Entertainments National Service Association

"ENSA" redirects here. For other uses, see ENSA (disambiguation).

An ENSA concert party entertaining troops from the steps of a chateau in Normandy, 26 July 1944
ENSA Glamour Girls distribute cigarettes and beer to troops in North Africa, 26 July 1942.
Black and white photo of a bespectacled man in suit and tie looking at the camera
The founders of the ENSA, Basil Dean (above) and Leslie Henson (below)
Black and white photo of a bespectacled man in suit and tie resting his elbows on a table, with his face resting against his right hand

The Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) was an organisation established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes. In 1946 it was re-named to Combined Services Entertainment (CSE)[1] operating under the Services Sound and Vision Corporation (SSVC), until 2 March 2020, when the SSVC re-branded to the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS), with the CSE likewise re-branding as BFBS Live Events.[2]

The first big wartime variety concert organised by ENSA was broadcast by the BBC to the Empire and local networks from RAF Hendon in north London on 17 October 1939. Among the entertainers appearing on the bill were Adelaide Hall, The Western Brothers and Mantovani. A newsreel of this concert showing Hall singing "We're Going to Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line" accompanied by Mantovani and His Orchestra exists.[3]

Many members of ENSA later had careers in the entertainment industry after the war, including actors Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers and Kenneth Connor.

Tap and acrobatic dancer Vivienne Hole, stage name Vivienne Fayre, a civilian aged 19, was the only ENSA member killed in the war. On 23 January 1945 in Normandy, she was being driven between shows as a passenger aboard a truck carrying stage scenery which strayed into a minefield.[4] She was buried with full military honours in Sittard War Cemetery.[5]

  1. ^ https://www.forcesnews.com/live-events/vera-lynn-david-beckham-brief-history-forces-entertainment
  2. ^ Myers, Rollo. 'Music in Battle-dress', in Music Since 1939 (1947), pp. 9-30
  3. ^ Mantovani: A Lifetime in Music by Colin MacKenzie, p. 78: ISBN 978-1905226191
  4. ^ "Friends of Highland Road Cemetery". Friendsofhighlandroadcemetery.org.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Casualty Details". Cwgc.org. Retrieved 30 March 2021.