1953 was Coronation Year and an opera had been commissioned from Benjamin Britten. I cannot help thinking that they made the wrong choice of composer for the kind of piece they wanted, William Walton had a great sense of occasion and would probably have produced something more suitable. Britten always needed to be inspired by words of his very literary libretti but Walton would have enjoyed the pomp and circumstance. Be that as it may, what we got was "Gloriana". The opening jousting scene was effective and the Elizabethan pastiches, where the ballet danced to unaccompanied chorus, were charming if not entirely successful; dancers need more vigorous rhythm than unaccompanied voices can provide. The whole idea of presenting a charming young Queen with a portrait of her illustrious predecessor as aged, bald and agonizing over the Earl of Essex seemed to many people to be rather tasteless. Valerie, in the balcony stalls, could catch a glimpse of the Royal Box and was convinced that Prince Philip was reading a green and white Penguin thriller behind his open programme - and who can blame him? At the end of the opera the applause trickled away into silence before Ben had arrived on stage to take his bow. I heard a very distinguished-looking elderly person in the front stalls exclaim loudly: "My God! They've got him in the Tower pretty quick!" << less