I'm looking forward to the tribute to Dick Todd

What a lucky coincidence! I've just gone to the Fan World site after a month's absence and you have produced that wonderful documentary. Thanks David.

Thanks for those good wishes but, John, which centenary did you have in  mind?

Ian asked about my decision to write about Bing's impact on Australian entertainment. I made a short presentation on the subject at the 2002 Hofstra conference. That took me almost 18 months. After the conference I realised that I had so much information and decided to continue my research and then wrote the book and published it in 2008. Thank goodness my wife Helen gave me the support and encouragement which was essential.

Welcome Rick from Graham in Bathurst, Australia, about 220 kms from Sydney.

This is a welcome from Down Under

From the late 1950s for more than a decade, records of Connie Francis were hits in Australia, mostly when Bing's records were not in our charts.

Thanks for your kind words Ian. I have only my personal copy and don't know of anyone in The United Kingdom who owns a copy.

This welcome is from Graham from Bathurst, Australia

Bing Crosby: His Life and Legend was televised in Australia in October 1978 and on Christmas Eve 1983.

'South Rampart Street Parade' and 'Begin the Beguine' would be  (two) favourites

My favourite is Gary Giddins' second volume because its coverage of Bing's wartime life was revealing and fascinating. He acknowledged the access he had to material which was unavailable when he wrote his first Bing book. What a difference that made

David, I don't remember the first Crosby song I heard on the radio (we called it the wireless) but it may have been one of them. In the 1940s Aussies couldn't avoid hearing Bing on the radio. I lived in Melbourne (Australia's second-largest city) and in 1947 there were almost seven hours of programs each week which played only Crosby records.