Tonight is the Last Night of the Proms 2025. 10 things you might not know about the Proms:
The first ever First Night of the Proms was on 10 August 1895. The first tune to be played was the National Anthem, followed by popular works by Saint-Saens, Haydn and Liszt, as well as London premieres of works by Chopin and Bizet. Smoking and drinking at the concerts were not only allowed, but encouraged, to promote a relaxed atmosphere.
So what is a Promenade concert anyway? Promenade concerts existed before August 1895, but they were only held outdoors. The idea was that people could stroll around, or promenade, while listening to the Music.
Indoor promenade concerts were the brainchild of Robert Newman, who conceived the idea as something to fill the fallow summer months when less people went to concerts, and to make classical music concerts more accessible to the less well off. He had the most expensive seats in the stalls removed and created an area where people could stand, or walk around, for a lot less money.
These days when you think of the Proms the venue that comes to mind is the Royal Albert Hall, but the first prom was held at Queen’s Hall on Langham Place and that was Proms HQ for many years. Until 1941, in fact, when it was destroyed by an air raid. It was then that the move to the Albert Hall took place, supervised by Sir Henry Wood.
Sir Henry Wood is a name identified with the proms pretty much from the beginning. An ENT specialist called Dr George Cathcart gave financial backing to the early proms, but he had a condition – that Newman hired a then little known conductor named Henry Wood, who was just 26 years old at the time. Wood held this post for almost 50 years, until the year he died, 1944, and had earned the nickname ‘Old Timber.’
Wood was known for his sense of humour, and also for his new arrangements of pieces to suit whichever orchestra he was working with. The latter didn’t always go down well with critics, so one time Wood decided to play a joke on them. He made a new arrangement to a piece by Bach, but advertised it as being a work by a fictitious Russian composer called Paul Klenovsky, and they fell for it, writing that “scoring was wonderful, Klenovsky had the real flair for true colour”.
The Proms has never been cancelled, not even for two world wars and a pandemic. The concerts have always gone ahead albeit with creative changes to timetables or programming. The organisers experimented with earlier start times, shorter intervals and briefer second halves. Matinee performances were tried, but weren’t successful. In 2020, the show still went on, albeit with socially distanced performers and no live audience but broadcast on Radio 3.
One of the purposes of the Proms is to showcase new music. Some of the new music isn’t so new anymore, but are well loved classics such as Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. Another aim is to showcase the work of British composers, who in the past included big names like Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
“Promming”, or what you might call standing room tickets remains a popular way to attend the concerts even today. Around 1,000 standing places are available online daily from 10.30am for £8. There’s no dress code, although having a fag in the auditorium isn’t allowed any more.
The Last Night of the Proms is so popular that the fairest way to allocate tickets is by a ballot. Anyone who has purchased tickets for five or more of the other concerts during the season is eligible to enter the ballot. Those who don’t get lucky can still watch it on big screens in Hyde Park (since 1996) and since 2000 in outdoor locations in other UK cities like Glasgow, Belfast, Manchester and Swansea. Regular features of the Last night include Jerusalem: words by William Blake, set to music by Hubert Parry in 1916; Rule Britannia by Thomas Arne; Pomp and Circumstance March by Edward Elgar, accompanied by the words of Land of Hope and Glory and Henry Wood’s arrangement of a Fantasia of British Sea Songs. The evening wraps up with the National Anthem and Auld Lang Syne.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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