"Chim Chim Cher-ee" by Dick Van Dyke

It's hard to believe today - when one can barely get through a quiz, panel, or chat show without one's ears being assailed by the curiously estuarian tones of the seemingly ubiquitous mockney - but back in the day when one wanted to hear a bad version of an unattractive accent one had to wait for this to turn up on telly...

Chim Chim Cher-ee - at least as performed by Dick Van Dyke in the 1964 film Mary Poppins - is a curious blend of magic and bullshit; without his presence I feel certain the magic would be gone. The only thing that redeems the song in my opinion isn't the Best Song Oscar it earned but the presence of Dick Van Dyke himself - one of the most charming performers to grace whatever the age that came right after the Golden Age of Television was called*, when his classic sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show was destination television.

Today is Dick Van Dyke's 85th birthday, and here's t'many more guv'nor!

*The Silver Age?
*