together. Closing briefly during the Blitz, the theatre reopened with Max Miller and Vera Lynn. Star bills in those early decades ranged from Harry Houdini, to Dickie Henderson, Gracie Fields, Sophie Tucker, Ivor Novello, Jack Benny, Paul Robeson, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Josephine Baker, Fats Waller, Arthur Lucan (Old Mother Riley) and Kitty McShane, Tommy Trinder, Tessie O’Shea, Gracie Fields, the Andrews Sisters, Carmen Miranda, Laurel and Hardy, to name but few.

Val Parnell brought over the major American stars: the impressive role-call included Danny Kaye, Harpo and Chico Marx, Benny Goodman, Dorothy Lamour, Frank Sinatra, Abbott and Costello, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Jimmy Durante, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope. Home grown talents appearing at that time included Max Bygraves, Julie Andrews, Alma Cogan, Harry Secombe, Terry Thomas, Billy Cotton, Charlie Drake, Cilla Black, Norman Wisdom, Des O’Connor, Frankie Howerd, Ken Dodd, Tommy Steele, Ronnie Corbett, Arthur Askey and Shirley Bassey.

Sunday Night at The London Palladium was first broadcast on ATV in 1955 and soon became a firm family favourite, with the best variety performers, the Tiller Girls, Beat the Clock, and of course, hosts Bruce Forsyth, Norman Vaughan and later Jimmy Tarbuck.

The London Palladium has continued to play host to the biggest stars across the decades, including lavish pantomimes and musicals, from The King and I with Yul Brynner, to Barnum with Michael Crawford and the stage premiere of Singin’ in the Rain with Tommy Steele. Notable musicals have included Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, (for which the famous revolving stage was finally removed in 2002), Scrooge, The Sound Of Music, Sister Act, La Cage Aux Folles, The Pirates of Penzance, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Fiddler on the Roof and Oliver! female Musical Director at the London Palladium!