Background
Felix Aprahamian was born in London in 1914. Christened Apraham Felix Bartev Aprahamian, he changed his name by deed poll to just Felix Aprahamian. His father changed his surname from Hovanessian, deciding to take his own father's Christian name, Apraham, and attach the patronymic –ian, to form Aprahamian, or son of Apraham.
At the age of 17, Aprahamian became Assistant Secretary to the Organ Music Society, and he developed into a highly proficient keyboard player. He later recalled that it was his passion for music which led him to fail his school matriculation: he was self-taught in almost every area of music, as well as literature and the other arts. In 1933, he went to France with two friends (Douglas Peart and Ernest Chapman) to visit the ageing Frederick Delius in Grez-sur-Loing, and in Paris he met Charles-Marie Widor.
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