This same year, 1949, saw the first performance of Sir Arthur Bliss's opera, "The Olympians". It is worthy of mention in that it was the first new English work to be produced at Covent Garden after the war. Otherwise, in spite of a good first act and a libretto by J.B Priestley, it was largely unmemorable and never revived. Someone who would have good reason to remember it would be Michael Langdon, the bass and internationally-acclaimed Baron Ochs, who was first promoted from the chorus to a small part at short notice while on tour in Edinburgh. Rankl always objected to his choristers taking small parts and so Langdon left to become a soloist. << less