Early Years
Grammy nominated Anthony Inglis, the artist who has featured more times at London’s Royal Albert Hall than anyone else in the building’s history, was born Anthony Inglis Howard-Williams and had to change his name when he and a slightly older conductor called Howard Williams (no hyphen) were both conducting Swan lake for The Royal Ballet at the same time.
He was born into an RAF family and he can number a great many past serving officers amongst his immediate ancestry. His father was Squadron-Leader Jeremy Howard-Williams DFC, who was a night fighter pilot during World War II before joining Fighter Interception Unit. He has written a moving book on the subject called "Night Intruder". His paternal grandfather, Air Commodore E.L.Howard-Williams was a major in the army, before joining the fledgling Royal Flying Corps, the percursor to the RAF. His uncle, Wing Commander Peter Howard-Williams DFC was in 19 Squadron flying out of Duxford during 1940 and flew in The Battle of Britain, and therefore was One of The Few.
His maternal grandfather was Air-Vice Marshall F.F.Inglis CB. CBE. and head of RAF Intelligence during WW2 and on Adolf Hitler's hit list for after the war should Germany have won! He was sent to America by Winston Churchill where he successfully persuaded President Franklin D. Roosevelt to direct the American war against Germany rather than Japan.
Air Marshal Sir Victor Goddard, a Great-Uncle by marriage, was said by some to be the person who suggested to Winston Churchill the idea of sending the little ships over to Dunkirk to pick up the remnants of the British Army. Air-Commodore Peter Helmore (son of Air Commodore William Helmore) was an uncle by marriage. Amongst his non-RAF ancestry, there is his great-uncle Lt John Inglis who lost his life at The Battle of Loos, Vermilles and Hill 70 in 1915. Anthony is directly descended from the great engineer Robert Napier, he of the Napier-Railton cars and the man to whom Samuel Cunard turned, to install engines into his first ships such as the Britannia Class Steamships. Quite a fitting coincidence now he has such a close tie with Cunard. Also, he is directly descended from Col Sir John Inglis who commanded the garrison during the Siege of Lucknow in 1857 and General Sir Charles James Napier, famous for conquering the Sindh Province in present day Pakistan. The statue in the lower left hand corner of Trafalgar Square London is of him. He continues the association with the name Napier as he has given his son Alexander, Napier as his middle name.
Read more about this topic: Anthony Inglis (conductor)
Famous quotes related to early years:
“If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)