26 JULY 1997, Page 25

. . . now you don't

HE LIKED to do that. One of his Eton contemporaries tells of a last meeting between Goldsmith and his much-tried housemaster: 'Well, goodbye, sir. I know we haven't always hit it off, but I don't want to part on a quarrel, and I know how you love music, so I've brought you a present. It's The Marriage of Figaro — the complete recording.' In those days of fragile 78 rpm records, this was quite a parcel, and the housemaster's heart melted. Had he, after all, misjudged this boy? He stretched out to receive his present and Goldsmith, perhaps accidentally, dropped it.