The Chout first night was postponed from the 8th until the 9th, and a general rehearsal held on the 8th to which a public audience and critics were invited - all the leading figures in artistic London. It was the first time that Diaghilev had undertaken a rehearsal of this sort in London. The rehearsal started well (although I was still not au fait with those accursed knobs, which were arranged in a different order here from those in Paris). However, in the middle of the first scene the orchestra went astray, so I stopped them, put matters right and then continued. Diaghilev flew over to my side in a panic and whispered in my ear: 'You have just shat all over London, don't you dare stop again, even if not a single instrument is together, this is just the same as a performance!'