Born in Harrow on the Hill, London to Roy and Cecilia Northcott (née Venning) on 24 April 1940 he was educated at Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith.
[3] Subsequently he read music at the University of Southampton, where his instructors included Goehr and Jonathan Harvey.
[8] Notable chamber works include the Oboe Sonata (1978), Guitar Fantasia (1982) and the Piano Sextet (1985, premiered by the Fires of London).
[10] Choral pieces include Hymn to Cybele (1983, performed at the 2010 Proms),[11] the Four Votive Antiphons, Op.
The Horn Concerto, which took eight years to complete, was first performed in 1998 by Speculum Musicae in New York, and subsequently by the London Sinfonietta.