Thomas Boyce <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >Wasn't Bruckner Hitler's favorite composer? I'm afraid I have to correct Mr Boyce. I have it on the best authority, namely my Mitford connection, that the poor dear's real favourite was in fact a contemporary composer - Albert Ketelbey. Of course, his devotion to the "Brahms of Birmingham" had to be kept under discreet diplomatic wraps once the Great Events of 1939 unfolded in all their grisly solemnity - but Ketelbey it was. He would love to recline, after a hard day at the Chancellery, to the strains of "In a Monastery Garden", joining in the 'Kyrie Eleison' with an unexpected fervour for one so wickedly atheistic. He even had extra caged birds imported to augment the Proud Songsters of Ketelbey's masterly original. My own particular belief, is that his plans for World Domination were the direct result of over-indulgence in such exotic, unmanly delights of "In a Persian Market", "In the Mystic Land of Egypt" and "By the Blue Hawaiian Waters". I believe the latter was his true motive for egging on his Japanese Allies to invade Pearl Harbour - and we all know to what that unfortunate incident led. Secret Reichstag plans make it clear, that had the Invasion of England succeeded "Der Grosse Albert" (as he styled Ketelbey) would have been made Honorary Culture Commissar, and "'Appy 'Amptead" declared the British National Anthem. By such a thread were we saved from a fate worse than death. "Constance Shacklock" <[log in to unmask]>