The London Proms in the 1930s

A recollection of the London Proms in 1936:

The behavior of the Promenaders was more genteel in those days … there wasn’t the same degree of shouting as now.  During the famous hornpipe in Henry Wood’s Fantasia on British Sea Songs people tapped with their umbrellas and sticks, rather than stamping.  As the applause went on at the end of the concert, I remember Wood doing his thing of coming on carrying his overcoat and waving his walking stick to show he was going home.

Richard Baker, BBC presenter.  Cited in Green, Andrew. “”One Fateful Night””, BBC Music, September 2010, p.42.

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