Obituary: Industry mourns top composer.(Obituary)

One of Britain's greatest composers, Malcolm Arnold, died, aged 84, last week. Here, friend and fellow musician Brian Willey pays a personal tribute

I can't resist referring to a description of Malcolm Arnold as a trumpeter, made by music critic John Amis who, although acknowledging that he was a superb instrumentalist, wrote, "When he played a solo he would change colour, turning from pink to all shades of red, through purple to puce then, when finished, he would regard his instrument with disgust, as though it had pooped on the carpet."

Born in Northampton on 21 October 1921, he began learning piano, violin and viola at the age of four. In 1933, he met Louis Armstrong and, listening to his records, taught himself to play the trumpet. At 16, he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, joining the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1941 becoming its principal trumpet player two years later.

He enlisted in the army in 1944 and, after rigorous training as a soldier, to his disgust he ended up playing cornet in a military band. Once back in civvy street, there was a short contract with the BBC Symphony Orchestra before returning to the LPO in 1946.

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