Fritz Spiegl

Born at Zurndorf in Austria on 27 January 1926, the Jewish musician, writer and wit Fritz Spiegl was a distant relative of Gustav Mahler. He moved to the UK in 1939 to escape the Nazis, learning English amazingly quickly and thoroughly.

He became (via a career as Principal Flautist with the Liverpool Philharmonic) one of the UK's best-known all-round classical musicians - author, journalist, music publisher, broadcaster, conductor and organiser of April fools (and other) concerts with his Liverpool Music Group, and his interests didn't end with music - he was well-known as a wit and a commentator on language, and was an antiquarian, an antiques dealer, typographer, designer and a vintage car enthusiast.

Fritz Spiegl died on 23 March 2003, aged 77.

JENNIFER PAULL REMEMBERS FRITZ SPIEGL

A selection of M&V articles about Fritz Spiegl

The Musician's Guide to Having an MRI - In an occasional series 'The Musician's Guides', Jennifer Paull offers a few tips for survival when confronted with being the square musical peg in a round musical hole

Unforgettable Ifor - Jennifer Paull pays tribute to Ifor James (1931-2004)