Don’t cry for me, Jackie Weaver: Lloyd Webber writes tribute to Zoom sensation

Andrew Lloyd Webber has composed a song about Jackie Weaver, the heroine of the English parish-council meeting that went viral last week, inspired by her cool handling of the chaotic Zoom session.

The impresario told Good Morning Britain that he composed the song while bored at the weekend. “It was just a laugh. I was doing nothing on a Sunday afternoon,” he said. The council meeting was “sort of operatic”, he added.He joked at the prospect of turning the song into a West End musical: “You never know! People said Eva Peron” – the subject of his musical Evita – “was a bad idea.”

Lloyd Webber released the song on Instagram, captioning it: "A song for Jackie Weaver, we all love you!" The composer plays the piano and Carrie Hope Fletcher sings, with lyrics by Don Black. The chorus hails Weaver, the heroically stoic chief officer of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils, as "Britain's answer to the American dream" and "the role model we all strive to be. She doesn't want a medal, just a nice cup of tea".

Weaver became an overnight internet sensation after she kicked the chairman of Handforth parish council, Brian Tolver, off the Zoom call after he told her to "stop talking" and questioned her authority.

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She has since appeared on Woman’s Hour, on BBC Radio 4, been immortalised in cake and become the face of a dizzying array of merchandise, including T-shirts, mugs and greetings cards. – Guardian