'Walking in the Air', written by Howard Blake (born 1938), featured in the 1982 animated film 'The Snowman', which was based on the 1978 book of the same name by Raymond Briggs (born 1934). The short film tells the story of a young boy and his snowman, who magically comes to life at the stroke of midnight. 'Walking in the Air' plays while the boy and snowman fly through the air to attend a snowman party at the North Pole. At first, the boy is the only human at the party until he discovers Father Christmas and his reindeer.

For the film, the song was performed by Peter Auty (born 1969), a St Paul's Cathedral choirboy, however, the Welsh singer Aled Jones (born 1970) is more commonly associated with the song. This is because Jones was invited to sing a version of the song for a television advertisement for the company 'Toys R Us' in 1985. Jones' version reached number 5 in the UK Singles Charts.

Music plays throughout the entire 26-minute film and the story is told without dialogue, except for a brief narration at the beginning. Blake wrote the score for the film as well as the well-loved song, which was performed by the Sinfonia of London.

'The Snowman' received a nomination for Best Short Film at the 55th Academy Awards in 1983 and won a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) for Best Children's Programme. In 2012, 'Walking in the Air' was voted 13th in 'The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song'.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org