Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A musician and soldier, best known as a bandmaster and trumpeter who played at the 1937 coronation.
On the island
Eight records
I suppose a rather hackneyed record in some ways, but I love it. Having been a choir boy myself.
Air from Suite No. 3 in D majorFavourite
It's very, very pure music and reminds me of the days when I really first got the feeling of the music as an appreciative art.
Coronation Choir and Orchestra
This great coronation anthem that was started by the Nellahall trumpets on this occasion.
Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90
This was the work I conducted with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.
Nimrod (from Enigma Variations)
Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli
We play Nimrod at the Cenotaph Service.
One of my own marches. Very light-hearted, commissioned for a playout of the cinema goers after the film.
Marching with the Beatles (excerpt: Michelle)
The last record the Band of the Irish Guards made with me.
In conversation
Presenter asks
3:54So you were pitchforked into the army at the age of fourteen. What as?
A very diminutive bandboy. A very low form of life in the army. Very low indeed. I suppose the band corporal's dog was a higher form of animal life in those days. But one mustn't dismiss it quite like this, because one is very, very regimented.
Presenter asks
5:06Now obviously you were an ambitious man. What were your ambitions and how did you fulfil them?
I suppose at one stage I determined that I would become a bandmaster, and with that in view I studied very hard and became a student at the Royal Middle School of Music again in Nell Hall. … I was very fortunate in my probationary period it was at the time of the nineteen thirty seven coronation, and I was one of those very fortunate people that were chosen to play the trumpets, you know, the famous Nellahall trumpets, on the organ loft in Westminster Abbey on this tremendous occasion.
Presenter asks
7:38I see you have the degree of Bachelor of Music. Did you get this at Nellerhall?
No, I took this externally at Durham.
The keepsakes
The book
a big anthology of modern British poetry of this century
let's find a big anthology of modern British poetry of this century. Yes, that would suit me very well.
The luxury
I'd like to take my chess set with me, my pocket chess set. It's been all over the world with me, providing I could have some kind of compendium of games with it.
Presenter asks
10:44When did you get your commission?
I was commissioned when I went to Sandhurst, the Royal Military Academy, as director of music, since in 1948 all the corps in the Army became commissioned ranks, and Sandhurst was called the Royal Military Academy Band Corps.
Presenter asks
14:26How far back in British military history does the regimental band go?
Well, the first known combinations that were used by regiments go back to 1600, when they used to have trumpets and drums on horses that took part actually in warfare as well as on ceremonial occasions. And through the centuries, in fact, to the present time, the more musical combinations were established in, I suppose, middle part of the last century when valves and things became added to open tubing and more sophisticated instruments were available for use.
Presenter asks
15:09Have you ever felt that it [military band music] was rather limited?
Yes, I suppose it's true to say that in one's army life and one's association with army music, you do not in fact come in contact with enough really good music.
“A very diminutive bandboy. A very low form of life in the army. Very low indeed. I suppose the band corporal's dog was a higher form of animal life in those days.”
“I was very fortunate in my probationary period it was at the time of the nineteen thirty seven coronation, and I was one of those very fortunate people that were chosen to play the trumpets, you know, the famous Nellahall trumpets, on the organ loft in Westminster Abbey on this tremendous occasion.”
“In my twenty years we went to Canada three times. Quite recently, only three months ago we went to Canada. Then we went to America, we went to Honolulu and to Australia. We've been to South America, we've been to Italy and to Germany several times.”
“I don't think I would [try to escape]. I think I'd enjoy it. I think I feel that I'm fairly fit company for myself. I think I'd enjoy it, providing the weather wasn't too bad.”
“I'd like to take my chess set with me, my pocket chess set. It's been all over the world with me.”