By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 06:35 EST, 17 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 08:13 EST, 17 August 2013 . The assassination of John F Kennedy is to be recreated in an historic three-hour primetime programme on Radio 2 - fronted by X Factor host Dermot O'Leary. In a departure from his usual light entertainment role, O'Leary has been chosen alongside current affairs presenter Jeremy Vine to host the three-hour broadcast on November 22, the 50th anniversary of the US president's death. It will feature live singers and a band performing poignant songs from the United States civil rights era, with the story being told minute-by-minute, starting with the departure of the Presidential motorcade from Dallas Love Field airport shortly before midday local time. It will finish with vice-president Lyndon B Johnson being sworn in as President on Air Force One three hours later. US President John F. Kennedy giving his famous speech at the Schoeneberg Town Hall, Berlin. The BBC has commissioned a three-hour programme on Radio 2, which will tell the minute-by-minute, real-time story of his assassination 50 years ago . O’Leary - who is reported to have a passion for history - said the story had an additional . personal resonance for him because his parents in Co Wexford had met . President Kennedy on a journey to trace his Irish family roots. 'They . shook his hand,' he said. 'I spoke to my dad about the assassination and . he said it was a proper standstill moment. The moon landings and JFK . getting shot were the two big moments for that generation.' Largely known as an entertainment . presenter, O’Leary described his role as 'wingman' to the 'gravitas' of Vine, a news and current affairs specialist. The . X Factor presenter is a passionate fan of history and said he would . like to make further documentaries as part of the BBC's commemoration of . the centenary of the First World War. X Factor host Dermot O'Leary, left, and current affairs broadcaster Jeremy Vine, right, will present the show . O'Leary, centre, is known for his X Factor role and previous jobs on programmes like Big Brother . The . presenter has also talked to the BBC about a potential project tracing . the front line of the Battle of the Somme, which stretched from the . North Sea to Switzerland. Bob . Shennan, controller of Radio 2, said the BBC would broadcast the events . at the time of day they happened – the shooting in Dealey Plaza . occurred at 6.30pm British time. 'The listeners are very familiar with . the tale but they be will be able to experience how that story unfolded . in real time exactly 50 years on and that will give it a sense of . frisson,' he told The Independent. The . ambitious project follows the BBC’s real-time broadcast of the sinking . of the Titanic on the centenary of the catastrophe in April last year. That story, also featuring the narration of Vine and O’Leary, used live . performance of the music of the ship’s orchestra as a soundtrack. The . documentary won the Grand Award at the New York Festival for the world’s . best radio programmes. President John F. Kennedy and wife Jacquline ride up Broadway in New York City . The programme will air on November 22 - the day of President Kennedy's death 50 years before. The Titanic broadcast was late at night . but The Assassination Of JFK – Minute By Minute is being put into the . drive-time schedule, meaning it is likely to be heard by an audience of . around 7 million. Shennan . acknowledged the assassination was one of the first global news events . to be communicated by television imagery. But he said: 'Sometimes these . stories are better on radio because you are just concentrating on the . spoken word and it can be made into a very powerful experience.' The documentary is being made by independent production company TBI Media, which also produced the Titanic programme. The live singers will be familiar names to the Radio 2 audience and the station said they were being carefully chosen for their ability to perform songs such as the civil rights anthem Abraham, Martin and John, written by Dick Holler five years after the shooting, and also referencing the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King .
The Assassination of JFK - Minute by Minute will air on drive-time slot on November 22 .
O'Leary will present the show alongside Jeremy Vine .
The X Factor presenter says historic event 'resonates with him' because parents met the president in Ireland .
Live singers and a band will perform poignant songs from the US civil rights era .
There will be eye-witness accounts and expert analysis of one of the most famous events of the 20th-century .
Follows on from another real-time broadcast last year about the sinking of the Titanic .
By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 06:35 EST, 17 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 08:13 EST, 17 August 2013 . The assassination of John F Kennedy is to be recreated in an historic three-hour primetime programme on Radio 2 - fronted by X Factor host Dermot O'Leary. In a departure from his usual light entertainment role, O'Leary has been chosen alongside current affairs presenter Jeremy Vine to host the three-hour broadcast on November 22, the 50th anniversary of the US president's death. It will feature live singers and a band performing poignant songs from the United States civil rights era, with the story being told minute-by-minute, starting with the departure of the Presidential motorcade from Dallas Love Field airport shortly before midday local time. It will finish with vice-president Lyndon B Johnson being sworn in as President on Air Force One three hours later. US President John F. Kennedy giving his famous speech at the Schoeneberg Town Hall, Berlin. The BBC has commissioned a three-hour programme on Radio 2, which will tell the minute-by-minute, real-time story of his assassination 50 years ago . O’Leary - who is reported to have a passion for history - said the story had an additional . personal resonance for him because his parents in Co Wexford had met . President Kennedy on a journey to trace his Irish family roots. 'They . shook his hand,' he said. 'I spoke to my dad about the assassination and . he said it was a proper standstill moment. The moon landings and JFK . getting shot were the two big moments for that generation.' Largely known as an entertainment . presenter, O’Leary described his role as 'wingman' to the 'gravitas' of Vine, a news and current affairs specialist. The . X Factor presenter is a passionate fan of history and said he would . like to make further documentaries as part of the BBC's commemoration of . the centenary of the First World War. X Factor host Dermot O'Leary, left, and current affairs broadcaster Jeremy Vine, right, will present the show . O'Leary, centre, is known for his X Factor role and previous jobs on programmes like Big Brother . The . presenter has also talked to the BBC about a potential project tracing . the front line of the Battle of the Somme, which stretched from the . North Sea to Switzerland. Bob . Shennan, controller of Radio 2, said the BBC would broadcast the events . at the time of day they happened – the shooting in Dealey Plaza . occurred at 6.30pm British time. 'The listeners are very familiar with . the tale but they be will be able to experience how that story unfolded . in real time exactly 50 years on and that will give it a sense of . frisson,' he told The Independent. The . ambitious project follows the BBC’s real-time broadcast of the sinking . of the Titanic on the centenary of the catastrophe in April last year. That story, also featuring the narration of Vine and O’Leary, used live . performance of the music of the ship’s orchestra as a soundtrack. The . documentary won the Grand Award at the New York Festival for the world’s . best radio programmes. President John F. Kennedy and wife Jacquline ride up Broadway in New York City . The programme will air on November 22 - the day of President Kennedy's death 50 years before. The Titanic broadcast was late at night . but The Assassination Of JFK – Minute By Minute is being put into the . drive-time schedule, meaning it is likely to be heard by an audience of . around 7 million. Shennan . acknowledged the assassination was one of the first global news events . to be communicated by television imagery. But he said: 'Sometimes these . stories are better on radio because you are just concentrating on the . spoken word and it can be made into a very powerful experience.' The documentary is being made by independent production company TBI Media, which also produced the Titanic programme. The live singers will be familiar names to the Radio 2 audience and the station said they were being carefully chosen for their ability to perform songs such as the civil rights anthem Abraham, Martin and John, written by Dick Holler five years after the shooting, and also referencing the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King .
been chosen alongside current affairs presenter November 22, the 50th anniversary of the US and a band performing poignant songs from the United States civil rights era, with the story resonance for him because his parents in Co current affairs specialist. The . X Factor broadcaster Jeremy Vine, right, will present the the BBC’s real-time broadcast of the sinking . of in April last year. That story, also featuring City . The programme will air on November 22 - but The Assassination Of JFK – Minute By Minute the Titanic programme. The live singers will be