Sir Thomas Beecham Bart.

 

A cousin by marriage was Raymond Cohen who led the RPO for many years so I got to 2 Beecham concerts. The first was in the Coventry Cathedral Festival in 1962 and the second later at the RFH. He played Beethoven 7 in both; totally different performances, often suppressing the main theme and bringing out counter-melodies seemingly for his own pleasure. Raymond played the Goldmark Violin concerto in London. 

After the Coventry concert Beecham addressed the audience:

'Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen. You are extremely fortunate to have this magnificent Orchestra in the terrible city of yours' (huge laughter). Now we're going to play an encore and I invite you to guess what it is. If anyone can identify the piece I will pay for them to have a weekend in Paris!'

After playing the piece, suggestions came from the audience: 'Is it Brahms?' 'Noooo. Brahms would never have had the inspiration to write a work like that.' Similar treatment to other suggestions such as Tchaikovsky etc.

Then someone suggested 'Delibes 'Air de ballet' which was the right answer. 'Come and see me afterwards and I'll make sure you have a nice weekend in Paris.' 

I subsequently had dinner with his biographer John Lucas who told me he was actually a horrible man.