Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Anybody know Sir Harrison Birtwistle ?
Nice local name, bit of a puzzle, eh ?

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

As it happens, if you listen to Radio Three on Monday 21st June at 7.30pm. You will hear a broadcast from this year's Aldeburgh Festival. The subject of the broadcast is,

" One of the highlights of this year's Aldeburgh Festival: the new chamber music theatre piece by Harrison Birtwistle, who turns 70 next month. The Io Passion, for string quartet, clarinet,and six performers, to a text by Steven Plaice, combines Magritte type imagery, ritual and myth, and a powerful score exploring the darker side of sexual obsession. "
I am grateful to "Radio Times" for the above.

His work is performed throughout the world and Birtwistle has a position in the front rank of contemporary British music.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Spot on Acrylic-bob.

What else do the peeps of Accrington Web know about this young man ?

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

There is a portrait of Birtwistle by Tom Phillips here:

http://www.tomphillips.co.uk/portrait/hbir/

and here is a bit more detail:

Sir Harrison Birtwistle
Sir Harrison Birtwistle was born in Accrington in the north of England in 1934 and studied clarinet and composition at the Royal Manchester College of Music, making contact with a highly talented group of contemporaries including Peter Maxwell Davies, Alexander Goehr, John Ogdon and Elgar Howarth. In 1965 he sold his clarinets to devote all his efforts to composition, and travelled to Princeton as a Harkness Fellow where he completed the opera Punch and Judy. This work, together with Verses for Ensembles and The Triumph of Time, firmly established Birtwistle as a leading voice in British music.

The decade from 1973 to 1984 was dominated by his monumental lyric tragedy The Mask of Orpheus, staged by English National Opera in 1986, and by the series of remarkable ensemble scores now performed by the world's leading new music groups: Secret Theatre, Silbury Air and Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum. Large-scale works in the following decade included the operas Gawain and The Second Mrs Kong, the concertos Endless Parade for trumpet and Antiphonies for piano, and the orchestral score Earth Dances.

Birtwistle's works of the past decade include Exody, premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Barenboim, Panic scored for saxophone, drummer and orchestra which received a high profile premiere at the Last Night of the 1995 BBC Proms with an estimated worldwide audience of 100 million, and The Shadow of Night commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra and Christoph von Dohnányi. Birtwistle's newest stagework, The Last Supper, received its first performances at the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin and at Glyndebourne in 2000. Pulse Shadows, an hour-long meditation for soprano, string quartet and chamber ensemble on poetry by Paul Celan, was released on disc by Teldec and won the 2002 Gramophone Award for best contemporary recording. Theseus Game, co-commissioned by RUHRtriennale, Ensemble Modern and the London Sinfonietta, was premiered in Autumn 2003. Future projects include Night's Black Bird commissioned for the Cleveland Orchestra by the Lucerne Festival and Carnegie Hall, and new stageworks for the Aldeburgh Festival/Almeida Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

The music of Birtwistle has attracted international conductors including Pierre Boulez, Daniel Barenboim, Elgar Howarth, Christoph von Dohnányi, Oliver Knussen, Sir Simon Rattle, and Peter Eötvös. He has received commissions from leading performing organisations and his music has been featured in major festivals and concert series including the BBC Proms, Salzburg Festival, Glyndebourne, Holland Festival, Stockholm New Music, Wien Modern, Wittener Tage, the South Bank Centre in London and the Konzerthaus in Vienna.

Birtwistle has received many honours including the 1986 Grawemeyer Award, the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 1986, a British knighthood in 1988, the Siemens Prize in 1995, and a British Companion of Honour in 2001. He was Henry Purcell Professor of Music at King's College of Music in London (1995-2001) and is currently Director of Composition at the Royal College of Music in London. Recordings of Birtwistle's music are available on the Decca, Philips, Deutsche Grammophon, Teldec, Black Box, Etcetera, NMC, CPO and Soundcircus labels.

Birtwistle's 70th birthday is celebrated in 2004, including features at the Lucerne Festival and the South Bank Centre in London.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Kudos to Acrylic-bob, who should go to the top of the class.

But how many others have heard of Sir Harrison Birtwistle and knew he came from Accrington ?

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Call me a palestine as Del Boy might say, but listening to some of Harrison Birtwistle's music is surely a form of masochism. To me it sounds like the cat-gut of which the violin strings are made is still attached to the cat.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

I studied some of Birtwistle's music at Uni. but I can't say that I cared for it much - then again I don't care for much 20th Century 'serious' music. My grandmother went to Sunday School with him though.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

I was invited by a friend to spend an evening at Covent Garden, where Birtwistle's Opera 'Gawain' was performed. To be honest it was the dreariest evening I think I have ever spent, I couldn't wait for it to be over. An evening of tortured screeching and moaning that left quite a number of the audience aghast and shellshocked.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

My wifes maiden name was birtwistle and was born in wiswell nr whalley I wonder if she is related

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

This is all very interesting stuff. I know more about him now than I ever did. All I have been told is what I have read, and that was that he was born in Huncoat in 1934 and educated at St John's and the Grammar School. He was known as "a somewhat unruly boy" who has achieved international recognition as a music composer in the classical and operatic fields. He is supposed to owe it all to his Mum, who bought him a clarinet, paid for lessons and got him to join a local military band. He has been described as "the most famous unknown composer in the history of music"
He was knighted in 1988

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

I think I am distantly related to him.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Are you a Birt - willow

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

No, but my mother had some Birtwells and Birtwistles in her ancestry somewhere. She was also connected to Ormerod Clegg of Huncoat (apologies for thread wandering) and Roger Nowell of Read.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Not the Birtwistles of church and later Spring Hill by chance. Irena being the last one..

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

I use to go to school with Les and Trev Birtwistle. They originally came for Walmsley St. in Church and moved up Dill Hall, just of Riding Barn St. Photo of Les is in my piccy of St Andrews class of 1954/5 under User Photos site.

They were rough and tough, all the Birtwistles. Never actually came across Harrison, like others, I heard his screechings...and left!!

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Darby, the link to my Birtwistles is a complex one so I need to spend some time with this....

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Didn't he live in Ossy? I do agree the "music" is dire.

However, we do have a very famous opera singer, John -the name escapes me- wonderful baritone/bass, saw him in Meistersinger and was proud to come from Accy!

John Tomlinson
 

However, we do have a very famous opera singer, John -the name escapes me- wonderful baritone/bass, saw him in Meistersinger and was proud to come from Accy!

HIS NAME IS JOHN TOMLINSON, AND HE HAILS FROM OSWALDTWISTLE! :)

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

How could I forget. Must be my age! - or overwork, or both!

He is absolutely brilliant - I had never rated bass voices before, but he changed my mind.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Another Accy claim to fame was that the Outlaw Butch Cassidy's father came from Accrington........we still see lots of cowboys around

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Just joined having only discovered the Accrington Web yesterday -unfortunately, thinking I was being terribly original, I have chosen a name that is already used, albeit written in a slightly different case, so forgive me, the other "accymad". Now about Harry Birtwistle - and yes, that is his real name, my grandfather always referred to him as Harry and it seems that was always his name until he went posh. Also some reference books list him as "Harrison Paul Birtwistle" but I can assure you that he was registered at birth as just plain old Harry.(But his mother's maiden name was Harrison so I suppose we should allow him the right to use it!). My mother thinks his mother came from Cheshire.
Sadly, Harry seems rather to resist too much probing about our beloved "Accy" ; in interviews his remarks may be judged as, at best, scathing about the town that in fact gave him the musical background that enabled him to go to music college. His references to his time in local amateur orchestras is remembered by him as his not having realised at the time how bad they were, which is a bit rich when one of those orchestras,The Robert Cunliffe Orchestra,( a long-standing institution run by the New Jerusalem Church, Abbey Street with financial support from philanthropic business men in the town) produced many young people who went on to be respected professional musicians (mentioning two only -John Ayre, who was 1st horn with the Halle and Marion Ayre, oboist with the BBC Scottish Symphony ).
By the way, to the contributor who thought that having the name Birtwistle meant they were probably related may be disappointed - in the 1881 Census there were 1816 Birtwistles in Lancashire, most of whom were in the Hyndburn, Blackburn, Colne area with a few towards Manchester - multiply that by the degree of increase in the population and anybody doing family history in the Accy area will probably come across a Birtwistle ! (Making us all related I suppose!!)

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Hi from Paul Birtwistle known as Paul B.
There is a Birtwistle family book going back to 1120 and my own family line goes back to Huncote Hall.
I am still researching various other family members ,the latest being Bill who now lives in New Zealand and played for the All Blacks in 1966.
Sue Birtwistle is a casting director at the beeb.
Hope to catch up with some of you soon.

Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

See todays Accrington Observer, he has got a mention in it.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Interesting to see several comments about John Tomlinson. The great man always gives full credit to his Oswaldtwistle upbringing and the debt he owes to the many years he attended the Methodist Chapel there and the experience he gained singing with the Accrington Male Voice Choir. Incidentally, John gained a fantastic review from the Daily Telegraph following his brilliant performance at the Proms earlier this week in a concert performance of Bartok's "Bluebeard's Castle" - Ivan Hewitt wrote that "John Tomlinson as Bluebeard rose magisterially above it, however" ( "it" in this case, referring to the critic's opinion that Bartok had given the orchestra too much to do !) "More importantly", continued Hewitt, "Tomlinson gave Bluebeard a world-weary and heart-sick tone that went straight to the heart of this strange and riveting drama"

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Hello there
Just thought id confirm that Harrison is his mothers maiden name and he is called Harry as a shortened version of this (always has been) there are no pretentions with Harrison.
His music however may be more controversial than his name but is nevertheless as gritty and awesome as where he was brought up. it is meant to be heard live and LOUD!! and like it or not reflects his upbringing and surroundings of accrington - Its really weird suddenly webbing and finding a chat room about my dad - its reaaaaaallllllllly weird - but fun!!

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

I will as and when, but dont tend to hang around computers too much, does childers lane still exist, I heard they put a motorway through it or am I going off the beaten track?

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Does any one know which Methodist chapel John Tomlinson, was associated with in Ossy?

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Sorry- no, I don't know which Methodist Chapel in Oswaldtwistle John Tomlinson attended, it's just that that is how he referred to it when he mentioned it in a newspaper interview; I didn't realise myself that there was more than one!
Incidentally, John received rave reviews for his performance at Covent Garden in Siegfried this month (October 2005) and an interview with him was prominent in the 1st October 2005 edition of "The Spectator". It refers to the "popular Lancastrian with the worldwide reputation" and lists a packed diary including future appearances at Munich and Bayreuth. Amusingly John says that in Europe the name "John Tomlinson sounds quite exotic over there........!"

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

There were at least four Methodist Chapels in Oswaldtwistle then when he was growing up. Stanhill, York Street, Foxhill Grove, and Mount Pleasant.

John Tomlinson
 

Hi, John and his family went to the chapel that is at the top of Chapel Street in Ossy. Sorry, the name of it just escapes me for the minute.
Atarah

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Thanks Atarah, that was Mount Pleasant, now Rhyddings Methodist.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

I have some Birwistles married to Barnes. Just found a Harrison Birtwistle in the 1891 census, son of William....obviously not the same fellow, still Lancs. though.
My Birtwistles were Robert and Susan (Ashworth) of Accrington late 18th century.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Harrison Birtwistle (Don't you dare call him Harry** lived in Huncoat with his parents. He failed at teaching me to lay clarinet, I think I got him a little interested in Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmon, he enjoyed their counterpoint playing.
He was a member of one of the bands which used to march [and play] in the Whit Sunday processions.
We went o Paris together (1953) he wished to visit Debussy's grave.
His house was up a side lane to the right just after the pub, not the Griffin.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Sir Harrison Birtwistle's The Minotaur is currently showing on BBC2, and it also features another local singing the lead role, Sir John Tomlinson.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Who used to live in my house years ago.

Now if the Secretary and Events organiser of Friends of Rhyddings Park was any good at her job she might have contacted him and persuaded him to return to his roots for a slot at next Sundays musical event in Rhyddings Park. free of charge of course ;)

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Well its 17 and a half hours since you posted that Neil, guess Gayle hasn't been on line yet today:D:rolleyes:

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

I have just had a note from a Grammar school Old Boy, Kenneth Ball to say that he and his wife Mary, a High School girl, had attended the new opera 'Minotaur' at Covent garden and felt at home in the presence of the composer ( Sir Harrison Birtwistle) and the lead singer (Sir John Tomlinson).
I was contacted a year or so ago by a lady who is writing a biography of the man she called Harry. These two aren't the only Grammar school knights - we have Sir Kenneth Barnes too. I have been told that I have been put forward for an honour from the Queen - ' for services tio the brewing industry'

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Fantastic composer. Fully deserves his recognition, frankly.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

I conducted the Robert Cunliffe Orchestra 1969 to 71 and the Amateurs and the Accy Male Voice choir
From the people in it(RCO) and the BBC Halle Northers players recruited from it and played with it from the 1890s and its library and records
going back to then, it would be safe to say it was a worthy "sattelite" pro/am group
of high standard in relation to the RLPO and Halle of those days.Such is/were/was the tradition of NW musicical valleys/life similar to S WAles mining areas.Cotton and mining ndustry and churches of the area contributed much to music making.Robert Aspden got me the job when I set up the Sandy Lane Music (FE Coll) dept.
best
Phil Newton B Mus

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

i myself dont know much well anything about this fellow but my husband went to school with him st johns & the grammer he calls him bertie i do believe his parents had a bakers very near to either maudsley st or burnley rd my hubbie says he wasnt odd at this time but watching him once i wouldnt agree but hell wish i was as rich as him violet

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

had another word with my hubby he wasnt called bertie they called him shirt his mum had a shop in hood st acci my hubby says he had the most high pitched laugh & he was u would call chunky also did he go to acci grammer ??? violet

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

V. He did go to Accrington Grammar School.
I am having a job remembering a shop in Hood St.
I have sent you a PM.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Well, there you go, I think his music is bloody awful, and believe me I've heard some crap! Thumbs up to the the real talent of John Tomlinson though!

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

I can't remember one either Bob.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

was there not a cake shop end of hood st corner maudsley st?

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

You may well be right Cashy, but I cant remember one. I'll ask my sister, her memory is a lot better than mine.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

My aunt Sal tells me the shop at Hood/Maudsley was a bread shop. Her memory is excellent for an 80-odd year old.She cannot recall Cashy being good looking.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

sorry bob i deleted your message by accident. im not very good on this computer lark .being a claytoner myself ,but when first married i moved to the cottages on whalley rd.were they called britcliffe cottages a row of stone houses now eastway ??? sorry i havnt lived in acci for almost 40 yrs i remember 2 shops on meadow st when i lived there i will ask again about a shop on hood st violet

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Sally is correct it sold bread n cakes, thing is though Bob she was never a long haired fan.:D;) plus i used to lead her eldest astray so that may have a bearing on her verdict. lol mind it wasn't a confectioners as such, but they sold cakes in boxes "Lyons" etc used to get their apple tarts.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Old thread I know, new book out by Fiona Maddox reviewed in the Sunday Observer.
Intrigued by Harry's comments when asked about his school life, I guess I'll have to buy the book to find out.

Anybody know for sure where his parents shop was?

Harrison Birtwistle: 'I don't think, with hindsight, I was a natural musician' | Music | The Observer

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

I knew the above guy and his father in the 1960s, they lived on Burnley Lane Huncoat, At Childers Green Farm which at the time overlooked a scenic lake that was stocked with trout; Harry's dad Fred was the bailiff.

The lodge was drained in the 1970s (I think) due to the dam wall becoming unsafe, the area is now a picnic area and nature reserve.

When the link road to the M 65 was built from the double roundabout at the Griffin, Burnley Lane was severed and a high level bridge was built to take the lane over the new duel carriageway.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Old posts I know! Ive just found the Accy web again after googling "Cunliffe Orchestra" Wondering if anyone has information about the Cunliffe orchestra..... my father was a member sometime from 1910 onwards, and was also in the Huncoat String Band. I have a photo of the latter, but no idea who anyone else is who is inthe picture. There is a recent book "The Lancashire String Band", by Davide Middlehurst..lots of piccys, but again no names for many of the members of the featured groups. Can anyone help fill in names?!!! The Accrington Reed Band is also featured, but again no names, although I think the lad at the front of the group is my grandfather!!!!. Have a look at the book!!!!!! Has anyone written about the local pipe band? I used to be terrified of them as a child when we went every Whit Monday to Clayton to the Whit walks!!!!

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Old posts I know! Ive just found the Accy web again after googling "Cunliffe Orchestra" Wondering if anyone has information about the Cunliffe orchestra..... my father was a member sometime from 1910 onwards, and was also in the Huncoat String Band. I have a photo of the latter, but no idea who anyone else is who is inthe picture. There is a recent book "The Lancashire String Band", by Davide Middlehurst..lots of piccys, but again no names for many of the members of the featured groups. Can anyone help fill in names?!!! The Accrington Reed Band is also featured, but again no manes, although I think the lad at the front of the group is my grandfather!!!!. Have a look at the book!!!!!! Has anyone written about the local pipe band? I used to be terrified of them as a child when we went every Whit Monday to Clayton to the Whit walks!!!!

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Old posts I know! Ive just found the Accy web again after googling "Cunliffe Orchestra" Wondering if anyone has information about the Cunliffe orchestra..... my father was a member sometime from 1910 onwards, and was also in the Huncoat String Band. I have a photo of the latter, but no idea who anyone else is who is inthe picture. There is a recent book "The Lancashire String Band", by Davide Middlehurst..lots of piccys, but again no names for many of the members of the featured groups. Can anyone help fill in names?!!! The Accrington Reed Band is also featured, but again no manes, although I think the lad at the front of the group is my grandfather!!!!. Have a look at the book!!!!!! Has anyone written about the local pipe band? I used to be terrified of them as a child when we went every Whit Monday to Clayton to the Whit walks!!!!

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

an old biblical cliche, rendered in modern English is "a prophet is never recognised in his own country, in his own time and by his own kin"!!!!!!! Birtwistle is a ground-breaker, and is widely recognised as such, being performed in many international settings, and high-profile cultural milieus e.g. in 2014 he reprised his 1969 visit to the Brighton festival with his chamber opera "Down by the Greenwood Side", first performed there on the now burned out Grade 1 West Pier, and in 2014 featured in the derelict Harveys brewery in Lewes. Birtwistle was also "in conversation" with Gavin Henderson in the Music Room at Brighton Royal Pavilion. Great to see an Accy lad made good and trumping all the cultural cognoscenti who flock to the town for this huge international event (the Festival). How many of us could stand the pace of such a solo "performance" at the age of 80? Birtwistle is one of the music moguls of our time.... it would be good to know how much his musicality was fired and inspired by the rich musical milieu of Lancashire in his formative years. For just one aspect of this musical milieu, see David Middlehurst's 2015 book "The Lancashire String Band"- social dance musicians of the county, 1880-1930... a far cry from the mega inventiveness of Birtwistle, but goes to show how the area was rich in music of all sorts.. pity we can't say the same today. By the way has anyone researched the "Bands" of the 1950's onwards.... plenty of local "groups", from which at least one "great" was spawned.. Jon Anderson. I for one never cease to be amazed at the number of major groundbreakers a small town llike Accy produces..... leaving technology aside for now, Ossie Clark in fashion, John Virgo, Artist, Harrison B......... performers like Jon Tomlinson, Jon Anderson and his recent innovative collaboration with Jean Luc Ponty.......

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

If yeh nose in the music section Jenny, yeh will see a fair bit of stuff on local bands from the 50s/60s etc.;)

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

I wonder if you Birtwistles on here know your surname originates in Hapton. There was a small hamlet called Bridtwisell in south east Hapton. It had a few different spellings...Byrtwesyll, Bridtwistle and Burwissel. You can read more about this on www.haptonheritage.co.uk in the History section. And Childers Green farm, taddy, is in Hapton not Huncoat.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

The name of the artist mentioned by Jenny should read John Virtue. A Grammar School Old Boy, I am having difficulty making contact with him

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Yes you are quite right, I stand corrected, in fact i was wrong on two counts, Fred Birtwistle, (Harrisons Father), lived in the cottage that is on the opposite side of Burnley Lane from Childer's Green Farm,I think it is now (or was) a cattery. Your's Taddy.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Yes Taddy it is a cattery now and Mill Hill Lane Hapton not Burnley lane Huncoat.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

I have always known it as Mill Hill Lane from the ford to Hapton and Burnley Lane from the ford to Huncoat but I alway's stand to be corrected. Your's Taddy.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Hi there,
My Aunty (Edna Swain) played in the Cunliffe orchestra during the 30’s and 40’s. You mentioned something about a photo, would it be possible to upload it?

Cheers

Philip Kenyon

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

I have just had a look on Google Earth, it seems that Burnley Lane runs from Huncoat village to the bridge over the new link road and Mill Hill Lane from the bridge to Hapton.I am Always willing to learn. It would be interesting to know what the entire lane was called when Huncoat was part of Burnley prior to the 1920s. Your's Taddy

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

Well Childers Green has always been in Hapton so I should think that it has always been Mill Hill Lane to the other side of that and then Burnley Lane.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

I have a history of the Accrington Old Band from 1842 to 1900 compiled by Jim Savage and a further history from 1900 to the present East Lancashire Concert Band. Neither is published but the first one contains a picture of the Reed Band with all the names and the second has a picture of Sir Harrison Birtwistle as a young clarinet player with the North East Lancashire Military Band in the mid 1940's. If anyone is interested in looking at either of these, I can be contacted through the web site of the East Lancs Concert Band. Nick Holme Band Chairman.

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

I'm researching Harrison as we speak and I believe he may be my great uncle.he was born in accrington as was I and most of my family. I have spoken to some of the surviving elders and it looks as if we are related, I've contacted his agent and he's good me he will pass my details on and Harrison will contact me. It will be great if we are related as I believe we are the only two Birtwistle to break into entertainment. I have been a Lancashire based actor for three years now and things are looking good. I will post another comment when Harrison gets back to me. Ps I know a bunch of names you guys have mentioned on this thread it's nice to speak with you.

Thanks guys
Michael Birtwistle

Re: Sir Harrison Birtwistle
 

BBC reporting as having died at the age of 87