Fritz Spiegl

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Fritz Spiegl (27 January 1926 – 23 March 2003) was an Austrian-born English musician, journalist, broadcaster, humorist and collector who lived in Britain from 1939. His works include compiling the Radio 4 UK Theme in 1978.

Early life

Spiegl was born near the Hungarian border in the village of

Jewish,[1] they were persecuted by the Nazis in the wake of the Anschluss of 1938. All their property having been confiscated, Fritz's parents succeeded in leaving the country in 1939, eventually escaping to Bolivia while sending Fritz and his older sister Hanny (born 1923) to Northamptonshire
, England.

On arrival in Britain, Spiegl was sent to

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
, a position he kept for more than a decade. Ear damage appears to have played a part in his exit from professional playing, as in later years he would occasionally refer to having been "invalided out by the brass section".

Career

A resident of

Liverpool Football Club.[3]

A

native speaker of German, Fritz Spiegl did not speak a word of English when he moved to Britain as a 13-year-old—a fact which has often been regarded as the trigger for his preoccupation with language phenomena such as, say, malapropisms
and for the biting yet humorous linguistic purism of his later years. As one commentator remarked, Spiegl

...soon knew a great deal more about the language than most English people do. And cared more too. One can understand this. It's galling, when you've taken the trouble to learn that "an alibi" is not the same as "an excuse", to find that the natives themselves seem to have forgotten the difference.[2]

Fritz Spiegl died suddenly during a Sunday lunch in Liverpool with his wife, Ingrid Frances Spiegl, and some friends.

Works

Compositions

As a composer, Spiegl scored a popular success with the original

In the Psychiatrist's Chair, which was based on music from Mozart's Les Petits Riens transcribed for wind instruments.[5]

His BBC Radio 4 UK Theme, in which national songs from each of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom are combined, was heard on Radio 4 at the beginning of each morning's broadcasting from November 1978 until April 2006. His Eine kleine Beatlemusic was performed in London and later recorded,[6] as was Valkyrie And The Rhine Maidens - On The Bayreuth Beat.[7]

Selected books

References

  1. ^ a b "Fritz Spiegl". The Daily Telegraph. 25 March 2003. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  2. ^ a b Bagnall, Nicholas (2003). "How are you spelling that?". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  3. ^ Obituary, The Independent, 14 January 2014
  4. ^ Dennis Barker (25 March 2003). "Fritz Spiegl: Witty musical polymath and broadcaster". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  5. ^ In the Psychiatrist's Chair, YouTube
  6. ^ "Eine kleine Beatlemusic ~ The Barock and Roll Ensemble". YouTube. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  7. ^ "Valkyrie And The Rhine Maidens - On The Bayreuth Beat". YouTube. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
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