Ernest Longstaffe

Ernest Longstaffe (5 April 1884 – 23 November 1958) was an English composer, conductor, and radio producer.

He was born in Newport, Essex, the son of the landscape painter Edgar Longstaffe.

[1] He started his career in concert parties and summer variety shows.

[4] The BBC radio programmes that he produced included Palace of Varieties  – reportedly the favourite radio programme of King George VI  – and The Happidrome.

[2] He retired from the BBC in 1949, but continued to appear on Palace of Varieties until shortly before his death,[4] in hospital in London in 1958 at the age of 74.