Biography

Rae Jenkins , born Henry Horatio Jenkins (19 April 1903 – 29 March 1985) was a Welsh violinist and later conductor of light music, notably with the BBC Midland Light Orchestra (1942–1946), the. Bbc variety Orchestra (1946–?), and as principal conductor of the BBC Welsh Orchestra (1950–1965). In 1955 Hubert Clifford, Head of Music at the BBC, called Jenkins "the most gifted and experienced conductor of light music in the country".Jenkins was born at Ammanford in 1903, the son of a coal miner. Given a violin when four years old, he was first violin in his local theatre orchestra by the age of eleven. He subsequently attended the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied viola under Lionel Tertis and conducting under Sir Henry Wood.He worked on radio programmes, including It's That Man Again (ITMA). He was also an authority on music of gypsy origin.He appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 6 September 1965. He was a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music (FRAM). A portrait of Jenkins was painted by William Redgrave. A plaque in Ammanford Town Hall commemorates him. It reads: