Radio 2 - Folk programmes throughout the late seventies and eighties - FOLK ON TWO Sunday mornings: GOSPEL ROAD. Her radio debut was long before this, however, when she featured with her songs on FIVE TO TEN, following close on the heels of an up and coming Paul Simon, who was touring in UK at the time.

BBC SCHOOLS BROADCASTS from 1977 to the present day Jancis has been writing songs for the BBC Schools’ programmes and the songs, LORD OF THE HARVEST, FROM THE DARKNESS CAME LIGHT, LITTLE STAR, STILL SMALL VOICE, SEE THE FARMER and PLANTING MY FEET are all used in Schools today throughout the country and all appear in BBC’s Schools’ hymnbook COME AND PRAISE. These songs are nationally popular and are suitable for multi-faith schools, and as such they are of immense benefit to the schools and churches throughout the country who use them - producer Geoff Marshall Taylor.

LOCAL RADIO STATIONS - Radio Nottingham in the seventies, folk programmes produced by Gina Madgett. Radio Cambridgeshire from its beginnings in 1982 with a regular Sunday morning slot on 'Sunday's Company' - bringing something of local interest - a character, place, event from the past or the present, always accompanied by a specially composed song. Since moving to Suffolk in 2000, Radio Suffolk have featured her SONG OF SUFFOLK and the Newmarket song, OUR TOWN and Jancis has appeared on various programmes with Lesley Dolphin and Pete Jennings.

WOMANS' HOUR - Jancis once featured on an hour long special of this programme from the Theatre Royal Norwich - hosted by the sadly missed, Dick Condon. The programme also included Percy Edwards and Wayne Sleep !

TV in the seventies - comprised of appearances on Songs of Praise; Sunday Morning from Pebble Mill; About Anglia and a Sunday morning programme from BBC in Bristol.

TV in the eighties - a prolific period of appearances for Jancis, with self-scripted late night presentations on Anglia TV on a very regular basis, under the heading of JANCIS HARVEY sings - PRODUCER, Ivan Bailey. This theme being taken up by YORKSHIRE TV and Mary Watts as producer, followed hot on the heels, by Tyne Tees and Maxwell Deas. These little slots consisted of the verse of a song - spoken prose or poetry - complete song and fade. Each series usually followed a similar theme.

Producer Ralph Rolls with whom Jancis had worked in the seventies on Schools Broadcasts, devised a very popular morning programme on BBC 1 Television, entitled FIVE TO ELEVEN. A poem and song - the perfect formula and Jancis scripted and presented two series of these.

Mention should be made - though briefly of the TV 'acting' career which lasted from 1984 - 1992 with background artist work on BBC and ITV productions. Equipped with a current EQUITY card, Jancis took part in various dramas, ranging from LOVEJOY, DALZIEL AND PASCOE - even featured in CROSSROADS and played the part of the Nanny to Little Arthur in Middlemarch and the governess in to Dora in one production of David Copperfield, having several re-takes whilst a sash window wouldn't open, and Little Arthur was in fact identical twins, then if one cried, another was substituted and if all else failed, a doll was handed to her..........don't tell anyone though !

SONGS: LORD OF THE HARVEST has been far and above the most successful of the songs of Jancis Harvey. Written in 1982 as the result of a phone call between herself and her BBC Schools Producer, Geoff Marshall Taylor, Jancis struggled for a week with all sorts of ideas, and was just about to give up, when the whole song presented itself, so complete, that she felt someone else must have written it....................... It appears in loads of different books and is most readily available in BBC's Come and Praise.

FROM THE DARKNESS CAME LIGHT - the first request from Geoff Marshall Taylor, way back in 1977, following a SONGS OF PRAISE and a phone introduction via Geoffrey Wheeler, with whom Jancis was working. Jancis always feels there are far too many words in each line, but it has been fairly successful and can't think how she could change it anyway.

LITTLE STAR - written after a cold starry night travelling back from filming some Anglia TV programmes just before Christmas, this song now features with several others in COME AND PRAISE.

PLANTING MY FEET, STILL SMALL VOICE AND SEE THE FARMER - all tell a similar story, and all feature in the same book and other publications.

FIRE OF BURWELL - WRITTEN about the fire of 1727 in which 80 village folk perished - an extremely local story, but a tragic one with names like Brown, Clark, Fuller, Adams, Chapman, Webb and Clack, Rayner, Cook and Palmer all appearing on the memorial.

THE YOUNG GYPSY The grave marks the burial of this young man along the old A45 near Kentford. Miscounted his sheep after a day of tending the sheep during a summer of working as he travelled. He couldn't face public humiliation or transportation and therefore hanged himself. The next day no sheep were found to be missing.

SONG OF SUFFOLK - now here's a story, way back in 1982 in the middle of a long hot August, Jancis was thinking how to make hay during a quite month. She took herself off to her caravan in Aldeburgh and whilst watching the sun rise over the sea one morning, penned this little number. It has always been a bit of a favourite, but never more so, than when she moved to Suffolk and the village of KENTFORD in 1999 and in October 2000, on the release of her CD People and Places, finally got round to contacting Radio Suffolk. The station, especially Lesley Dolphin who has given this some great air plays, and at last the song has come home to roost ! Not quite the end of the story, an extra verse was written about Mildenhall in 2000 at the Richmond Fellowship session in Newmarket, hence the CD track entitled SONG OF SUFFOLK 2000. Thanks too, to Pete on the Folk programmes for the plays.

CANDLE IN THE DARK - written in 1990 at the time when the Gulf War was about to erupt - scanning the news for a glimmer of hope, this song came winging its way to Jancis. British Organ Donor Society have adopted it for their Candle Services each year at Wimpole, near Cambridge (this year in Ripon Cathedral also). Title track from her previous CD.

A SHOEBOX FULL OF WISHES - written following an appeal for Shoeboxes to Croatia - the song appeared just as Jancis was filling her shoebox. She enclosed the words plus a letter and a photo and had a really nice reply from a lady called Jelka from Bosnia. Jancis was quite relieved that she had written on the box the type of person the box was designed for, thinking that an 18 year old boy would have been disappointed with a pair of tights, manicure set, perfume, deodorant, etc. Well, I expect so, anyway.

ROAD TO EMMAUS - in 1992 the first Emmaus community was opened in Landbeach near Cambridge by Terry Waite and Lord Runcie. Jancis composed this song for the event and sang it on the day - 1st July. Nice morning to start with and then the coldest and wettest day of the year, when everyone who was there suffered from 'flu for weeks afterwards. No one thought to put up any form of cover for the opening ceremony ! Apart from that we all enjoyed ourselves........

OPEN DOOR - the theme song for NEWMARKET OPEN DOOR and used for services, and as part of the annual concert which Jancis organises and hosts each year. A wonderful project for the homeless initially thought out by Churches Together in Newmarket, now up and running at Portland House in the town.

OUR TOWN - this song was born during a session at The Richmond Fellowship in Newmarket - songwriting sessions evolved as part of the music sessions with Jancis. Some songs were laboured over, but still very good. However, this one just about wrote itself and is the most popular of the songs of Jancis in and around the town of Newmarket for obvious reasons.

WHERE GENTLY FLOWS THE CAM and FOUNTAIN IN THE MARKET - written at the dawning of Radio Cambridgeshire in the eighties, as part of some Sunday Morning slots which Jancis used to present. Fountain talks of Trevor Hughes the itinerant character of the sixties and seventies, and is very popular with those who remember him. FIRE OF BURWELL had a similar birth, and goes down a bomb in and around the village !

WAKEMAN OF RIPON - written as part of some celebrations connected with Ripon's City Charter - sung in the Cathedral and heard by a nun, Sister Alice, who was at the time, Head Teacher of the local school and who, immediately wrote to the various TV stations. As a result, Jancis was featured on HIGHWAY with the children from her school and a very jolly time was had by all in the Market Square of Ripon for the filming.

ANNABELLS'S UNICORN - After visiting her very sick friend, Annabelle one day, Jancis returned home on what was then the A45 and penned this song. Annabelle had been asking if Jancis knew about the Unicorn, the bringer of miracles. As if by magic, Jancis felt the presence of this mythical beast - the song took about 15 minutes to write down, and has been a great favourite over the years.

SEAGULL - written in Devon in 1998 after watching a seagull soaring high above. Lots of painters on this holiday, in a lovely spot just down the coast from Salcombe and over the cliffs from Bolberry Down - Jancis painted this picture in words. This song is also full of a few hidden agendas, especially in the chorus - but you would need to know about Aloe Vera and certain products to appreciate it - verse two also holds a secret or two ! Let me know if you can identify anything......

VENITE and BENEDICITE - have been written as adaptations from the Book of Common Prayer - requests from her church in Bottisham.

Email me if there are any other songs you know to have been written by me, which are not included and you would like to know about. Same address - jancis@jancis-harvey.co.uk return to index page