In 1950, before we left for the USA, we had possibly the most memorable Edinburgh Festival of all, in which I seemed to be involved in almost everything that most comprehensive Festival offered. It was, unforgettably, the year Sir Thomas Beecham conducted Glyndebourne Opera. All the possible talents seemed to have been collected for this incredible occasion - the production of Richard Strauss's setting of Molière's Bourgeois Gentilhomme which he called Ariadne auf Naxos... Carl Ebert produced and Beecham directed everybody. This was the marvellous occasion when someone started to applaud before the final stanza of Zerbinetta's incredibly difficult aria, and Beecham yelled 'Savages!' right into one of the BBC microphones which was very much alive. << less