The Blackpool Illuminations In 2009 with mermaids hanging each side of the lamp posts with decorative lights hanging in between them whilst the Blackpool Tower in the background is lit up gold The Blackpool Illuminations is an annual lights festival with over one million light bulbs. Founded in 1879 and held each autumn from August until November they are on for 66 nights a year. In 1934, the town began a tradition of marking the start of the festival by hosting a public figure to perform the inaugural switch-on of the lights. For the first public ceremony, the honor was performed by Lord Derby .[ 1] In subsequent years, hosts have predominantly been drawn from the world of entertainment with occasional appearances by sportspeople and political figures. Unusual hosts have included a Canberra bomber aircraft in 1969 and racehorse Red Rum in 1977.
List of switch on hosts [ edit ] Year 1934 Lord Derby [ 1] [ 2] 1935 Audrey Mosson (Railway Queen of Great Britain) 1936 Sir Josiah Stamp 1937 Prince George, Duke of Kent [ 2] 1938 Councillor Mabel A. Quayle (Mayoress of Blackpool; first woman councillor)[ 3] [ 4] 1939–1948 Cancelled due to World War II [ 5] 1949 Anna Neagle 1950 Wilfred Pickles 1951 Stanley Matthews [ 5] 1952 Valerie Hobson 1953 George Formby [ 2] 1954 Gilbert Harding 1955 Yakov Malik (Soviet Ambassador) 1956 Reginald Dixon [ 2] 1957 John H. Whitney (American Ambassador) 1958 A. E. "Matty" Matthews 1959 Jayne Mansfield [ 2] 1960 Janet Munro 1961 Violet Carson 1962 Shirley Anne Field 1963 Cliff Michelmore 1964 Gracie Fields [ 2] 1965 David Tomlinson 1966 Ken Dodd [ 2] 1967 Horace King 1968 Matt Busby 1969 Canberra Bomber 1970 Tony Blackburn 1971 The cast of Dad's Army 1972 Danny La Rue 1973 Gordon Banks 1974 Wendy Craig [ 2] 1975 Cast of Doctor Who : Tom Baker (in costume as The Doctor ), Elisabeth Sladen and Ian Marter [ 2] 1976 Carol Jean Grant (Miss United Kingdom) 1977 Red Rum [ 1] [ 5] 1978 Terry Wogan 1979 Kermit the Frog and The Muppets [ 1] [ 2] 1980 Cannon and Ball 1981 Earl & Countess Spencer[ 1] 1982 Rear Admiral Sandy Woodward 1983 Cast of Coronation Street , switched on by Doris Speed 1984 Johannes Rau (Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia ) and David Waddington ,(Minister of State , the Home Office ) 1985 Joanna Lumley , BBC Children in Need , and Audrey Mosson (50 year anniversary)[ 2] 1986 Les Dawson [ 5] 1987 Frank Bough , Anne Gregg and Kathy Tayler , all from the BBC's Holiday programme 1988 Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sarah Brightman 1989 Frank Bruno 1990 Julie Goodyear and Roy Barraclough 1991 Derek Jameson and Judith Chalmers 1992 Lisa Stansfield [ 2] 1993 Status Quo 1994 Shirley Bassey 1995 Bee Gees 1996 Eternal 1997 Michael Ball 1998 Chris de Burgh 1999 Gary Barlow 2000 Westlife [ 2] 2001 Steps 2002 Ronan Keating 2003 Blue 2004 Geri Halliwell [ 2] 2005 Chris Evans 2006 Dale Winton 2007 David Tennant 2008 The Stig with Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond from BBC Top Gear 2009 Alan Carr 2010 Robbie Williams [ 2] 2011 Keith Lemon 2012 6 of Team GB 's London 2012 medalists. (Beth Tweddle , Greg Rutherford , Karina Bryant , Luke Campbell , Max Whitlock and Sophie Hosking ) 2013 Jonathan Ross 2014 Peter Kay [ 1] [ 5] 2015 Tim Burton 2016 Barbara Windsor 2017 Star Trek: Discovery (Jason Isaacs ) and Diversity [ 6] 2018 Alfie Boe [ 7] 2019 Lucy Fallon 2020 A group of Britain's Coronavirus NHS Heroes 2021 Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas [ 1] 2022 Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (replacement for Johnny Vegas ) 2023 Sophie Ellis-Bextor 2024 TBA
^ a b c d e f g Blackpool Illuminations 2021: Switch-on honour for Strictly's Ballas , BBC, 4 September 2021 ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Claire Lark (30 August 2019), "Memory Lane: The honour of switching on Blackpool Illuminations" , The Gazette , Blackpool ^ Davies, Sam; Morley, Bob (2016). County Borough Elections in England and Wales, 1919–1938: A Comparative Analysis . Routledge. p. 442. ISBN 9781351948104 . ^ "Shining bright: Blackpool Lights over the ages" . The Gazette . Blackpool. 6 September 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2021 . ^ a b c d e Wood, Allan W (2015), Blackpool – The Postcard Collection , Amberley Publishing, p. 133, ISBN 9781445645100 ^ "Liverpool star provides 'intergalactic' help for Blackpool lights switch-on - Liverpool Echo" . 3 September 2017. ^ "Alfie Boe to switch on the Blackpool Illuminations" . BBC News . 25 July 2018.