Beecham, Thomas, Sir

1879 - Born on the 29th of April in St. Helens, Lancashire, England.

1899 - Directed the Hallé Orchestra at a concert in St Helens.

1906 - Appeared as regularly as a conductor, working initially with the New Symphony Orchestra.

1908 - Established the Beecham Symphony Orchestra.

1910 - Beecham began making recordings on 27th of July.

1915 - Began recording for the Columbia Graphophone Company.

1932 - Formed his second orchestra, the London Philharmonic; with this he achieved many triumphs in both

concert and opera.

1936 - Beecham took the London Philharmonic on a controversial tour of Germany.

- Complained that he was being used by Nazi prograndists.

- Beecham simply said he was proud of the orchestra and wanted to show it off.

1939 - Recording of Brahms' second symphony, released by Columbia Records.

1944 - Returned to Britain and created yet another orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic.

1946 - Founded Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

1949 - Back to the United States making recordings with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra.

1952 - He made several recordings with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

• "Try everything once except incest and folk dancing."