The BBC Northern Dance Orchestra was a big band run by the BBC and formed in 1956 as the successor to the BBC's Northern Variety Orchestra, which had been formed on 1 April 1951.
Known to listeners as the NDO, it broadcast on the radio daily, usually from recordings made at the Playhouse Theatre in Hulme, Manchester, and on many trips to halls throughout the UK.
Through BBC Transcription Services it gained loyal listeners overseas.
Many well-known musicians played with the orchestra over the years, including trumpeter Syd Lawrence, who left the NDO and formed his own very successful big band in 1967, and saxophonist Johnny Roadhouse, one of the band's founding members.
Award
BBC Young Dancer is a televised national dance competition, broadcast on BBC Four and BBC Two since 2015.
The competition, inspired by the success of the biennal BBC Young Musician of the Year, is designed for British amateur dancers of ballet, contemporary, hip hop and South Asian dance, all of whom must be aged between 16 and 20.
