and Welsh Mountains. In its first year, the tower attracted up to half a million visitors to the top. At night, the tower was illuminated by fairy lights. On 7 September 1909, two visitors were left stranded at the top of the tower as the final lift car of the night descended without them. The woman and twelve-year-old child were not noticed during the final round of inspection and so, without a way to communicate with anyone on the ground, they spent the night on the tower until 10 am the following morning. They did not appear too concerned by the ordeal and left without giving their names to officials. Tower Ballroom The ballroom had a sprung floor and dance band stage. It could accommodate more than a thousand couples dancing and had a separate area for couples to learn the dances before taking to the main floor. It was decorated in white and gold with emblems of Lancashire towns, and had balcony seating for spectators. The composer Granville Bantock was enlisted as musical director in 1897 at the ballroom to provide music each weekday for six hours of ballroom dancing. To begin with, as the tower was being erected, he was in charge of a "semi-military band" that played outdoors with the fear that the tower might fall upon him and his players. Bantock is quoted as saying, "The noise of the riveting of the tower while we were playing ... reminded me of the anvil music in Das Rheingold". Bantock often played for the workmen during their lunch breaks, when they could frequently be heard saying, "play it again, guv'nor". Soon, Granville had a full orchestra at his disposal, so he convinced the management committee to allow him to give classical concerts on Fridays and Sundays. He then embarked on advanced concerts of new composers, as well as his own works. As he had difficulty finding time to practise these works, Bantock used afternoon sessions, in which he was supposed to play dance music, to rehearse his classical pieces. When the classical pieces spread to the afternoon programme, the management felt it was not commercially viable to continue the concerts. After three years at the tower, Bantock was appointed Principal of the School of Music at Birmingham and Midland Institute. The composer Edward Elgar conducted his Enigma Variations at the New Brighton Tower Ballroom in 1898, the second