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Gyles Brandreth is a very familiar face on British television screens, known for his bright knitwear and wonderful way with words. The former MP would be the first to admit he\u2019s not the most musical person in the world, but, Gyles being Gyles, he still has plenty to say on the subject.<\/p>\n
We chatted to him recently for our Christmas issue \u2018Music That Changed Me\u2019 slot, but we couldn\u2019t fit it all in, so here\u2019s a little extra from one of Britain\u2019s very best raconteurs.<\/p>\n
This is Gyles Brandreth on\u2026<\/p>\n
Church music and Practical Cats\u2026 Words are more important to me than music; words are my music, and one of the things I later learned from TS Eliot is that poetry is a bit like music; you don\u2019t need to be able to understand it always to appreciate it. He was quite hot on that; he would say, \u2018you don\u2019t have to exactly understand what\u2019s going on in a piece of music to get something out of it,\u2019 and he felt the same about poetry.<\/p>\n So my introduction to music was through church. I can\u2019t have been very good, because I really was very unmusical, and yet you got badges \u2013 I think it was from the Royal College of Music; you could take exams and get badges. The badge was according to the colour of the ribbon, so I got a Blue Badge and went up to a red one. I loved being a choirboy and so I love church music.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n His ballet phase, and opera\u2026 Shaking Brahms\u2019s hand (sort of) and living in Handel\u2019s house (sort of)\u2026 A memorable encounter with Yehudi Menuhin\u2026 Yehudi Menuhin arrives and I\u2019m waiting at the top of the steps leading down to the crypt, with the Archbishop of Canterbury; we were slightly surprised to see that him carrying his violin case, padlocked to his wrist! Anyway, we say, \u2018what\u2019s the padlock about?,\u2019 and he tells us \u2018the insurance company insists because this is a Stradivarius<\/a>, I\u2019m going to play on one of my Stradivarius violins, because this is such a special occasion.\u2019 He took out a key, undid the padlock, opened the violin case and showed us the Stradivarius violin. And he said to us, \u2018this is a Stradivarius made by the Father of the Stradivarius family, and it is the oldest Stradivarius in the world still being played.\u2019 I said, \u2018well, that\u2019s exciting Mr Menuhin,\u2019 this was before he became Sir Yehudi, \u2018I\u2019ve never held a Stradivarius, could I hold your violin?\u2019 So he gave me the Stradivarius, and I felt very excited to be holding it and turned to the Archbishop of Canterbury and said, \u2018Oh look, Archbishop, I\u2019m holding Yehudi Menuhin\u2019s Stradavarius!\u2019 Well, I must have turned too sharply because, as I turned, the Stradivarius slipped out of my hand and the Archbishop and I tried to catch it, but instead of catching it we tipped it into the air and it went spinning, like Wayne Rooney doing a somersault, up into the air it went and down onto the hard stone steps leading into the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral. It bounced, bang, bang, boing.. SMASH! You can see this Stradivarius to this day, because it\u2019s on display at the Royal College of Music. You will find it, because it\u2019s the one that\u2019s got all the marks from where it was broken. So I\u2019m the fellow who broke Yehudi Menuhin\u2019s Stradavarius.<\/p>\n After that the Archbishop said \u2018what are we going to do now?\u2019 I said, we could pray for a miracle, Archbishop.\u2019 But then Yehudi Menuhin said, \u2018well, I do always carry a spare, I\u2019ve got another violin in the boot!\u2019 I asked if I could fetch it and he said, \u2018no, thank you!\u2019 He still played extremely well on an everyday violin.<\/p>\n So for musical namedropping you can\u2019t do better than that, and this from a man who hasn\u2019t a musical note in his head!<\/p>\n Gyles Brandreth shares \u2018Music That Changed Me\u2019 in our Christmas issue<\/a>. Out now.<\/em><\/p>\n