Posted on behalf of [email protected] who was so keen to join us, she got the address wrong (:-)) Please use [email protected] to send messages to the list. This list is just what I have been hoping for to help me solve a mystery! My father was Gordon Douglas (1892 -1973) a classically trained (Manchester) pianist and conductor. Like a lot of people I failed to show much interest in his career and /or to ask enough questions when he was alive. Now I am trying to flesh out the various programmes and memorabilia I have. It seems that after a concert and conducting career in the 30's and 40's he took up various musical directorships around the theatres of the UK and was involved with such shows as Lilac Time and Waltzes from Vienna. I am trying to find out what happened to cause the change in direction - hints of a mental breakdown from distant relatives. I know that he accompanied the likes of Allessandro Valente and Paul Mortimer and I have lots of signed photos from grateful stars that he ha accompanied. I have newspaper cuttings that give his early training as at Manchester College of Music under Professors Egon Petri and Wilhelm Backhaus, later under Monsieur Lehmann at the Brussels Conservatoire and as an opera accompanist under Sir Thomas Beecham. Unfortunately none of this information has been supported by enquires at the Royal Northern College - no records for him under this name or under his real name which I have recently discovered to be George Douglas Plested. I would be really thrilled to hear from anyone who may have heard of him or attended a concert or show that he was involved in - up until the 1950's. After that he managed the Grand Theatre in Swansea and later a cinema in Aberdare. Dave Jassie - List Administrator THEATRE-UK [email protected] Greetings from Lincoln, England