and led his own band, which was playing up to the beginning of the Second World War. Rignold married three times: in 1934 to Rita Mary Gaylor (the actress Molly Gay); in 1941 to Phyllis Stanley; and in 1948 to Patricia Horton. There was a daughter by each of the first two marriages. The elder was Jennifer Gay, who became the first on-screen schoolgirl continuity announcer for Children's Hour on the BBC. Post-war While serving in the Royal Air Force in 1944, Rignold got the chance to conduct the Palestine Orchestra, now the Israel Philharmonic, and thereafter his career remained within the classical sphere. He was a staff conductor at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 1947–1948; he directed the Liverpool Philharmonic (not then 'Royal') in the 1940s and 1950s, succeeding the popular Malcolm Sargent. A "period of unrest and strife" accompanied the beginning of Rignold's reign in Liverpool: Rignold replaced many older players in the orchestra, and some of the audience were unimpressed by his career in popular music. In the 1949/1950 season with the Liverpool Philharmonic, Rignold conducted 34 concerts, with guest conductors, including Sargent, Rafael Kubelík, Zoltán Kodály, Sir Adrian Boult and Sir Thomas Beecham conducting a total of 19 other concerts. Rignold's programming there maintained a balance between presenting accepted modern and classical works and premiering new works, including Sergei Prokofiev's suite from Cinderella and works by Bohuslav Martinů, E. J. Moeran and Gordon Jacob. From 1957 to 1960 Rignold was musical director of the Royal Ballet, In 1960 he became permanent conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra when Andrzej Panufnik unexpectedly resigned. He remained at Birmingham until 1968. Rignold made a number of classical recordings, but did not have a long-term contract with any of the record companies, with the consequence that his recorded repertory was somewhat haphazard – accompanying concertos, or selections for operatic artists (including Maggie Teyte), and ballet music. Most of his records were made in the mono era, and some have been reissued on CD. He was a car enthusiast and talented driver: it was said that "he would not be out of place on the Grand Prix circuit". References Bibliography External links Hugo Rignold biography 1905 births 1976 deaths 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century English musicians Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) 20th-century British male musicians 20th-century British musicians