# List of people who have switched on the Blackpool Illuminations

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. 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

| Year | |
| 1934 | Lord Derby |
| 1935 | Audrey Mosson (Railway Queen of Great Britain) |
| 1936 | Sir Josiah Stamp |
| 1937 | Prince George, Duke of Kent |
| 1938 | Councillor Mabel A. Quayle (Mayoress of Blackpool; first woman councillor) |
| 1939–1948 | Cancelled due to World War II |
| 1949 | Anna Neagle |
| 1950 | Wilfred Pickles |
| 1951 | Stanley Matthews |
| 1952 | Valerie Hobson |
| 1953 | George Formby |
| 1954 | Gilbert Harding |
| 1955 | Yakov Malik (Soviet Ambassador) |
| 1956 | Reginald Dixon |
| 1957 | John H. Whitney (American Ambassador) |
| 1958 | A. E. "Matty" Matthews |
| 1959 | Jayne Mansfield |
| 1960 | Janet Munro |
| 1961 | Violet Carson |
| 1962 | Shirley Anne Field |
| 1963 | Cliff Michelmore |
| 1964 | Gracie Fields |
| 1965 | David Tomlinson |
| 1966 | Ken Dodd |
| 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 |
| 1975 | Cast of Doctor Who: Tom Baker (in costume as The Doctor), Elisabeth Sladen and Ian Marter |
| 1976 | Carol Jean Grant (Miss United Kingdom) |
| 1977 | Red Rum |
| 1978 | Terry Wogan |
| 1979 | Kermit the Frog and The Muppets |
| 1980 | Cannon and Ball |
| 1981 | Earl & Countess Spencer |
| 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) |
| 1986 | Les Dawson |
| 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 |
| 1993 | Status Quo |
| 1994 | Shirley Bassey |
| 1995 | Bee Gees |
| 1996 | Eternal |
| 1997 | Michael Ball |
| 1998 | Wayne Sleep |
| 1999 | Gary Barlow |
| 2000 | Westlife |
| 2001 | Steps |
| 2002 | Ronan Keating |
| 2003 | Blue |
| 2004 | Geri Halliwell |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 2015 | Tim Burton |
| 2016 | Barbara Windsor |
| 2017 | Star Trek: Discovery (Jason Isaacs) and Diversity |
| 2018 | Alfie Boe |
| 2019 | Lucy Fallon |
| 2020 | A group of Britain's Coronavirus NHS Heroes |
| 2021 | Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas |
| 2022 | Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (replacement for Johnny Vegas) |
| 2023 | Sophie Ellis-Bextor |
| 2024 | Mel B (Scary Spice) |