Songfacts®:

• In 1961 Cliff Richard starred in his first major musical film, The Young Ones. The soundtrack, co-written by members of Richard's backing group The Shadows, spawned several hits, including the title track.
  
  The Shadows rhythm guitarist Bruce Welch and drummer Brian Bennett wrote this sing-along song for Cliff Richard's next movie, Summer Holiday. Welch recalled to The Daily Mail's Weekend magazine:
  
  "We were in pantomime in Stockton-on-Tees when we got a synopsis of the next movie that we had to try and write some songs for. It said, 'Four or five guys hire a London bus and drive through Europe meeting girls on a summer holiday.' That was it.
  
  'Our drummer Brian Bennett was in the orchestra pit. I sang, 'We're all going on a summer holiday, no more working for a week or two.'" Brian wrote, 'We're going where the sun shines brightly. We're going where the sea is blue.' It took us about half an hour. We wrote songs that changed society. It was amazing."
• Cliff Richard sings the song in the movie while driving a London Transport double-decker bus that has been converted into a holiday caravan.
• The Summer Holiday soundtrack topped the UK albums charts for 14 weeks despite being released in the winter. All three singles released from the album reached #1 on the UK charts; this song, the double A-side single "Bachelor Boy" and "The Next Time," plus "Foot Tapper" (by The Shadows).
• This was one of six songs Cliff Richard sang at the 1996 Wimbledon Championships when rain stopped the tennis. He recalled to The Daily Telegraph that he started singing "Summer Holiday" as a joke and ended up being backed by past tennis stars Virginia Wade, Martina Navratilova, Hana Mandlíková, Pam Shriver, Liz Smylie, Gigi Fernández and Conchita Martínez, who were all in the Royal Box.
• Dutch duo MC Miker G & Deejay Sven interpolated the chorus of "Summer Holiday" during their 1986 hit single "Holiday Rap."
• "Summer Holiday" arrived in the shops on February 8, 1963, bringing a blast of beachy vibes right into the teeth of the coldest British winter since 1740.