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The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held in the . FIRST SHOW The first performance, on July 1 , 1912 , was called the Royal Command Performance, and this name has persisted informally for the event. This was held in the Palace Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, in the presence of King George V and Queen Mary . The king said he would attend a once-yearly variety show, provided the profits went to the Variety Artistes' Benevolent Fund, as the EABF was then known. This first staging was a lavish occasion, and the theatre was decorated with 3 million Roses draped around the auditorium and over the boxes. The organisers did not invite Marie Lloyd , one of the most famous Music Hall artists of the time, because of a professional dispute. She held a rival performance in a nearby theatre, which she advertised was "by command of the British public". The name of the event was changed to prevent possible royal embarrassment. It became an annual event at the suggestion of King George V from 1921. FURTHER PERFORMANCES The show was frequently staged in the London Palladium theatre, and in the 1950s and 1960s a television show based on the same idea, called '' Sunday Night At The London Palladium '' and hosted by many entertainers including Bruce Forsyth ran for over 20 years. Television coverage of the royal show itself traditionally alternates each year between the BBC and ITV . Almost every sort of conceivable act has at one time or another been presented to the monarch at the Royal Command Performance, including The Beatles in 1963, The Supremes in 1968 and The Blue Man Group in 2005. On November 4 1963 , John Lennon delivered an ad-lib to the well-heeled audience which has passed into legend: "For our last number I'd like to ask your help: Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewellery!" The money raised by the Royal Variety Performance provides most of the funding for Entertainment Artistes Benevolent Fund and its home, Brinsworth House , a home for retired members of the entertainment profession and their dependents. LIST OF PERFORMANCES Dame Shirley Bassey has appeared at the variety performance a number of times to great acclaim. Her 1994 performance brought the first standing ovation at the show for over twenty years. The 2007 performance will be held on 3rd December in the Liverpool Empire Theatre . Acts will include Paul Potts who, based on the votes phoned in by the television audience, won '' Britain's Got Talent '', an ITV talent show presented by Ant & Dec and judged by Piers Morgan , Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell . Sixteen performances have been cancelled because of world conflict or the Royal Family's official mourning. EXTERNAL LINKS
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