Illuminating dive into the life and works of Britten

CHRISTOPHER MORLEY meets the author whose hatred of physics sparked a love of music

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TIMOTHY Gilbert lives in quiet retirement at home in Walsall and he has produced an illuminating book on Benjamin Britten, exploring aspects of the composer’s work rarely touched on before.

More of that later, but first I ask him about the path which brought him to a love of one of this country’s greatest composers.

“I went to Queen Mary's Grammar School in Walsall, and then on to Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge to read History. But in order to escape Physics at O-level four of us opted to take O-level music. I was the only one who passed!

“I had taken clarinet lessons up to Grade 3 and 4, but had given up on the piano after Grade 1 because of the pressures at the Grammar School. But Radio 3's This Week’s Composer was a wonderful companion!

“One of the set works for O-level was Britten’s St Nicolas cantata, and I was captivated by its melodic freshness, and its resourcefulness deployed so skilfully for amateurs, and the congregational hymns I like very much.