Which British piano manufacturer, trading under the same surname for over 200 years, holds a Royal Warrant in this field?

Though subject (quite rightly) to the vagaries of taste and fashion, this much-published and quoted poet had plenty to say around 100 years ago in the heyday of Empire and the Great War. Many of his craftsmanly, ear-catching verses have articulated common moods and experiences, and been set to music, not least (as this Quiz is written, in the summer of 2014) 'Boots' ~ which, in J.P. McCall ( Peter Dawson)'s 1928 setting is perhaps the marching-song to end them all. Who was this writer?

Who was the founding conductor of the Promenade Concerts ('the world's largest and most democratic music festival', in the words of one critic), originally held in the Queen's Hall and now at the Royal Albert Hall, where a carved bust of him benignly looks on over the performances?

Which British monarch is widely believed to have been responsible for composing the folksong ?

Cyclist, Catholic and composer ... even by the time he had been knighted, and become Master of the King's Music (in 1924), this 'musical voice of the English establishment' regarded himself as an outsider on account of his humble provincial origins. One of his Marches has become a firm favourite at the Last Night of the Proms; he also wrote symphonies and concerti, songs and oratorio. A grateful nation [?] unceremoniously marked the 150th anniversary of his birth by withdrawing a banknote that bore his portrait. Who was he?

Another Catholic composer (and why not?): this one is probably most famous for his theatre work, most notably an aria he set for a show called in 1740, ~ also nowadays a fixture at the Last Night of the Proms. Who was he?

Though rightly famous for many probably greater works, he was a pioneer composer of film scores including for (to a script by the poet WH Auden, for a Post Office Film Unit documentary) and the , based on a theme by Purcell ~ with whom this composer shared a birthday on 22 November, feast-day of Saint Cecilia (patroness of music). Who was he?

He was a symphonist, composer of cantatas, masques and film scores; he served as a stretcher-bearer in the RAMC during the Great War, where close experience of gunfire may well have hastened the deafness that afflicted him in older age. He was an avid collector, arranger and 'user' of folk music, not least in the tunes he introduced and edited for two hymnbooks, and , which ~ directly or indirectly ~ probably had an incalculable effect on people's musical tastes in an age of greater churchgoing and the singing of hymns at obligatory morning assemblies in schools. Who was he?

The first significant English-language opera was (1689) ... by which composer?

For well over 50 years now, the BBC's Radio 4 (and its predecessor channel, the Home Service) has broadcast daily episodes on weekdays of its 'everyday story of country folk', . Its 'rum-ti-tum' signature tune is an aural icon both for devotees, and for detractors or parodists, instantly evoking the rural folk music tradition that someone once referred to as 'cowpat music'. The piece is now regarded as a classic of the British Light Music genre and continues to be broadcast (at least, in truncated form) on a daily basis. Who composed it?