{{Short description|British musician, composer and conductor}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Use British English|date= July 2019}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = L. Stanton Jefferies | honorific_suffix = LRAM | image = L. Stanton Jefferies at Marconi House in 1922 or 1923.jpg | caption = Mr. Stanton Jefferies before an experimental Marconi microphone in 1922 or 1923 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1896|09|04}} | birth_place = Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1961|10|22|1896|09|04}} | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | monuments = | nationality = | other_names = | education = | alma_mater = Royal College of Music | occupation = {{Plainlist| * Musician * Conductor * Composer * Army officer * Radio producer }} | years_active = | employer = {{Plainlist| * Marconi * British Broadcasting Company * British Broadcasting Corporation }} | organization = | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | television = | spouse = Vivienne Chatterton, June 1921 | children = | parents = | relatives = | awards = }}
'''Leonard Stanton Jefferies''' LRAM (4 September 1896 – 22 October 1961) was a British musician, composer, and conductor. He was the first director of music at the British Broadcasting Company, and pioneered techniques for broadcasting live music.
== Early life == Jefferies was born at Weston-super-Mare on 4 September 1896,<ref name="Doctor-402">{{Harv|Doctor|1999|p=402}}</ref> and studied organ and piano at the Royal College of Music.<ref name="Doctor-402" /> His studies were interrupted by World War I,<ref name="Jefferies-SBD-1">{{cite journal |last1=Jefferies |first1=L. Stanton |title=Soap Box Days |journal=Popular Wireless |date=5 October 1935 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Popular-Wireless/1935/Popular-Wireless-1935-10-S-OCR.pdf}}</ref> when he served as a naval telegraphist.<ref name="Matthews">{{cite thesis |last=Matthews |first=Geoff |year=1984 |title= The creation of production practice in the early BBC, with particular reference to music and drama |publisher=University of Leicester |url=https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?did=1&uin=uk.bl.ethos.373508 }}</ref> From 1919 to 1921, he was organist and music director at the church of St Bartholomew-the-Great, in the City of London.<ref name="GSB">{{cite web |title=Organists & Directors of Music |url=https://www.greatstbarts.com/worship/music-2/directorsofmusic/ |website=Great St Bartholomew |access-date=8 July 2019}}</ref>
== Career == Around June 1922 he became the only musician employed by Marconi's experimental broadcasting station 2LO, the British Broadcasting Company's forerunner. He was to be responsible for concerts broadcast from Marconi House, under the management of Arthur Burrows.<ref>{{Harv|Hennessy|2005|p=114}}</ref> With help from his RCM friend, the clarinettist Frederick Thurston, he gathered together a group of musicians to perform the first radio broadcasts of music from Marconi House.<ref name=sam>[https://samekmusic.com/artist/frederick-thurston-1901-1953/?cn-reloaded=1 Frederick Thurston biography, Samek Music]</ref> By the end of that year, 2LO had been absorbed into the nascent British Broadcasting Company, operating from Savoy Hill. He was its first director of music<ref name="Doctor-402" /> and continued to work for the BBC after it became the British Broadcasting Corporation<ref name="RT-1">{{Cite news| issn=0033-8060 |issue=1246 |page=26 |title=Those Were the Days! |work=Radio Times |date=29 August 1947 |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/15bc7777444341b18248fbc1884bf6a0|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026031610/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/15bc7777444341b18248fbc1884bf6a0|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 October 2014}}</ref> in 1927.
While at the BBC, Jefferies made broadcasts in which he gave organ recitals<ref>{{Cite news |issue=80 |page=8 |title = Organ Recital| work = Radio Times |date= 3 April 1925 |url = https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/64022045368840c7ab50b9023789fbdb|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190708152459/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/64022045368840c7ab50b9023789fbdb|url-status = dead|archive-date = 8 July 2019}}</ref> and conducted orchestral performances.<ref>{{Cite news |issue = 10| pages = 13| title = The London Wireless Orchestra|work=Radio Times|date=30 November 1923 |url= https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/e409ad56862f41c19615e3b34b6526f8|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190708152458/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/e409ad56862f41c19615e3b34b6526f8|url-status= dead|archive-date= 8 July 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |issue=13 |page=25 |title =The Messiah |work=Radio Times|date= 21 December 1923 |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/3694910501034996ba55b425f44ce53f|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708152500/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/3694910501034996ba55b425f44ce53f|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 July 2019}}</ref> He composed music for ''Children's Hour'' programmes,<ref>{{Cite news| issn = 0033-8060| issue = 323| page=60 |title=The Children's Hour |work=Radio Times|date=6 December 1929 |url = https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/a42ed564498b4177a961166b83e28cfd|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190708155551/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/a42ed564498b4177a961166b83e28cfd|url-status = dead|archive-date = 8 July 2019}}</ref> on which he played the character of ''Uncle Jeff'',<ref>{{Harv|Hennessy|2005|p=317}}</ref> and undertook the role of what would now be called a continuity announcer.<ref>{{Harv|Hennessy|2005|p=163}}</ref> Another of his duties was to build a collection of music recordings, which became the BBC Music Library.<ref name="Doctor-402" />
He was responsible for the appointment, in 1923, of Cecil Dixon as the BBC's first accompanist, the two having become acquainted at the Royal College of Music.<ref name="Murphy">{{cite journal |last1=Murphy |first1=Kate |title='New and important careers': how women excelled at the BBC, 1923–1939 |journal=Media International Australia |date=26 September 2016 |volume=161 |issue=1 |pages=18–27 |doi=10.1177/1329878X16664998 |s2cid=151975834 |url=http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/24833/1/New%20and%20important%20careers%20-%20How%20women%20excelled%20at%20the%20BBC%201923-1939%20-%20%20Kate%20Murphy%20-%20BURO.pdf}}</ref>
Famously, the director of the BBC, John Reith, was once entertaining the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Randall Davidson, who expressed a love of piano music. Reith telephoned the BBC's headquarters, and within minutes, Jefferies was playing Schubert's ''Marche Militaire'', live on air.<ref name="BBC-Reith">{{cite web |title=BBC – John Reith – This is the BBC – History of the BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/research/culture/reith-5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914035202/http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/research/culture/reith-5 |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 September 2015 |publisher=BBC |access-date=8 July 2019}}</ref>
In 1924, he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in a series of concerts at the Central Hall, Westminster.<ref name="Matthews" /> However, in 1926, having realised that his opportunities to progress as a musician and conductor were limited,<ref name="Matthews" /> he moved to a more technical role, responsible for the quality of broadcasts.<ref name="Doctor-402" /> Jefferies left the BBC in June 1935, after further career disappointments,<ref name="Matthews" /> despite support from Adrian Boult.<ref name="Matthews" /> Following military service in World War II<ref name="Doctor-402" /> (he received an emergency commission as a lieutenant on 20 November 1940<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=35034 |supp=y |date=6 January 1941 |page=127 }}</ref>), he returned to the BBC as a producer,<ref name="RT-1" /> continuing in the latter role until at least 1956.<ref>{{Cite news |issue=1697 |page=48 |title=Those Were the Days! |work=Radio Times|date=18 May 1956 |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/fe8eb10655424583a0f325ee96e391b6|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708153926/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/fe8eb10655424583a0f325ee96e391b6|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 July 2019}}</ref> He retired formally from the BBC that year, though he continued to undertake some work for them until the next year.<ref name="Doctor-402" />
In October 1935, shortly after leaving the BBC "with much regret", he published a three-part reminiscence of his radio work, "Soap Box Days", in the magazine ''Popular Wireless''.<ref name="Jefferies-SBD-1" />
He was a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (L.R.A.M.).<ref name="RT-1923-10-05-28">{{cite journal |title=The b.B.C. Staff |journal=Radio Times |date=5 October 1923 |issue=2 |page=28 |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/f131b3fca2254dab8ff4b8e71ac15d3a?page=28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230821224856/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/f131b3fca2254dab8ff4b8e71ac15d3a?page=28|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 August 2023}}</ref>
== Legacy ==
Jefferies developed new techniques for positioning microphones and controlling sound levels for broadcasting an orchestra, a subject he named "balance and control"; he wrote about this, and more, in The Radio Times,<ref name="Jefferies-TBoM">{{cite magazine |last1=Jefferies |first1=L. Stanton |title=The Broadcasting of Music |magazine =Radio Times |date=28 September 1923 |issue=1 |page=18 |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/d58cef702a6a4b26adb3e9df7195cbd4?page=18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229003527/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/d58cef702a6a4b26adb3e9df7195cbd4?page=18|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 February 2020}}</ref><ref name="Jefferies-HBHA">{{cite magazine |last1=Jefferies |first1=L. Stanton |title=How Broadcasting Helps Art |magazine =Radio Times |date=5 October 1923 |issue=2 |page=39 |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/f131b3fca2254dab8ff4b8e71ac15d3a?page=3}}{{dead link|date=September 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref name="Jefferies-BaWO">{{cite magazine |last1=Jefferies |first1=L. Stanton |title="Balancing" a Wireless Orchestra |magazine =Radio Times |date=19 October 1923 |issue=4 |page=104 |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/4c8795fde2854500b8c1bed7ceb07130?page=4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118175848/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/4c8795fde2854500b8c1bed7ceb07130?page=4|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 January 2022}}</ref> and it was extensively covered in a 1984 PhD thesis presented to the University of Leicester.<ref name="Matthews" /> Its author, Geoff Matthews, observed:<ref name="Matthews" />
{{blockquote|Jefferies' vantage point gave him the view that regular music broadcasting to new audiences required the adoption of unprecedented altitudes to music production. That view required not only the setting aside of simple distinctions between good and bad music, but a total revision of the instruments, of the physical accommodation, and of the co-operative relations between performers, engineers and support musicians, required by a shift from production of music in concert halls to production of music in a broadcasting organisation.}}
Jefferies working methods are also described in two autobiographical volumes by his BBC colleague Cecil Lewis: ''Broadcasting From Within'' (1924)<ref>{{cite book |first1=Cecil |last1=Lewis |author-link1=Cecil Arthur Lewis |title=Broadcasting From Within |year=1924 }}</ref> and ''Don't Look Back'' (1974).<ref>{{cite book |first1=Cecil |last1=Lewis |author-link1=Cecil Arthur Lewis |title=Don't Look Back |year=1974 }}</ref>
== Personal life ==
Jefferies died on 22 October 1961,<ref name="Doctor-402" /> aged 65. His wife, the singer and radio actor Vivienne Chatterton, survived him.<ref>{{Harv|Doctor|1999|p=334}}</ref><ref name="Lowry">{{Harv|Lowry|2003|p=xxv}}</ref> In the 1930s, they had a cottage at Lyme Regis.<ref name="Lowry" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
=== Sources ===
* {{cite book |last1=Doctor |first1=Jennifer Ruth |title=The BBC and Ultra-Modern Music, 1922–1936: Shaping a Nation's Tastes |year=1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CVCtkShvDSkC |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521661171 }} * {{cite book |last1=Hennessy |first1=Brian |title=The Emergence of Broadcasting in Britain |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PnmNh8IfjYEC |publisher=Southerleigh |isbn=978-0955140808 }} * {{cite book |last=Lowry |first=Michael |title=Fighting Through to Kohima: A Memoir of War in India and Burma |publisher=Pen and Sword Books Ltd |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rq6napkYpXAC |isbn=9781844158027 }}
=== Further reading === * {{cite book |first1=Arthur |last1=Burrows|author-link1=Arthur Burrows (broadcaster) |title=The Story of Broadcasting |year=1924 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_VzPAAAAMAAJ }}
== External links == * [http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/MarconiHouse/MarconiHouseImages.htm Images of Marconi House, Strand / Aldwych, London 1922, 1923, 1950] – includes several images of Jefferies at work
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferies, L. Stanton}} Category:1896 births Category:1961 deaths Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Music Category:Musicians from Weston-super-Mare Category:English conductors (music) Category:English classical organists Category:English classical pianists Category:20th-century English composers Category:20th-century English male composers Category:BBC radio producers Category:British Army personnel of World War II Category:Royal Artillery officers Category:English audio engineers Category:BBC music executives Category:Royal Navy sailors Category:Royal Navy personnel of World War I Category:Military personnel from Somerset