Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction by Peter Dickinson
- Part I Reports from Paris, 1929–34
- Part II Letters to Nadia Boulanger, 1929–74
- Part III Selections from Berkeley's Later Writings and Talks, 1943–82
- Part IV Interviews with Berkeley, 1973–8
- Part V Extracts from Berkeley's Diaries, 1966–82
- Part VI Interviews with Performers, Composers, Family and Friends, 1990–91
- 1 Performers: Julian Bream, Norman Del Mar, Colin Horsley
- 2 Composers: John Manduell, Nicholas Maw, Malcolm Williamson
- 3 Family: Freda Berkeley, Michael Berkeley
- 4 Friends: Basil Douglas, Desmond Shawe-Taylor
- Part VII Memorial Address by Sir John Manduell
- Catalogue of Works
- Bibliography
- Index of Works by Berkeley
- General Index
3 - Family: Freda Berkeley, Michael Berkeley
from Part VI - Interviews with Performers, Composers, Family and Friends, 1990–91
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
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Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction by Peter Dickinson
- Part I Reports from Paris, 1929–34
- Part II Letters to Nadia Boulanger, 1929–74
- Part III Selections from Berkeley's Later Writings and Talks, 1943–82
- Part IV Interviews with Berkeley, 1973–8
- Part V Extracts from Berkeley's Diaries, 1966–82
- Part VI Interviews with Performers, Composers, Family and Friends, 1990–91
- 1 Performers: Julian Bream, Norman Del Mar, Colin Horsley
- 2 Composers: John Manduell, Nicholas Maw, Malcolm Williamson
- 3 Family: Freda Berkeley, Michael Berkeley
- 4 Friends: Basil Douglas, Desmond Shawe-Taylor
- Part VII Memorial Address by Sir John Manduell
- Catalogue of Works
- Bibliography
- Index of Works by Berkeley
- General Index
Summary
At 12 Hereford Mansions, London W2, 28 January 1991
Lady Berkeley, née Bernstein, was born in London in 1923. Both her parents had died by the time she was four and a half, and so she grew up with maternal grandparents, foster-parents in a country parsonage and boarding school. In 1941 she qualified at Miss Kerr-Sander's Secretarial College and got a job with the BBC as secretary to Lord Kingsale in the Monitoring Service near Evesham. Through the BBC she moved to Caversham and then London, where she met Lennox Berkeley in 1944.
pd When did you first become aware of Lennox?
fb The Music Department was at 35 Marylebone High Street in 1944, and I went as a secretary to the Music Programmes Organiser – Ronald Biggs. Not the Great Train Robber – the other one! I was in the canteen and a colleague said to me: ‘There's Lennox Berkeley’ – and he was going up to get some food or drink. That was the first time I was aware of him. Subsequently his secretary went to America and I was asked to take on Lennox as well as Ronald Biggs and Basil Douglas. Lennox was then building the programmes for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, a wartime job. That was how it was – we were all together.
pd And you took on more than the secretarial part of the job?
fb Yes, but that wasn't until 1946, when we were married in December.
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- Lennox Berkeley and FriendsWritings, Letters and Interviews, pp. 258 - 270Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2012
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