From his early years as a chorister at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford to his old age on the Italian island Ischia, Sir William Walton was a tireless correspondent. Spontaneous and naturally fluent, his letters build up a detailed self-portrait of one of England's finest 20th-century composers.

Among his works that have achieved lasting fame are Facade, Belshazzar's Feast and the opera Troilus and Cressida. In 1945 he composed the music for Laurence Olivier's highly successful film of Henry V.