Following her divorce and to escape the rise of Nazism in Germany, Wulff Scherchen's mother Gustel brought him in 1934 to England, where they settled in Cambridge.
In 1939 Britten went to the US with Peter Pears, ostensibly for work but also to escape the entry of Great Britain into World War II.
While Britten was away, Scherchen was offered a place to study engineering at Queen Mary College, London, (which had been evacuated to Cambridge), but in May 1940 he was arrested, interned as an enemy alien and shipped to Monteith POW Camp in Canada.
To obtain his release, Scherchen voluntarily enlisted with the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps in 1942, which required him to change his name.
Scherchen was also the inspiration behind Young Apollo, a work for piano and strings which Britten withdrew without explanation after only two performances in 1939.