John Scott and Roucher du Toit is a matter of record. He also taught Trevor Pinnock. It was Downes who urged Weir to compete in the prestigious St Albans International Organ Festival at St Albans, where she took first prize. Downes visited the Festival numerous times. Recordings of Downes at the organ are still available, notably those with Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. He recorded Bach's organ music to acclaim. Many of his recordings were made on the Royal Festival Hall organ, however he also recorded at the London Oratory, where he designed the Grand Organ built by JW Walker. He wrote about his organ design philosophy in Baroque Tricks (Positif, Oxford, 1983). He was appointed CBE in 1969. In 1970 he was made a Papal Knight of the Order of St Gregory the Great. He died in 1993. The organ was silent at his funeral, at his request, to make way for Gregorian chant of which he had grown fond following his conversion to Catholicism. His son was the distinguished architectural historian Kerry Downes (1930-2019). References 1904 births 1993 deaths English classical organists British male organists Cathedral organists British pipe organ builders Alumni of the Royal College of Music Academics of the Royal College of Music Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Princeton University faculty Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Organ builders of the United Kingdom 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century English musicians People from Derby 20th-century organists 20th-century British male musicians Male classical organists