Composer Lennox Berkeley -- who authored a pair of film scores during the 1940s -- was one of the most cosmopolitan of mid-twentieth century British musicians, with a style that was more continental-influenced than English. Born in Oxford, he was educated there as well, but from his mid-twenties spent much of his time on the European continent, studying music in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and absorbing the influence of contemporary composers such as Francis Poulenc, Igor Stravinsky, Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger, and Albert Roussel. The resulting French influence on his work separated him from the English nationalist school that dominated British music in the first half of the twentieth century, best embodied by Vaughan Williams. If anything, his music was closer to that of Arthur Bliss and also to Berkeley's longtime friend and colleague Benjamin Britten. During the Second World War, Berkeley worked for the BBC, and it was also during this period that he wrote his first film score, for the Eric Ambler-based thriller Hotel Reserve (1944) starring James Mason. He composed the music for one more feature film, The First Gentleman, released in 1948. Berkeley subsequently served as president of the Performing Rights Society, in addition to pursuing a long teaching career at the Royal Academy of Music, where his students included Richard Rodney Bennett, David Bedford, and John Tavener. Berkeley was knighted in 1974. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi