Born in 1921, Malcolm Arnold was a British composer. Born into a musical Northampton family of shoemakers, Arnold was privately tutored at home and quickly discovered the delights of music through violin, piano and organ. Inspired by his love of jazz and Louis Armstrong in particular, Arnold took up the trumpet and, aged 16, won a scholarship to study at London's Royal College of Music. It was as a trumpeter that Arnold began his professional career, in the London Philharmonic Orchestra. It wasn't until 1948, when he won a scholarship to study composition in Italy, that he devoted himself to composing.

Over his career, Arnold wrote more than 500 works, including 132 film scores, nine symphonies, seven ballets, two operas, 20 concertos, a considerable quantity of chamber music and various works for wind and brass instruments. Arnold received many commissions throughout his life, including from Yehudi Menuhin, Julian Lloyd Webber, James Galway and Julian Bream.

In 1990 Arnold ceased writing and was knighted in 1993. Sadly, Malcolm Arnold died of a chest infection in 2006.