What a wonderful story, Mark. You have an entire bank of them, and when do we get to see your memoirs? I especially like the one about the senior actress who was on a radio show — was it your radio show? She had a favorite Olivier story she liked to tell. But time ran short in this particular appearance. And afterward she moaned, “But I didn’t get to tell my Larry!”
As far as “Sir André” is concerned, yes, I checked Wikipedia first (being unsure). And Wikipedia said the business about not being a citizen of “a Commonwealth Realm.” But Solti got to be Sir George (or Sir Georg, more accurately)! That’s because he “naturalized.” Oh, well.
And if Wikipedia is ever wrong . . . well, it’s never wrong, is it? And there is a Santa Claus, isn’t there?
Two more quick notes on Previn: His memoir of Hollywood, No Minor Chords, is one of the loveliest memoirs I’ve ever read. The maddening thing about him is: He can play the piano, he can conduct, he can compose music – and he can write like a banshee.
Finally, I sometimes like to refer to him as Woody Allen’s father-in-law, just to be kind of jerky.