L. Stanton Jefferies | |
|---|---|
 Mr. Stanton Jefferies before an experimentalMarconi microphone in 1922 or 1923 | |
| Born | (1896-09-04)4 September 1896 Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England |
| Died | 22 October 1961(1961-10-22) (aged 65) |
| Alma mater | Royal College of Music |
| Occupations |
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| Employers | |
| Spouse(s) | Vivienne Chatterton, June 1921 |
Leonard Stanton JefferiesLRAM (4 September 1896 – 22 October 1961) was a British musician, composer, andconductor. He was the first director of music at theBritish Broadcasting Company, and pioneered techniques for broadcasting live music.
Jefferies was born atWeston-super-Mare on 4 September 1896,[1] and studied organ and piano at theRoyal College of Music.[1] His studies were interrupted byWorld War I,[2] when he served as a naval telegraphist.[3] From 1919 to 1921, he was organist and music director at the church ofSt Bartholomew-the-Great, in theCity of London.[4]
Around June 1922 he became the only musician employed byMarconi's experimental broadcasting station2LO, the British Broadcasting Company's forerunner. He was to be responsible for concerts broadcast fromMarconi House, under the management ofArthur Burrows.[5] With help from his RCM friend, the clarinettistFrederick Thurston, he gathered together a group of musicians to perform the first radio broadcasts of music from Marconi House.[6] By the end of that year, 2LO had been absorbed into the nascent British Broadcasting Company, operating fromSavoy Hill. He was its first director of music[1] and continued to work for theBBC after it became the British Broadcasting Corporation[7] in 1927.
While at the BBC, Jefferies made broadcasts in which he gaveorgan recitals[8] and conducted orchestral performances.[9][10] He composed music forChildren's Hour programmes,[11] on which he played the character ofUncle Jeff,[12] and undertook the role of what would now be called acontinuity announcer.[13] Another of his duties was to build a collection of music recordings, which became theBBC Music Library.[1]
He was responsible for the appointment, in 1923, ofCecil Dixon as the BBC's firstaccompanist, the two having become acquainted at the Royal College of Music.[14]
Famously, the director of the BBC,John Reith, was once entertaining the Archbishop of Canterbury, DrRandall Davidson, who expressed a love of piano music. Reith telephoned the BBC's headquarters, and within minutes, Jefferies was playingSchubert'sMarche Militaire, live on air.[15]
In 1924, he conducted theLondon Symphony Orchestra in a series of concerts at theCentral Hall, Westminster.[3] However, in 1926, having realised that his opportunities to progress as a musician and conductor were limited,[3] he moved to a more technical role, responsible for the quality of broadcasts.[1] Jefferies left the BBC in June 1935, after further career disappointments,[3] despite support fromAdrian Boult.[3] Following military service inWorld War II[1] (he received anemergency commission as alieutenant on 20 November 1940[16]), he returned to the BBC as a producer,[7] continuing in the latter role until at least 1956.[17] He retired formally from the BBC that year, though he continued to undertake some work for them until the next year.[1]
In October 1935, shortly after leaving the BBC "with much regret", he published a three-part reminiscence of his radio work, "Soap Box Days", in the magazinePopular Wireless.[2]
He was aLicentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (L.R.A.M.).[18]
Jefferies developed new techniques for positioning microphones and controlling sound levels for broadcasting an orchestra, a subject he named "balance and control"; he wrote about this, and more, inThe Radio Times,[19][20][21] and it was extensively covered in a 1984 PhD thesis presented to theUniversity of Leicester.[3] Its author, Geoff Matthews, observed:[3]
Jefferies' vantage point gave him the view that regular music broadcasting to new audiences required the adoption of unprecedented altitudes to music production. That view required not only the setting aside of simple distinctions between good and bad music, but a total revision of the instruments, of the physical accommodation, and of the co-operative relations between performers, engineers and support musicians, required by a shift from production of music in concert halls to production of music in a broadcasting organisation.
Jefferies working methods are also described in two autobiographical volumes by his BBC colleagueCecil Lewis:Broadcasting From Within (1924)[22] andDon't Look Back (1974).[23]
Jefferies died on 22 October 1961,[1] aged 65. His wife, the singer and radio actorVivienne Chatterton, survived him.[24][25] In the 1930s, they had a cottage atLyme Regis.[25]