Anthony Inglis is a conductor, probably best known for his 33-year tenure at the musical 'Phantom of the Opera' and is also associated with the shipping line, Cunard.

This is an entertaining account of Anthony's life and career. Several family members were in the RAF and one of his uncles flew in the Battle of Britain.

Anthony is very proud of his family history and RAF connection, which is completely understandable.

Having decided from an early age that he would be a conductor, Anthony left school early to attend the Royal College of Music. He has been fortunate to travel the world doing a job he loves pretty much ever since.

This is a detailed account - one could argue too detailed at times - but there are a lot of genuinely funny anecdotes along the way. Anthony has met and worked alongside many well-known people, including the Two Ronnies, and is now music director for the singer Katherine Jenkins.

As a violinist in my local symphony orchestra I certainly appreciate how important a good conductor is but, as Anthony explains, not everything always goes according to plan, even with the best orchestras and musicians.

Anthony has never been what he would call an academic, yet he comes across as charismatic and a witty raconteur.

Several sentences end with exclamation marks, not all strictly necessary, and this may prove irritating for some readers.

Nevertheless, it is a good read and certainly for anyone who has seen Anthony conduct over the years.

I received a free digital ARC of this book via Matador, and am leaving my honest appraisal voluntarily.

4.5

I am wont to reading several books at once so I take notes as I go along. My scribbles for Anthony Inglis' autobiographical book reads "rollicking good read" and "illustrious family" amongst others.

I can't honestly think of a better word than illustrious for the Inglis family - RAF heroes, world renowned conductor; a family of singularly accomplished people.

This book was a delight to read. Mr Inglis' childhood reads like a sad Boys Own story - illness that tore him away from home and public school where he never settled - but he makes it very amusing (I laughed a lot throughout the whole book). His later life was not much more settled what with jetting all over the world to conduct various orchestras including working with Katherine Jenkins, Lord Lloyd Webber, Cameron Mackintosh and a decades long stint at Phantom of the Opera - the only "musical" I like).

I don't think you need to know anything about the musical world to enjoy this book as it clear that Anthony Inglis is an accomplished raconteur (he's had a lot of experience talking to orchestras and audiences). There's also the wow factor - who doesn't he know or hasn't met. What a life it has been up to this point.

Well worth reading. Easy to dip in and out of. Very entertaining.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

We have seen the flamboyant conductor Anthony Inglis a few times so I was intrigued to read his memoir. For 25 years, he was Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra and for 33 years from 1987 until 2020, Music Director/Supervisor/Consultant of Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre in London.

Since 2017 he has been Music Director of the London Concert Orchestra and since 2004 Music Director for the Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins, who provides the foreword.

Inglis has a distinguished RAF family background. Nine of his relatives were senior and distinguished pilots in the service. His family history however, did not stop him from deciding at the age of six that he was going to conduct.

His interest in music started at Marlborough College, where he had won a scholarship worth £150. He then went to the Royal College of Music. His first time conducting was with an orchestra he put together himself and named the Student Association Orchestra.

During his varied career, mostly in musical theatre, he has met many famous people: the Queen Mother, Yehudi Menuhin, Ronnie Barker (who, he tells us, wrote the famous Four Candles sketch himself). He argued with Andrew Lloyd Webber, who inevitably won with his assertion "I wrote the music; I own the theatre; this is what I want!"

Inglis comes across as irrepressible and flamboyant, yet, in the best sense of the word, ordinary. He recounts his memories and anecdotes in the way you and I would. I just wish he hadn't been quite so liberal with the exclamation marks.