by FRANK LAFFITTE Frank Laffitte was born at Bromley in 1901. He received his first piano lessons from his mother at the tender age of four-and-a-half. At thirteen he played before Safonov, the distinguished Russian conductor, who was so impressed that he proposed to take Laffitte back to Russia as his pupil. But the War made this impossible and Laffitte went to the Guildhall School of Music, where he won a scholarship and the Gold Medal. In 1920 Laffitte won great success with the playing of two concertos under Sir Landon Ronald at a Queen's Hall symphony concert. During the next few years he appeared as soloist on several occasions at the Royal Albert Hall Sunday orchestral concerts, and since that time has appeared in most of the leading European musical centres. His first appearance before the microphone was in 1925.