John France

Well, I am over fifty years old- at the end of the run of baby boomers! I was born and bred in Glasgow, moving south to York in 1977. I now work in London and live in Wales…but do not do a daily commute !

By profession I am a Railway Signal Engineer, and have been for 35 years! At the moment I am heavily involved in design work for the re-signalling of the Jubilee Line…

I have been interested in classical music since performing as a ‘pirate’ in a Grammar School production of the Pirates of Penzance.  

My main interest is British Music (and has been since 1971) from Sullivan/Parry/Stanford onwards – although I do struggle with the avant-garde of the sixties and seventies. I am an enthusiast of so-called ‘light’ music and still enjoy the rock and pop music of my generation ( Zeppelin, Yes & of course the Fab Four)

My favourite composers change by the hour! But must include Finzi, Moeran, Bowen, Scott, Ireland, Bax, Alwyn and Whitlock. But not forgetting Sorabji, Messiaen and Rachmaninov. 

I play the piano for my own pleasure (about Grade 6) and have been an organist in earlier days.

I am also interested in Ecclesiology (I am very High Church!! & and a member of the Prayer Book Society), railways (but not an anorak!) and try to read as widely as possible….I like Scottish literature and still try to read a bit of Latin now and again! Enjoy Real Ale, and Real Lancashire Cheese.

I love the English countryside – and have always wanted to ‘Go West, Boy. Go west’ - Houseman a huge influence on my aesthetic. Have spent most of my life looking for the ‘Land of Lost Content’ and only occasionally glimpsed it…somewhere in…???

In fact that is what I now call my British Music Blog - The Land of Lost Content - British Music Blog

 

And that is about it really….