Arnold Bax

Arnold Bax shunned the opportunity to go to university, deciding to spend five years at the Royal Academy of Music instead. He went on to became a composer of all sorts of music (except opera), and between 1922-38 wrote seven symphonies. The brother of playwright Clifford Bax, Arnold was an accomplished writer of short stories and novels, and also penned his autobiography “Farewell My Youth”.

Bax was appointed the Master of the King’s Musick (as it was known then) in February 1942, and during his time in office, composed a march in honour of Malta’s winning of the George Cross, which was played at the funeral of King George VI. He also composed trumpet fanfares for the wedding ceremony of Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947, and in 1953, composed a special march for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Bax was awarded the Beethoven Gold Medal by the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1931, and became a Doctor of Music at Oxford (1934) and Durham (1935). He was knighted in 1937. Bax died a month before his 70th birthday after collapsing whilst out driving on holiday in Cork, Ireland, in 1953.