T&A reader Mark Nicholson was interested in Keith Wilson’s inquiry about the conductor Leopold Stokowski’s appearance at Bradford’s New Victoria cinema, which became The Gaumont and then the Odeon.

Mark, who is compiling an extensive history of the Odeon, said: “I can confirm that on the evening of Sunday, May 6, 1951, Leopold Stokowski conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on the theatre’s stage.

“This ‘Special Festival Concert’ was billed as being Stokowski’s only Yorkshire appearance during that spring. Although it was still being referred to by many locals in Bradford as the New Vic at that particular time (as is still the case now), the theatre was actually officially known as the Gaumont by this point.

“Several orchestras appeared at the Gaumont during the early 1950s, all of which is fully documented in my soon-to-be-completed book about the Odeon building’s history. The book is to be called The People’s Palace: The Story Of Bradford’s New Vic.”

Keith Wilson referred to Stokowski’s concert as taking place on Sunday afternoon. In fact it started at 7pm, with doors opening at 6pm.

The concert was advertised in the T&A on the Friday and the Saturday. The cheapest seats at the back of the stalls cost seven shillings and sixpence – under 38p. The most expensive at the front of the stalls cost 21 shillings – £1.05.

Leopold Stokowski was born in England in 1882 to a Polish father and an Irish mother. According to Oliver Daniel’s biography Stokowski – A Counterpoint View (1982), the great conductor was advised by his first wife, an American from Texas, to emphasise his Polish name in the hope of furthering his career.

He made his name in the United States where he lived and worked for many years. Stokowski, unlike most conductors, eschewed the use of a baton. He conducted with his hands.

In 1951 he went on a nationwide tour of Britain with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the post-war Festival of Britain celebration, hence the Sunday night concert in Bradford which had, and still does have, a reputation as a place of music, especially choral music.