Wartime Britain is remembered for bombs, blackouts and hardship. But it was also a time when people from all social classes heard classical music forthe first time - in air-raid shelters, art galleries and churches, with musicians performing Beethoven and Brahms as German bombers flew overhead and the air-raid sirens sounded. Humphrey Carpenter tells the story of the vital role classical music played in people's lives during this turbulent time.
Producer Nadine Welter