Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet supplied banned drugs to composer William Walton
NewsThe British composer, living on the island of Ischia, required 2,000 Ritalin pills a year to treat an unspecified condition.
The drug was prohibited at the time in Italy.
Government papers released today show that Robert Armstrong, Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet secretary, wrote to Walton’s wife Susana advising her that the Italian ambassador in London would assist her in obtaining the banned substance, presumably via the diplomatic pouch. Armstrong was an ardent music lover, secretary to the Board of the Royal Opera House.
It helps to have friends in high places.
This was Walton’s output under Thatcherism (input: 8,000 Ritalin pills):
1979 Introduction to the National Anthem, A Fanfare
brass (3 trumpets, 3 trombones) and snare drum
1979 Medley
brass band
1979 Salute for Sir Robert Mayer on His 100th Anniversary
brass (12 trumpets) and percussion
1980 Passacaglia cello
2 versions; written for Mstislav Rostropovich
1981 A Birthday Fanfare
brass (3 trumpets, 4 horns) and percussion brass (7 trumpets) and percussion composed as a 70th birthday present for Karl-Friedrich Still, Walton’s neighbour in Ischia
1982 Prologo e Fantasia
for orchestra
1982 Duettino oboe and violin
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_William_Walton
He was 77 when she took office. I’m a bit nostalgic for a time when a head of government attached that much importance to classical music.
So what?
Good for Mrs T.
She probably was on drugs herself.
Another good thing they did.
Is there any other use of Ritalin other than treating ADHD? Did he require medication earlier in his career to focus on composing Symphony # 1 and 2 or the violin concerto? Last, an average of 6 doses/day seems excessive but there is no indication of the amount/pill.
There are other potential indications for this medication, but since his medical history is not in the public domain it does not seem appropriate to speculate
Alzheimer’s?
Hyping up the Wehrmacht.
Ritalin is and methylphenidate for anxiety. Can cause over prolonged erections in men, so beware!
Many thanks for the warning.
People will be lining up …
Walton is considered a pioneer of the so-called bunga bunga culture.
over-prolonged erections.
This condition cannot exist.
A prolongation can come different guises.
Robert Armstrong, son of Sir Thomas Armstrong, principal of the RAM and formerly organist of Christ Church, Oxford, alma mater of WW. Easy enough to join the dots. Pity the pills didn’t help him to write better music, though.
Maybe it was a bad prescription.
I hope he enjoyed them
Ever does it go in the music business…
In other words the British government was an enabler for the addiction of someone who being a member of the old boys club, was able to feed his drug habit. Just what you would expect!
There is no medical indication for stimulants and even the use in ADHD is pretty controversial
He had a speed addiction in other words…Unless he was adhd of course
I’ve just read the file and in fact the issue wasn’t that ritalin was banned in Italy – it wasn’t. Quite the contrary: the problem Armstrong had to resolve in 1982 was that ritalin had become available in Italy and Walton’s previous arrangement to import it from the UK had become unlawful. In the 1970s (during the Callaghan government and not involving Armstrong) the British and Italian authorities agreed to circumvent legal problems involving what was at first an illegal prescription from Walton’s Harley St doctor. (It was illegal to prescribe ritalin for export.) Scotland Yard and the Italian narcotics authorities agreed an exception. However by 1982 the Italian authorities expected Walton to obtain the drug on the Italian market. Armstrong wrote that it would be better for them to do so, but intervened with the Italian Ambassador asking whether it might be possible for Walton to continue his habit of acquiring the drug in London. Lady Walton had explained to Armstrong that she and her husband didn’t know how to go about obtaining the drug in Italy, but most likely it was a question of embarrassment: they preferred the discretion of their usual London doctor. Walton died in Italy less than a year after the Armstrong correspondence, and its not clear from the file whether Armstrong did succeed in changing the Italians’ mind or whether Walton still had his London stock by the time of his death.
I concur with “Friends in high places”.
Nothing against Walton, however.
It may be that he suffered from narcolepsy. My husband has had the most severe form for over 40 years and needs 4 – 20 mg pills/day just to stay awake. People always assume the worst when they hear about drug usage – please consider that this may be the only way he was awake to work!