“All of my professional life I have been given money for blowing down a length of brass tubing. I have done this with most of the orchestras in the UK and many international ones, including the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra. I was a member of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Wallace Collection and the London Sinfonietta. I have worked under the baton of many Sirs: Adrian Boult, Malcolm Sergeant, Antonio Pappano, Colin Davis, George Solti, Simon Rattle; and many non-Sirs: Aaron Copland, Benjamin Britten, Seiji Ozawa, Bernard Haitink, Leonard Bernstein, Mariss Jansons. I was Mr Oom-pah-pah in Rainbow with Bungle and Zippy – one of the most famous children’s programmes in the 1970s – and Tubby the Tuba, in another. I have played on the soundtrack of many films – Bond films, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings. My playing has accompanied episodes of Poirot and Mr Bean. I was the tuba professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for 30 years. “I have been amazingly lucky, and I have had a thoroughly good time. I wanted to give my professional musician’s insight into the world of music before the memories disappear into the mists of my brain.”
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