BRUCE MONTGOMERY/EDMUND CRISPIN: A LIFE IN MUSIC AND BOOKS To my parents, for their constant encouragement Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books DAVID WHITTLE Leicester Grammar School, UK First published 2007 by Ashgate Publishing Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2007 David Whittle David Whittle has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retri eval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Whittle, David The life and music of Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin 1. Montgomery, Bruce, 1921–1978 2. Crispin, Edmund, 1921–1978 3. Composers – Great Britain – Biography 4. Novelists, English – 20th century – Biography I.Title 780.9'2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Whittle, David, 1958- Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin : a life in music and books / by David Whittle. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7546-3443-0 (alk. paper) 1. Montgomery, Bruce, 1921–1978 2. Authors, English—20th century—Biography. 3. Composers—England—Biography. I. Title. PR6025.O46Z95 2007 780.92—dc22 [B] 2006021119 ISBN 9780754634430 (hbk) Contents List of Plates vii List of Music Examples ix Acknowledgements xi Introduction 1 1 ‘Daydreaming child with nice manners’: 1921–1928 3 2 ‘An intellectual snob’: 1928–1940 7 3 ‘A seminal moment’: 1940–1943 23 4 ‘What a bloody business’: 1943–1945 37 5 ‘You mustn’t mind if I pay for it’: Music and Novels 1945–1952 59 6 ‘It ought to go off all right’: Music 1948–1950 81 7 ‘I still think it isn’t half bad’: Music 1951–1952 103 8 ‘The home of lost corpses’: Novels 1947–1948 121 9 ‘Mania for needless impostures’: Novels 1950–1953 133 10 ‘A genuine unforced enthusiasm’: Films 1948–1962 145 11 ‘Complicated by downright panic’: Films 1958–1962 163 12 ‘Much engrossed with Doom’: Anthologies 1954–1966 171 13 ‘I’ve become an Immobilist’: 1950–1962 183 14 ‘A sort of slack sabbatical’: 1962–1976 193 15 ‘A full scale replica of Chatsworth’: 1962–1976 207 16 ‘Slightly low water’: 1959–1970 219 17 ‘High time I was under new management’: 1957–1976 233 18 ‘The bonelessness of the short-distance funner’: 1974–1978 243 Postscript 259 Appendix 1: Montgomery and Detective Fiction 263 Appendix 2: Montgomery and Film Music 269 Appendix 3: List of Montgomery’s Novels and Other Books 275 Appendix 4: List of Montgomery’s Compositions 277 Appendix 5: Discography 301 Bibliography 303 Index 305 List of Plates 1 Domus, RBM’s childhood home 2 RBM in 1925, aged 4 3 Olive, RBM, Robert Montgomery, Elspeth, Sheila and unidentified man at Hayling Island, August 1928 4 RBM at his piano in Rock Hill House, c.1950 5 RBM composing at his piano in Rock Hill House, c.1950 6 Jeni Turnbull, RBM, Mrs and Mr Turnbull at the Crown and Thistle, Abingdon, New Year’s Eve, 1954 (Jeni Turnbull) 7 Sinfonia of London dinner at ISM Club, c.1957. RBM on nearest table, 6th from right, looking away from camera. Others present include Muir Mathieson and Malcolm Arnold, on top table, respectively 5th and 6th from left. (James Brown) 8 RBM with his parents and Nora, c.1960 9 RBM with Elspeth, Sheila and Nora at Rock Hill House, August 1960 10 RBM’s brief conducting appearance in Raising the Wind, 1961 (Canal+ Image UK) 11 RBM with his mother and Mr C.A. Warnford, assistant manager of the ABC Cinema, Torquay, at a showing of Raising the Wind, 1961 12 Week Meadow (author) 13 Brian Aldiss, Kingsley Amis and RBM at the British Science Fiction Association Convention, Bull Hotel, Peterborough, April 1963 (Brian Aldiss) 14 RBM with Desmond Bagley at Week Meadow, c.1970 (Joan Bagley) 15 RBM with Ann outside Week Meadow on their wedding day, 19 February 1976 Uncredited illustrations are from the collection of Sheila Rossiter. List of Music Examples 2.1 Pilgrimage 15 2.2 Pilgrimage 16 6.1 Four Shakespeare Songs (Second Set): ‘When Icicles Hang’ 84 6.2 Four Shakespeare Songs (Second Set): ‘Who is Silvia?’ 84 6.3 Four Shakespeare Songs (Second Set): ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’ 85 6.4 Willy Drowned in Yarrow 87 6.5 Mary Ambree 89 6.6 Mary Ambree 89 6.7 Christ’s Birthday: ‘In the bleak mid-winter’ 92 6.8 Christ’s Birthday: ‘In the bleak mid-winter’ 93 6.9 Christ’s Birthday: ‘In the bleak mid-winter’ 94 6.10 Concertino for String Orchestra: ‘Moderato quasi allegro’ 97 6.11 Concertino for String Orchestra: ‘Moderato quasi allegro’ 97 6.12 Concertino for String Orchestra: ‘Moderato quasi allegro’ 97 6.13 Concertino for String Orchestra: ‘Lento espressivo’ 98 6.14 Concertino for String Orchestra: ‘Lento espressivo’ 98 6.15 Concertino for String Orchestra: ‘Vivace ed energico’ 98 6.16 Concertino for String Orchestra: ‘Vivace ed energico’ 98 6.17 Concertino for String Orchestra: ‘Vivace ed energico’ 99 6.18 Concertino for String Orchestra: ‘Vivace ed energico’ 99 7.1 An Oxford Requiem: ‘Lord, thou hast been our refuge’ 104 7.2 An Oxford Requiem: ‘As for man, his days are as grass’ 105 7.3 An Oxford Requiem: ‘As for man, his days are as grass’ 105 7.4 An Oxford Requiem: ‘As for man, his days are as grass’ 106 7.5 An Oxford Requiem: ‘But thou, O Lord, art my defender’ 107 7.6 Venus’ Praise: ‘Ask me no more where Jove bestows’ 108 7.7 Venus’ Praise: ‘Ask me no more where Jove bestows’ 109 7.8 Venus’ Praise: ‘Love for such a cherry lip’ 110 7.9 Venus’ Praise: ‘Love is a sickness full of woes’ 111 7.10 John Barleycorn: ‘The Three Hungry Girls’ 116 7.11 John Barleycorn: ‘The Corn-Dance’ 117 7.12 John Barleycorn: ‘The Corn-Dance’ 118 x Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books 10.1 Carry On Nurse: Section 1M1 152 10.2 Carry On Nurse: Section 4M2 152 10.3 Carry On Nurse: Section 1M2A 153 10.4 Carry On Nurse: Section 1M1 153 10.5 Carry On Teacher: Section 10MA 154 10.6 Twice Round the Daffodils: Section 1M1 154 12.1 At The Round Earth’s Imagin’d Corners 173 12.2 At The Round Earth’s Imagin’d Corners 173 Acknowledgements I have been very fortunate to meet nothing but generosity in the writing of this book. Montgomery’s friends and acquaintances have been unfailingly helpful and willing to speak to me, as have custodians of archives and other material. In particular, I must mention Dr Judith Priestman, Dr Peter Ward Jones and the staff at the Bodleian Library for permitting me to sift through Montgomery’s papers before they were catalogued, and for their help in fielding questions. I am also grateful to Merton College and St John’s College, Oxford, for providing me with accommodation and other facilities. Many individuals have helped me enormously, and their interest in the project, and in many cases their hospitality, has made the toil of research a pleasure. It is a strange feeling (almost one of impertinence) to quiz people who knew Montgomery and from their recollections paint a portrait of a person I will never meet. Their eagerness to talk about Montgomery demonstrates, I think, the esteem and affection in which he was, and is, held. I owe some of them a particular debt. By the end of my conversations with Brian Aldiss I felt very well informed about the development of science fiction, having known more or less nothing about it previously. He has been a great supporter of the biography. The late Geoffrey Bush was also an enormous enthusiast for the project and kept me up to the mark with notes and jottings. The detailed reminiscences of Colin and Mary Strang and Audrey Stock were all the more pleasurable for having taken place whilst enjoying their lively and convivial company. In the early stages of my research I greatly appreciated Robert Pascall’s wise advice whilst trying to fashion a thesis out of the material. I must also thank my friend and colleague Charles Paterson who inadvertently set me on the Montgomery trail; his eager discussions of twentieth-century English music and detective fiction are always illuminating. I am most grateful to Phil Clymer and Chorion for readily allowing me to quote so extensively from Montgomery’s novels. I am very happy to acknowledge the following people and organisations: the late Sir Kingsley Amis, the late Sir Thomas Armstrong, Sir Malcolm Arnold, Joan Bagley, Julie Baldwin (Collins Publishers), J.G. Ballard, Betty Baly, the late Jacques Barzun, Jean Bell, the late Revd J.G. Bishop, the late Bill Blezzard, Christopher Bornet (Royal College of Music), Richard Braine, BBC Natural History Unit, Geoffrey Brown (Merchant Taylors’ School), James Brown, the late Geoffrey Bush, Rev. C.A. Cardale, the late Humphrey Carpenter, Michael Charlesworth (Shrewsbury School), Charles Cleall, Robert Conquest, John Noble Cooper, Cecil Cope, Caroline Cornish (BBC Written Archives Centre), Rosi Crane (BBC South & West), the late Julian Critchley, Constance Cruickshank (Faber and Faber), the late Mary Peel Davies, Oliver Davies (Royal College of Music), Kieran Doyle, the late Ruth Dyson, Evening Standard, Percy Everett, Elizabeth Ferrars, The Film Institute of Ireland, Dick Francis, Anthea Fraser (Crime Writers’ Association), Dr M.R.