His book Percussion Instruments and their History (1971) is a standard reference work on the subject.
[5] He was a long-time associate of Benjamin Britten, with whom he conceived many of the composer's unusual percussion effects.
Blades' pupils included the rock drummers Max Sedgley, Carl Palmer, and Richard James Burgess as well as percussionist Evelyn Glennie.
His most famous and widely heard performances were the sound of the drum playing "V-for-Victory" in Morse code, the introduction to the BBC broadcasts made to the European Resistance during World War II, and providing the sound of the gong seen at the start of films produced by the Rank Organisation.
On screen Blades's sound was interpreted by an actor miming a character called the "Gongman".