The start of the Philharmonia was bound up quite closely with the disbandment of two other organisations - the RAF Symphony Orchestra,... and the short-lived National Symphony Orchestra... One of the creators of the NSO seems to have been the somewhat shadowy figure Sydney Beer - a businessman and racehorse owner... It was his ambition to be a conductor... He had previously conducted the LPO free of charge and with financial support before the return of Beecham, and hoped to continue this career; but like other in this category he soon fell behind the professional conductors. (This often happens when too big a repertoire is attempted - the wealthy Sheffield cutler Herman Lindars conducted Stravinsky's Rite of Spring with the RPO in 1962, and it wasn't at all bad. In 1963 he succeeded in almost bringing the same orchestra to a complete halt in Tchaikovsky's Fifth in the Congress Hall of the Kremlin. After this his image faded.)