Tales from the Proms is a collection of anecdotes and incidents about what has been called, with some justification, the world’s greatest classical music festival, attracting some 400,00 visitors to the Royal Albert Hall each summer.A five-part radio documentary series I produced for the BBC World Service chronicling the Proms’ first hundred years and the many interviews I conducted provided the springboard for my collection of tales – a pocket-book social history, if you like.

"...My dears," said Solti, "You seem not to understand; I wish you to 'attack' this note" at which point a trumpeter (a Yorkshireman) called out, "We are attackin' the note, Sir George - but the note is defendin' itself!"

There are quotes from one or two books but much of the material has been freshly coaxed from people – ex-BBC colleagues, conductors and others - with personal recollections of happenings on and off-stage, one or two of my own included. I’ve also seen the way stage fright can affect even the most famous of musicians.

The BBC duty officer checked with the Hall and was told, "Yes, a dog did enter the hall this evening, but as it didn't have a ticket, it was thrown out!"

There’s a good mix between the funny-peculiar, funny ha-ha and the not so funny. In this way I have tried to show the unique flavour of this extraordinary series of concerts which have triumphantly survived two world wars, with their inevitable bombing raids on London (and the unique ‘siren-sessions’ they produced), an orchestral walkout and an opening night strike.They have also seen the reluctant and revolutionary introduction of women players into the orchestra – all this following what was originally conceived in 1895 as a one-off ten-week season to keep a concert hall open during what were then barren summer weeks.

Tales from
The Proms

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“A lovely and very affectionate collection of stories, many of which may be true!”
_{★★★★★ ― Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Director BBC Proms 1996-2007}

Dan Zerdin

Dan, (alongside Roger Moore) trained at RADA, which provided a good grounding in the performing arts though, in his case, as a producer rather than a performer. Add a love of writing plus an inherited passion for classical music, particularly the Proms, to which he started going at the age of 15, so a career with the BBC was almost inevitable.Working with the World Service he found himself involved in a variety of programmes – a series of global phone-ins co-produced with Radio 4 brought him into contact with figures like Margaret Thatcher and King Hussain of Jordan, features about the Proms involved interviews with, for example, a rather well-lunched music director Sir Malcolm Sargent - who was distinctly unimpressed when Dan’s tape recorder went on the blink, Proms world relays to oversee - and an unexpected offer to temporarily run the World Service classical music department which included organising and producing a series of live recitals from the concert hall in Broadcasting House.For Radio 4 there were arts magazines to help produce, documentaries, and the flagship book programme Now Read On, chaired by Magnus Magnusson who, once on air, would decline any contact with the producer.Later, after retiring as a senior staff producer, Dan became a Radio 3 presenter and script-writer before turning full circle with a five-part documentary series chronicling the first hundred years of the Proms for the World Service.

Tales from
The Proms

• Buy on Amazon Kindle
• Buy Direct (Inc. P&P) £10.99

“A lovely and very affectionate collection of stories, many of which may be true!”
_{★★★★★ ― Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Director BBC Proms 1996-2007}

Copyright © 2023 Dan Zerdin
All rights reserved.

Dan Zerdin –
Hey there, I’m the author behind ‘Tales from the Proms’.

Dan, alongside Roger Moore, trained at RADA, which provided a good grounding in the performing arts though, in his case, as a producer rather than a performer. Add a love of writing plus an inherited passion for classical music, particularly the Proms, to which he started going at the age of 15, so a career with the BBC was almost inevitable.Working with the World Service he found himself involved in a variety of programmes – a series of global phone-ins co-produced with Radio 4 brought him into contact with figures like Margaret Thatcher and King Hussain of Jordan, (who, uniquely, was allowed an armed bodyguard outside the studio) - features about the Proms involved interviews with, for example, a rather well-lunched music director Sir Malcolm Sargent - who was distinctly unimpressed when Dan’s tape recorder went on the blink, Proms world relays to oversee - and an unexpected offer to temporarily run the World Service classical music department which included organising and producing a series of live recitals from the concert hall in Broadcasting House.For Radio 4 there were arts magazines to help produce, documentaries, and the flagship book programme Now Read On, chaired by Magnus Magnusson who, once on air, would decline any contact with the producer.Later, after retiring as a senior staff producer, Dan became a Radio 3 presenter and script-writer before turning full circle with a five-part documentary series chronicling the first hundred years of the Proms for the World Service.

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