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When Dame Vera Lynn first sang of some sunny day, John Lennon had not even been born.
Yesterday, at 92, the Forces’ Sweetheart made history to become the oldest living artist ever to have a number one album.
To make the triumph even sweeter, Dame Vera even trumped the much-hyped series of remastered Beatles albums to seize the top spot in the official charts.
Her collection, We’ll Meet Again - The Very Best of Vera Lynn, which features 24 songs that will forever evoke wartime Britain, including A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square and White Cliffs of Dover, also outsold Arctic Monkeys and the Kings of Leon.
“I am extremely surprised and delighted, and a big thank you to all my fans for putting me there” she said, in a statement.
Dame Vera was born in London in 1917. Her last number one hit was in 1952 - ten years before the Beatles recorded their first single.
Unsurprisingly, The Beatles left little room for 21st century artists, dominating the rest of the charts with their remastered back catalogue.
Their albums occupied the 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, 21st, 24th, 29th, 31st, 33rd, 37th and 38th spots, according to the Official Charts Company.
The top-selling releases were Abbey Road and Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
They have four albums in the Top 10, eleven albums in the Top 40 and sixteen albums in the Top 60.
This breaks the record, previously held by The Monkees, for most albums simultaneously in the Top 10 by a group.
They also overtake Elvis Presley’s record for most albums simultaneously in the Top 60 by any act. (Presley had fourteen albums in the Top 60 in 1977).
Gennaro Castaldo, spokesman for HMV, said the fact The Beatles albums went on sale late in the week damaged their chances of a number one.
“We’ve seen huge demand for the remastered Beatles albums since Wednesday, but sales have been spread across all the releases, especially the box sets,” he said.
“The fact they were only out for four days also seems to have counted against their prospects of a number one.
“This has left the door open for Dame Vera, whose album has been selling consistently in recent weeks and has been steadily growing in demand, to top this week’s chart.
“It’s a really lovely surprise, that nobody could have imagined a few weeks ago, and it’s ironic that it’s taken one revered British icon to block the historic return of another to the top of the charts.”
Until the release of the album charts yesterday, Bob Dylan was the oldest artist to grace the number one position in the album charts.
It is 70 years to the month since Dame Vera, then 22, visited the Decca studios and first recorded We’ll Meet Again in 1939.
Lynn had three songs in the first ever Top 12 in 1952, when Britain first introduced official sales charts.
She began singing aged just seven and her career was already flourishing when the war broke out in 1939.
She travelled thousands of miles - often at great personal risk - to entertain the troops.
Dame Vera also had a BBC radio show on which she performed songs such as We'll Meet Again, I'll Be Seeing You, Wishing, and If Only I Had Wings.
She said earlier this week: 'I am extremely excited and delighted to be back in the charts after all these years.' Speaking of her role during the war she said: “My songs reminded the boys of what they were really fighting for. Precious personal things rather than ideologies. I brought home a little nearer for them.”