Julian Lloyd-Webber, the great cellist and former principal of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, talked about his new book, 'Bows and Arrows – The Autobiography' at The Oldie Literary Lunch, sponsored by Kirker Holidays.
He turned to writing in 2014, when a herniated disc meant he was tragically no longer able to play the cello. 'My playing days were over,' he said.
And so he also turned to music education. At 64, he had his first job interview - for the Conservatoire.
In his memoir, he recalled the joys of working with great musicians, from Philip Glass to Cleo Laine and Yehudi Menuhin.
There were, though, pitfalls to his career. His number one piece of advice? 'Never stand behind a cellist when you're checking in, or you'll miss your flight.'
You have to pay a full extra fare to take a cello in a plane. And even then he gets aggro. One stewardess said to him, 'Next thing you know, someone will be taking a grand piano.'
Julian said, 'Well, you can't take that on a plane.'
And the stewardess said, 'Yes, you can. They've got ones that fold up now.'
Julian looked into getting airmiles for his cello. He even filled in the form. 'Name - Stradivarius. Place of birth - Cremona.' All was going well until he had to fill in the date of birth. '1690.'
This April, for his 75th birthday concert, his 14-year-old daughter said, 'I wish I'd heard you play.' And so he started secretly practising - and was able to play Fauré's Elegy for his daughter.
