Sir Thomas in Seattle

Hissing for pianissimos like a music-loving gander, the goateed, salt-&-peppery conductor waved the orchestra into Delius' placid The Walk to the Paradise Garden. Suddenly Sir Thomas Beecham heard a sound that was not in the score.

Sir Thomas does not like to hear sounds that are not in the score. This one was the click of a camera shutter, from News Photographer Arthur French, who was in the front row. Sir Thomas whirled in fury, brandishing his baton, shouted: "Leave the hall. This is an insult to the audience. You're sorry? Well, you should be. Leave the hall at once." Photographer French left with all speed.

The Seattle Symphony and the audience were much impressed. They were also impressed by the fact that the rich, gouty, opinionated, convivial conductor is one of the world's half-dozen best, and by his uninhibited performance: his hisses and shouted "Hos" (for loud passages), his spectacular wind-ups, his devotion to the reeling & writhing & fainting-in-coils method of conducting.

Before the week was out, Sir Thomas was photographed in even more annoying circumstances: receiving a writ from a process server. By way of the Seattle sheriff's office, His Majesty's Government notified Sir Thomas of its claim that he owed some $5,000 in back income taxes. The heir to Beecham's pills ("Worth a Guinea a Box") pleaded ignorance of the claim, cabled his solicitors to pay the claim, if just, or fight it, if not.

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