Billy Don't Be a Hero to ride out and seek reinforcements. (This suggests mounted infantry and a lack of modern two-way radio communications.) In the end, the heartbroken woman throws away the official letter notifying her of Billy's "heroic" death. Paper Lace's version of "Billy Don't Be a Hero" reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart on 16 March 1974, and did likewise in Australia, where it spent eight weeks at the top spot. Thereafter, Bo Donaldson's and the Heywoods's version reached No. 1 in the U.S. on the "Billboard" Hot 100 on 15 June 1974, but was dubbed into French for Canada. The
Paper Lace Phil Wright's Original 70s Paper Lace) the band initially questioned appearing. However, with the show having weekly viewing figures of 7 million, they concluded that going on the programme was a "no brainer", and the band won Opportunity Knocks for five consecutive weeks. Based on Opportunity Knocks' performances, songwriters (Mitch Murray and Peter Callander) offered the band "Billy Don't Be a Hero", with the possibility of more songs if it took off. Billy Don't Be a Hero would spend three weeks at Number 1 on the UK Singles Chart in March 1974, with a total of 14 weeks on the