But this is still a significant shift for a party that has historically smiled on the nuclear industry. Meanwhile, the Labour Party under Tony Blair has been moving just as fast in the opposite direction. What can the artistic rationale behind a new middle name be?. It would be churlish not to recognise that the Conservative Party under David Cameron has come a long way on energy policy. The interim report of the party’s energy review this week argues that nuclear power should be used only as “a last resort”. Of course, it would have been preferable if the Tories had ruled out nuclear power altogether.

But how many creative types (aside from actors looking for a quick way to bypass the Equity registration rules) have invented initials for themselves? A new surname implies a new identity, a creative liberation, etc. We are familiar with artists changing their names completely. We all know, by now, that Reginald Dwight, Robert Zimmerman and David Jones became Elton John, Bob Dylan and David Bowie respectively. According to a new biography, the late R S Thomas invented the “S” in his initials because as a young man he did not want to be confused with all the other “Ronald Thomases” in Wales

This is a curious one. The only crumb of comfort the sheriff in charge of the operation could offer Ray’s shocked colleagues and students was that he probably lost consciousness before he drowned.Martin Anderson.

One of the students with him tried to help and was nearly dragged in himself, and a kayaker, soon followed by others, could find no trace of him.It was 11 hours before a dog from the search team, now over 100 in strength and working in 120-degree heat, found his body, wedged between two rocks some seven feet below the surface. Everybody was astonished by Mark’s artistry, marvellous teaching and great ideas! In the class he taught 13 students, about half an hour each.”Two days earlier, Skrzypek had introduced him to his favourite bathing spot, a pool on the edge of the South Yuba River, much-loved by kayakers and white-water rafters, and Ray so enjoyed it that he asked if they could return. Taking care to avoid the treacherous currents further out from the bank, he slipped on the stones and, though in water no higher than his knees, found himself being sucked into the main current and down towards a deep channel between high boulders, disappearing below the surface. The main idea of picking a basic issue of interpretation or technique from student’s performance of a piece and to project the main lines of the master’s approach, understanding and knowledge to the audience was absolutely there.

He wrote, too, for Piano, International Piano, Music Teacher, Piano Professional and other publications.His stature ensured a regular flow of invitations to teach abroad, and it was on one of those excursions that he met his awful end. Pawel Skrzypek, whom Ray had called to the RNCM, returned the compliment with an invitation to conduct the master-class at the Gold County Piano Institute in Nevada City on 19 June – an occasion Skrzypek felt was “the most profound and artistic teaching that could be. He made broadcast appearances on Granada TV, BBC1 and BBC2 and for BBC World Service; he played concertos and chamber music and gave recitals across England and continental Europe and Scandinavia.Ray’s institutional appointments began in September 1990, when he was named head of piano for Bromley Schools Music Service, remaining for three years. The first time he ever touched a piano he looked at the keyboard, found middle C, and played “London’s Burning” almost perfectly.

At that point his career was decided.Horses pulled him away from the piano on occasion – he loved riding and took pleasure in mucking out the stables – but his skills developed rapidly and by 13 he was sitting at the organ for two services every Sunday at Abbots Ann, near Andover, playing piano for a dance school and, with a group of friends, entertaining in local care homes.His career evolved with dizzying speed. In 1980 he enrolled on a course jointly run by Manchester University and the Royal Northern College of Music; his teacher was Renna Kellaway, who had a considerable influence on his development. He took a first class BMus at Manchester in 1983 and the RNCM’s highest performance award a year later, when he was also a finalist in the Viotti-Valesia International Piano Competition.First, he struck out freelance, playing concerts, as both soloist and accompanist, teaching, coaching opera and accompanying dance for four years – during which time (1984-85) he won a Leverhulme Scholarship to study with Hans Leygraf at the Salzburg Mozarteum; he also studied with James Gibb. Something like that you have to look to.”After failing with an £8.5m bid for Andrew Johnson, who chose Everton, and with a number of other high-profile offers failing, Heskey’s arrival may influence more arrivals. “I’m confident that by the time the season starts there will be at least six new faces in the squad,” Jewell said..