Praise Indeed!

Thrilled to get this message from my Literary Agent, Robert Smith, today about Composer of the Week and also my Novello biography In Search of Ruritania

“Just writing to say how much I enjoyed listening to the five programmes on Novello in the Composer of the Week slot on Radio 3, which in turn inspired me to read your book. I liked the format of the programmes, which were very informative and not over-regimented.  I wasn’t expecting the BBC to make special recordings or conduct so many outside interviews.”

“You should be very proud of Ivor Novello In Search of Ruritania.  The level of your research, analysis and understanding is outstanding.  You bring the man to life with all his talents and relationship complexities.  I particularly like the way you persevere in thoroughly understanding some of the people around him, like his mother and Bobbie, in a very fair and non-judgemental way.  The interviews with Mary Ellis and Gordon Duttson were landmarks of how you go deep below the surface impressions.  Without you, their pain and anxieties would have died with them, unrecorded.  Your interviews stand as fine epitaphs to both of them.

Finally, I would mention your own considerable contribution to keeping Novello’s music alive, especially with the public performances in the Grand Saloon, Drury Lane, and of course, through your Novello consultancy on Gosford Park.  Reading those passages in the book was quite an eye opener.”