He was born in Shortlands, Bromley, Kent; his father, the civil servant Douglas Veale, later served as Registrar of the University of Oxford (1930–1958) and received a knighthood.
[1][2] Discovering Sibelius and Shostakovich, and receiving encouragement from William Walton, Sir Hugh Allen and Humphrey Searle, he decided to become a composer, taking some lessons from Egon Wellesz.
After demobilisation he returned to Corpus Christi for more composition lessons with Wellesz and counterpoint and harmony with Thomas Armstrong.
While there he began composing incidental music for Oxford University Dramatic Society productions, in which Kenneth Tynan and Lindsay Anderson were involved.
The Elegy for flute, harp and strings was written in her memory, and was adopted and recorded by the Boyd Neel Orchestra the following year, with soloists Richard Adeney and Maria Korchinska.
The Chandos recording of the Violin Concerto with soloist Lydia Mordkovitch, issued in 2001, resulted in a further revival of interest in his music.