Rae Jenkins

Rae Jenkins , born Henry Horatio Jenkins (19 April 1903 ) was a Welsh violinist and later conductor of light music, notably with the BBC Midland Light Orchestra (1942–1946), the BBC Variety Orchestra (from 1946), and as principal conductor of the BBC Welsh Orchestra (1950–1965). In 1955 Hubert Clifford, Head of Light Music at the BBC, called Jenkins "the most gifted and experienced conductor of light music in the country".

Jenkins was born at Ammanford in 1903, the son of a coal miner. His parents eventually found the means to send him to the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 17, where he studied viola under Lionel Tertis and conducting under Sir Henry Wood.

His first broadcast was with the Reginald King Orchestra in 1930. He was appointed conductor of the BBC Midland Light Orchestra in 1942, putting on "at least a thousand" programmes from the Midlands before leaving to take over the BBC Variety Orchestra from Charles Shadwell in 1946. He was a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music (FRAM).

A portrait of Jenkins was painted by William Redgrave. A plaque in Ammanford Town Hall commemorates him. It reads:

Biography