There’s an old joke that used to do the rounds, a saying commonly laid at the door of Sir Thomas Beecham. “I bumped into Adrian Boult the other day,” the spicy old buffer was supposedly heard to declare, “positively reeking of Horlicks!” The point was, that where other great conductors – I mention no names – might be expected to stink of booze, the best one might level at the famously staid Boult was an addiction to Britain’s favourite bedtime malted milk drink.

Whatever the merits or otherwise of a quiet, ordered life, Adrian Boult (1889–1983) enjoyed an unparalleled career in which British music was a key, though by no means exclusive element. His most important musical friendship was undoubtedly with Ralph Vaughan Williams, a fruitful artistic partnership that spanned some half a century, from Boult’s graduation to Vaughan Williams’ death in 1958. Not only did the conductor premiere some of his friend’s most important works, but he was in the process of recording his final symphony on the day the composer died.

Nigel Simeone, the author of this intriguing exploration of their fruitful relationship, has reason to be grateful that Boult...