Those editorial types at BBC Music Magazine clearly like to dress me up and send me back in time and on long journeys. In April 2015, I was invited to don a tweed suit, mount an ancient Sunbeam bicycle and, assuming the persona of Elgar, travel the roads once graced by the English composer. The following January, I was the Shakespearean clown Will Kemp, dancing from London to Norwich; and then in March 2017, I was trooping around the capital itself, this time as Joseph Haydn.
Now, as we reach the 150th anniversary of the birth of Vaughan Williams on 12 October, it’s time to similarly pay tribute to the great man, himself an avid walker. Boots tied, boater on, I’m back on the road. And, filled with the spirit of VW, I’ve shared a few tales that I like to think he might have told from beyond the grave. Over to you, Ralph…
IN 1955, I RECEIVED an
