Not Only In America

If any of us Americans ever consoled ourselves with the thought that our culture’s ignorance of and/or indifference to classical music was strictly a philistine American affair, and that at least the culture of our European cousins was, thankfully, not so benighted, this should set us straight and disabuse us of our delusional thinking on the matter:

[Filmmaker] Tony Palmer, who has won more than 40 awards including Baftas, Emmys and, uniquely, the Prix Italia twice, criticised the director-general [of the BBC] after the BBC turned down a documentary of his. The film, about English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, has been produced by Five instead.

[...]

Bizarrely, Palmer said, the letter concluded: “But good luck with the project, and do let me know if Mr. V. Williams has an important premiere in the future as this findability might allow us to reconsider.”

Vaughan Williams — one of Britain’s greatest composers — died, of course, in 1958.

RTWT here.