Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me” These lyrics, known the world over, celebrated their 250th anniversary on 1 January 2023. They were first performed to a congregation on 1 January 1773, having been composed by the Reverend John Newton (1725-1807) of St Peter and St Paul Church in the small town of Olney, Buckinghamshire.
Little did the congregation know that the hymn they had just heard in their local church, just outside Milton Keynes, would become so loved across the world, and would go on to be considered the ‘spiritual anthem’ of the USA.
Newton originally entitled the hymn, a little less catchy than its better-known title. The tune that we know so well was also added in the USA in 1835.
