English composer born at Down Ampney in Gloucestershire (after which he named his famous tune for the hymn Come Down O love Divine).
An avid collector of English folk music which, together with his study of English Tudor music, was a major influence on his work, for example: Fantasia on Greensleeves and Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
He wrote a wide range of works, from his overture The Wasps, written while a student at Cambridge to the Ninth Symphony written when he was 85.
