Conductor, born in London, England, UK. He studied at the Royal College of Music, London. He trained the BBC Chorus (1938--42), conducted the BBC Northern (1944--51), the Bournemouth Symphony (1951--61), the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (1963--77) orchestras, and was also musical director of the Welsh and English National Operas (1961--3 and 1978--9 respectively), as well as president of the National Youth Orchestra (1977--92). He became musical director of the Leeds Philharmonic Society in 1988. He was noted for his mastery of the Romantic repertoire and for championing living composers. He was knighted in 1973.