Alan Cameron's Edublog Learning in the 3rd Millennium 

On a wet Saturday in October 2007, I sat with BAFTA winning film director Norman Stone at the piano in his house. In the space of 2 hours we rattled out 5 music hall songs (all Norman’s words) which feature throughout his drama documentary, ‘Florence Nightingale’. Lennon & McCartney didn’t work as fast as this! 5 songs knocked out in record time, recorded direct to MP3 and emailed across the Atlantic to be arranged for performance a week later with Roy Hudd in Liverpool. One of the songs is featured in the video clip above, around 4 minutes in. Great fun to spend time at the piano with Norman on a wet Saturday afternoon with the end result seeing the film winning an award in New York!

The 2010 New York International Film Festival. Award for Best Historical Short Film: Florence Nightingale.

Florence Nightingale – a full costume drama that tells the untold story of one of Britain’s greatest heroines, based on her own words.

Shown on BBC One on the 1st of June 2008, Florence Nightingale received 4.7 million viewers and a 22.9% audience share. Starring Laura Fraser, this film brings to life the story of Florence Nightingale’s spiritual and emotional breakdown after the Crimean War: a moment of crisis, doubt and failure that ultimately inspired her revolutionary career in medicine.

It also introduces the actor comedian Roy Hudd as the leader of a raucous Music Hall troupe, who dip in and out of the action with songs in the style of the times.