WE'RE so used to seeing Songs Of Praise (BBC1, Sunday, 5.30pm) nestling in our Sunday afternoon schedules, it's easy to take it for granted and forget all about its origins. So here's a quick reminder.

It all began back in the black and white days of 1961 when there were just two channels to choose from. The Sunday evening slot at 6.15pm on both BBC1 and ITV was taken up with religious programming, usually featuring a studio debate.

However, producer Donald Baverstock once caught an outside broadcast featuring hymn singing from a Welsh chapel. He found it so compelling he suggested to Stuart Hood, then director of programmes, that an entire series along similar lines just might work. And thus, despite criticism in some quarters, Songs of Praise was born, making its debut on the first Sunday in October 1961.

That edition came from the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Cardiff, then, the following week, moved on elsewhere - and the format has remained largely the same.

In its heyday, the show attracted 12 million viewers, and in this era of multi-channel TV, still gets around four million tuning in every week, which is no mean feat.

Over the years it's been introduced by numerous famous faces, including Harry Secombe, Thora Hird, David Steele MP, Cliff Richard and Jonathan Edwards. This week's presenting duties are taken by Aled Jones, a former choirboy himself.

Sprang to fame

Aled started his career singing at Bangor Cathedral at the age of nine, and within two years was the lead soloist. He sprang to fame in the early 1980s by releasing a version of Walking In the Air, which reached number five in the charts. He continued to record until his voice broke at 16, forcing him to take a career break.

Jones then studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and has since enjoyed success as a singer and on stage.

Now happily married with two children, arguably his most famous achievement in recent years is coming fourth in the second series of Strictly Come Dancing.

Highlights so far have included a special edition profiling Ralph Vaughan Williams who remains, 50 years after his death, one of Britain's most important composers.

And this week, the show comes to the north west as it looks at the refurbishment of the stunning Gorton Monastery, known as `Manchester's Taj Mahal'.

The 19th century Friary is one of the finest examples of Victorian Gothic architecture in the world.

It closed for worship in 1989 and eight years later was placed on the World Monuments Fund watch list of the 100 most endangered sites in the world, alongside Pompeii and the Valley Of The Kings.

After an extensive £6m heritage refurbishment programme, the monastery reopened in June last year as an upmarket venue for concerts, conferences and community groups.