Eric Coates

Eric Coates was an English composer of light music and, early in his career, a leading violist. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music, and played in string quartets and theatre pit bands before joining orchestras conducted by Thomas Beecham and Henry Wood. In 1919 he gave up the viola permanently and from then until his death he made his living as a composer and occasional conductor. His prolific output includes the London Suite (1932), of which the well-known "Knightsbridge March" is the concluding section; the waltz "By the Sleepy Lagoon" (1930); and "The Dam Busters March" (1954).