Allan Wicks

English organist Allan Wicks was thought by many to be the greatest cathedral organist of his generation, and was known for his adventurous programming of contemporary music. He was born on 6 June 1923 at Harden, near Skipton, the son of a clergyman, and he became an organ scholar at Christ Church, Oxford.

His first cathedral job, after war service in India, was as sub-organist to Francis Jackson at York Minster. From York he moved to Manchester (1954), and from Manchester to Canterbury in 1961, where he was organist and master of the choristers until his retirement in 1988. Wicks died on 4 February 2010, aged 86.