The BBC first broadcast The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College Cambridge on Christmas Eve 1928. This Christmas millions will shed tears of joy as they listen to the opening carol, Once in Royal David’s City with the full choir and majestic organ.
This carol was written by Mrs Cecil Francis Alexander (1818-1895) who wrote some 400 hymns that were designed to help children understand the Bible, but adults happily adopted them. She spent her life caring for the less fortunate, particularly the poor children in her Sunday School and their parents. She followed the example of Jesus of whom she wrote,
“And He feeleth for our sadness,
And He shareth in our gladness.”