Dame Moura Lympany

Where does the name Lympany originate?

It's my mother's maiden name. But in the old spelling. I was actually born Johnston, Moora Johnston. and though on my birth certificate was put Mary Johnston, Uh I was called Moora from birth. It's a diminutive of Mary uh in Russian.

Why did you go off to boarding school abroad so early?

Yes, um, you see, we were very poor and my father uh had been an army officer and uh he had never really been trained to do a job. And my mother had to try and keep Keep us all going. There were three of us. I had two brothers. One was killed in the war. And therefore she sent me to Belgium, having seen an an advertisement in the Catholic Times which said a convent in Belgium. A five pounds a term.

How did your debut at twelve years old come about?

Well, my mother and I were living at that time in either Bexhill or St Leonard's on Sea. And mummy took me to a concert at White Rock Pavilion, Hastings. Basil Cameron was conducting, and there was a boy prodigy playing. And I listened to the concert, and when it was over I said to mummy, Mummy, couldn't I play? And she said, Well, I'll I'll ask m Mr Cameron. So she wrote Mr Cameron and um he said he'd give me an audition and I played to him and he said yes, I'll engage her.