He left Australia to continue his studies in Paris, where he supported himself by playing small parts in films made by Gaumont Studios.

He won a scholarship for composition at the Royal College of Music, where he studied under Ralph Vaughan Williams.

[2] He joined the BBC in London as "tone and control officer", and was subsequently appointed musical director and later features producer.

He wrote several plays for radio, mostly in the 1930s and on historical topics, which were broadcast by the BBC Home Service, Scotland.

[9] His other compositions included settings for voice and piano of the poem "Song of the Rain" by his fellow Australian Hugh McCrae and of the poem "Beauty's Beauty" by the 17th century English dramatist John Ford;[2] Love Song for Strings in the Form of a Rondo (commented on favourably by John Ireland in 1943);[5] and Serenade for Small Orchestra (1931; recorded in 1999 by Vernon Handley and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Chandos 9757).