Pipeline Press
  • HOME
  • Books
    • Organs and Organists
    • Organ-isms Anecdotes Book
    • Organist at your service
    • Puzzle Book >
      • Grids
      • Puzzle Images
      • Errata
      • Solutions >
        • Alphabet soup
        • A-mazing tuner
        • Crosswords
        • Letter Ladders
        • Plain Difficult
        • Ring the Changes
        • Logic Problems
        • Spot the difference
        • Sudoku
        • Tricky Passages
        • Word Search
    • Looking Up
    • The Organ's Prayer
    • Olivier Latry in conversation
    • Paradisus Musicus
  • Recordings
    • Resounding Aftershocks CD
    • Organ Capers
  • Organists In the kitchen
    • RECIPE INDEX >
      • Gillian Weir
      • Dianne Halliday
      • Martin Doering-in English
      • Martin Doering-in German
      • Robin Peirce
      • Hannah Parry
      • Birger Petersen
      • Marie-Louise Langlais
      • Thierry Mechler
      • Nina De Sole
      • Martin Setchell
      • Roberto Bertero
      • Carson Cooman
      • Ronald Watson
      • Katherine Dienes-Williams
      • Grimoaldo Macchia
      • Alexander Kellarev
      • Dorothy Young Riess
      • Andreas Willscher
      • Katelyn Emerson
      • Agnes Armstrong
      • Michael Barone
      • Claudius Winterhalter
      • Titus Grenyer
      • Alison Clark
      • Paul Spicer
      • Christiane Sauter-Pflomm
      • James Kibbie
      • James Flores
      • Inoue Hiroko​
      • Barry Jordan
      • Gareth Perkins
      • Thomas Ospital
    • Notes on weights and measures
  • Newsletters
  • Gifts
  • Articles & Reviews
    • Book & CD reviews >
      • Bevington
      • Booths of Wakefield
      • The Organ of Saint Sulpice, Paris
      • Messaien - Pierre Pincemaille
      • The Music of Ripon Cathedral
      • The Nordic - Baltic Organ Book
      • A Life in Music
      • Franck played by Pincemaille
      • Mystical vision
      • Noëls of Louis-Claude Daquin
      • Homage à Daniel Roth
      • Bach's complete works
      • Organ works of JPE Hartmann
      • The Box of Whistles ​by John Norman
      • Kristiaan Seynhave plays César Franck
      • Bach Orgelwerke played by Michael Radulescu
      • Le Grand Cavaillé-Coll de la Cathédrale d’Angers
      • The Organs and Organists of Ludlow Parish Church
      • The Hakims at Sacré Coeur
    • 2002 >
      • Alfred Hollins
      • Snetzler-1
      • Snetzler-2
      • Organ Voices
      • Organ Blowers 1
      • Organ Blowers 2
      • Organ Blowers 3
      • Organ Cases
      • Organ Cases 2
      • Organ Cases 3
    • 2003 >
      • Organ Cases 4
      • Architects and organ builders
      • Plain vanilla or chocolate?
      • Canterbury Cousins
      • Blenheim Palace and elsewhere
      • Ornament - applied and misapplied
      • Of hats and arms
      • Invisible organs
      • Organ Anthology
      • Organ Anthology Part 2
      • Ghosts
    • 2004 >
      • Spanish Fly
      • The Wonderful Woofyt
      • Mine's bigger than yours
      • Flames, frets and fiddles
      • Angelicals
      • Telegram from America
      • Booth's Puffs
      • Barker Lever
      • Bettering Barker
      • Alternative Hymn Book
      • Tale of Two Organs
      • Tale of Two Organs (continued)
      • Guitarists do it better
      • Music for the feast of Christmas
    • 2005 >
      • The art of improvisation
      • Records and Reminiscences
      • The Case is Altered
      • Fashion Notes
      • Two town Halls - Sydney & Reading
      • The organ that time and men forgot
      • Edward Heath
      • Tin Whistles
      • Secrets of the Opera
      • Singing in the train
      • Buttoning up
    • 2006 >
      • Automobile blues
      • Pipes and packing cases
      • Harry remembers
      • Harry remembers 2
      • Bismarck and the pipe organ
      • Harry remembers 3
      • Playing Aids 1
      • Playing Aids 2
      • Connections
    • 2007 >
      • The birthday Present
      • Harry Remembers 4
      • Playing Aids 3
      • Wonder of Gascony
      • Gilding the Lily
      • A Most Eloquent Music
      • Seeing Double - Part 1
      • Seeing Double - Part 2
      • Humble Relations - American branch
      • Humble Relations - French branch
      • Tops, Noils, Shoddy and Mungo
      • Tops, Noils, and Handel's Messiah
    • 2008 >
      • Neanderthal Hymn Writer
      • Brindley and Foster Byway
      • The demise of Brindley and Foster
      • Flying High
      • Dorothea, Queen of Denmark - and an organ​
      • Time's Ever-Rolling Stream
    • 2009 >
      • Giving them names
      • Dudley Savage
      • Three organ cases
      • Henery's finest hour
      • Sneezes from the Organ Loft
      • 20th Century Organists
      • Philip Marshall Part 2
      • Part 2 20th Century organists
      • More sneezes from the organ loft
      • Country church curiosity
    • 2010 >
      • The Italian Face of Salzburg
      • Ladies at the Console
      • Gothic organ cases
      • Gothick organ cases
      • Orders and decorations
      • Organs-in-fiction
      • Christmas-recipes
    • 2011 >
      • Oddments and Oddities
      • Memorials and Monuments
      • A Cunning Player - King David
      • Facing the Music
      • Celestial Bands
      • Look-Up
      • Durham-Degrees
    • 2013 >
      • Archibald McIndoe
      • Brigadier-Wagthorpe
    • 2017 >
      • Transports of Delight
  • JIGSAW PUZZLES
  • Competitions
  • Sheet music
  • Photos
  • Calendars
  • Links
  • Blog
  • About Us - and other info
    • Contact Us
    • Search
    • NZOrgan
    • Part 1 of Jenny's earthquake story
    • Part 2 of Jenny's earthquake story
    • Shipping >
      • Returns & refunds
      • Privacy policy
Previous
Index
Next

Edward Heath

1916 - 2005 
Former British Prime Minister 
and 
lover of music


A tribute from David Bridgeman-Sutton
Picture
“That’s Edward Heath,” said my aunt. “He’s done very well with a scholarship to Oxford, an army commission in the war, and now he’s a journalist in London. He’s an ambitious young man – I wouldn’t be surprised if he became Prime Minister.”

She said this as we left the parish church of St Peter’s in the Kent seaside town of Broadstairs, on that Sunday morning just after World War II. The future Prime Minister, for such he became, had had early lessons on St Peter’s organ (Walker III/24). Some years later, I should get my first feel of the King of Instruments there, too.

Edward Heath had won an Organ Scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford.(See footnote *1) Although he read Politics and Economics for his degree, he had, like most holders of a prestigious “Oxbridge” organ scholarship, considered becoming a professional musician. The infinitely kind and understanding Professor Sir Hugh Allen, who was organist of New College, had deterred him. The Heath family was poor – even with the scholarship, Oxford had been a financial struggle. Allen pointed out that it took years to make money in music – “and not very much then”. So young Heath cast around for some agreeable and paying occupation, a quest that continued until the world of politics beckoned. (See footnote *2)
​
Music was never far from the top of his list of priorities. While still at Oxford , he started – and conducted – the annual Broadstairs Christmas carol concert. He continued with this for many years – long after he had become a figure on a much larger stage. Richard Rodney Bennett’s carol What Sweeter Music was composed especially for this event. He also appeared, as guest conductor - others were Sir David Willcocks and Christopher Herrick - with London ’s Whitehall Choir. In later years, he conducted in many parts of Europe, the USA and Japan. He also founded and occasionally conducted the European Community Youth Orchestra.

Sir Edward did much to encourage young people and musical education. He introduced and conducted one of the Robert Mayer children’s concerts (part of this was available on CD) and was a patron of the St Alban’s Organ Festival, taking an active part in recruiting sponsors.

When he became President of the Board of Trade and a Cabinet Minister, Edward Heath was able to indulge his continuing love of organ-playing as he travelled throughout the country. Our then MP, the late Sir Malcolm Stoddart-Scott, was also churchwarden and he would tell me each Sunday which cathedrals, town halls and churches were listed among Mr Heath’s official engagements for the week! At one cathedral, his only free half hour coincided with Evensong. Accordingly, the service was put back an hour – for only the second time in 200 years, it was said. Our picture shows him at Beverley Minster (Hill/Snetzler - IV/78) c.1964. Later, organ lofts throughout the world would be open to him.

My aunt’s prediction was accurate. Her near neighbour was Miss Olive Raven – a redoubtable middle aged spinster of the clean-the-brass-do-the-flowers-cuff-the-choirboys-and-put-the-curate-in-his-place school. This lady had a niece, (whose name, alas, escapes me) to whom the young Edward Heath was attracted - a feeling that was mutual. For some reason this attachment didn't last. Miss Raven said, many years later, that he regularly enquired for news of her niece and hinted at her belief that both regretted the rift. Music – he had three Steinway grand pianos – and yachting were the comforts of his life.

It is possible that Sir Hugh Allen had realised that young Heath’s stiffness of personality and manner might militate against his reaching the very highest peaks as a performer or conductor. Like my aunt – and many others – he would have seen that the ambitious young man would have difficulty in settling for second best. The advice he gave and the terms in which he expressed it are entirely consistent with his character. He may have been wrong; many who experienced his work said that cast his shell when conducting and his organ playing was free of inhibition.

Although he himself never became the top-rate performer he would like to have been, Sir Edward worked tirelessly to ensure that others had the opportunity of scaling the heights of music.

*FOOTNOTES:

*1: EH's Principal Private Secretary during his time at Downing Street was Robert Armstrong, son of (Sir) Thomas Armstrong former organist of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and EH's organ teacher at Balliol.
* 2: Heath's version as given in an address to students as heard by organist Martin Setchell, his Oxford tutor said words to the effect: "You've done well with politics and economics, so you could do that; on the other hand you've done well in music, so you could go into music. But you've got to think of the dodgy side of the profession. "

Then Heath said, that as he didn't want to do anything dodgy, he thought he'd better go into politics.

David Bridgeman-Sutton,
August, 2005

Picture credit: Yorkshire Post Newspapers.​

Picture

looking for SOMETHING?

Books
Recordings
Printed music
​
Photographs
Gifts
​Calendars
​Blog
​
Links

Puzzle book grids and solutions
(Free registration & log in required)
GENERAL INFO
Contact
About Us
​
Search
​


Our earthquake stories

Support

Shipping
Returns and refunds
Privacy and Cookie declaration

© COPYRIGHT 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.