the times | Friday August 28 2020 2GM 5
News
The Finnish conductor of the Last
Night of the Proms revealed that her
family had suffered “abuse and threats”
as she denied involvement in the deci-
sion not to sing Rule, Britannia!
Dalia Stasevska, 35, said that she had
“played no role in deciding the tradi-
tional elements of the programme” in a
statement effectively laying the blame
on BBC managers and Proms officials.
Stasevska’s public support for the
Black Lives Matter movement had
contributed to reports that she was the
driving force behind pressure to drop
traditional anthems from the concert in
London on September 12. The BBC
announced on Monday that it would
perform versions of Rule, Britannia! and
Land of Hope and Glory without lyrics,
in a compromise brokered by Tim
Davie, the incoming director-general.
Rule, Britannia! is deemed problemat-
ic by some because of lyrics including
“Britons never, never, never shall be
slaves”.
Yesterday Stasevska said that she was
not the type of person who sought to
“influence political debates”. She added:
“I am so honoured to be part of this
year’s BBC Proms and its iconic Last
possible to do them justice without an
audience at the Royal Albert Hall. The
songs will be performed in full next
year.
Lord Hall of Birkenhead, the out-
going director-general, confirmed there
had been internal discussions about the
songs and their links to Britain’s imperi-
al past in an interview with The Media
Show on BBC Radio 4 but said the “right
conclusion” had been reached.
Lord Hall was challenged by Amol
Rajan, the corporation’s media editor,about the concerns of some insiders
that it had become the “broadcasting
wing of the Black Lives Matter move-
ment”. Lord Hall defended the BBC’s
record on race and and its investment
in diverse shows, saying: “[It] has got to
appeal to a breadth of types of people
across the country.”
On Tueday Boris Johnson accused
the BBC of “cringing embarrassment
about our history, about our traditions”.
Trevor Phillips, page 27
Letters, page 30A 90-year-old pilot has died after the
glider in which he was flying crashed on
a school playing field.
A second pilot was taken to hospital.
His condition was not thought to be
life-threatening.
The glider came down at St Edward’s
prep school in Charlton Kings, Chel-
tenham, just after 1pm on Wednesday.
Stephen McKernan, the headmaster,
was the first on the scene after hearing
the crash while in the school’s paddock
feeding its llamas. “I just heard the
impact of the light aircraft and a tearing
noise of the apparatus,” he said.
He set off to see where the noise had
constituency office in Cheltenham in- Robert Ashman, then 49, admit-
ted manslaughter and was convicted of
attempted murder. He was released
after eight years in a secure hospital.
At Westminster magistrates’ court
the prosecution said that Mr Howgate,
56, was a constituent who had made
representations to the MP on behalf of
another person and been unsatisfied.
Mr Howgate said: “I’m not a threat to
anybody and I don’t even own a samu-
rai sword.” He was bailed on condition
that he does not contact Ms Farris. A
trial date was set for December 8.
Inventor accused of scaring
MP with sword death email
Jonathan Ames Legal EditorGlider pilot, 90, dies in crash at school
come from and discovered the wreck-
age and the two pilots. “I spoke to them
and comforted them and told them I
would get help.”
He said that fire crews and an air
ambulance arrived within 15 minutes.
“In these circumstances it’s important
to reassure people that people were
tended to very quickly,” he added. “My
thoughts are with both families.”
Cotswold Gliding Club, based at
Aston Down Airfield, near Stroud, con-
firmed that one man on board had died.
In December the club’s website record-
ed the first glider flight of a 90-year-old
man and his 91-year-old wife.
The identity of the man, who was de-
clared dead at the scene, has not beenconfirmed. The Civil Aviation Author-
ity is investigating.
South Western Ambulance Service
said that it sent two ambulance crew,
one air ambulance crew, a critical care
team and a senior paramedic. “One
patient, who was conscious and breath-
ing, was treated at the scene and con-
veyed to hospital by land ambulance for
further care,” it said.
In May an inquiry found that a pilot
died when the tailplane fell off his glider
during take-off. Steve Evans, 54, was
being towed at an airfield in Gwernes-
ney, Monmouthshire, on July 27 last
year. Mr Evans, who had helped to
assemble the plane that morning, fell
80ft. He died five days later.Will Humphries
An inventor sent an email to a Tory MP
containing a threatening reference to a
councillor who was killed with a
samurai sword, a court has been told.
Ian Howgate is accused of writing an
email to Laura Farris, 42, the MP for
Newbury, ending: “Rather than putting
[staff] in harm’s way for your sake they
will throw you to the lions. Rest in peace
Andrew Pennington.”
Mr Pennington died aged 39 while
protecting the Liberal Democrat MP
Nigel Jones, who is now a peer, in hisRoyal music college sued over ‘failures’ in sex attacks investigation
Will Humphries
Southwest Correspondent
while studying for a BA in acting in 2017.
She claims that after she complained
she was labelled a troublemaker. Law-
yers say that later that year the man as-
saulted another student whom he found
alone in a women’s dressing room.
The college, which was founded in
1949 and has the Prince of Wales as its
president, is accused of only beginning
a formal investigation in January 2018
after the first woman complained about
the response to her original allegation.
Another 14 women made complaints
against the same man, who was sus-
pended from the college for two weeks
over the allegations. He did not attend
lectures but was seen around campus. Apolice investigation in January 2018 did
not lead to any charges.
The two women are referred to as
A and S. John Watkins, of Bater Law,
who is representing them, said that the
college failed to follow its safeguarding
policy and despite the accusation of
criminal activity in 2017 did not ap-
proach the police immediately.
He said it was suggested that one ac-
tress had been in a “failed” relationship
with the man when she had met him a
day earlier. Another was allegedly
asked if she had been “topless” in the
changing room at the time of the
alleged assault. Mr Watkins said: “They
were made to feel like nuisances andtroublemakers. Little wonder the other
14 who were touched by the accused did
not come forward initially... they want
to make absolutely certain that no fe-
male students at Royal Welsh College
of Music and Drama will ever again be
at the mercy of a sexual predator.
“The conclusions outlined in the
college’s own investigation documents... find the accused guilty of sexual
misconduct. By their own guidelines,
he should have been expelled.”
The college said: “The safety and
wellbeing of our students and staff is of
the highest importance and we have
formal mechanisms in place to both
safeguard and support members of the
college community who wish to report
incidents. The college treats every re-
port of inappropriate behaviour with
the utmost seriousness; our policies
and procedures are kept under con-
stant review in order to remain aligned
with best practice.
“We remain committed to listening
openly to any member of our commu-
nity, current or previous, who wish to
report an incident through our formal
processes, whether recent or historic.”
The college said that it would be in-
appropriate to comment on the allega-
tions during the legal process.
South Wales police said that no
criminal investigation was under way.
MARK ALLAN/BBC; GUY BELL/PAdebut with the BBC Symphony Orches-
tra at last year’s Proms, had said that she
would not have the “arrogance” to de-
mand changes to the line-up and that
the decision had been entirely the
BBC’s. David Pickard, the Proms direct-
or, Alan Davey, the controller of Radio
3, and Jan Younghusband, head of BBC
music TV commissioning, are among
officials believed to have been involved
in discussions about the repertoire.
The BBC insists that the lyrics have
been dropped because it would not beThe Royal Welsh College of Music and
Drama faces legal action for allegedly
failing to properly investigate claims of
sex attacks on actresses by a student.
The institution, whose alumni in-
clude Sir Anthony Hopkins and Rob
Brydon, carried out an inquiry after
complaints from 16 women. Two of the
alleged victims are suing the college.
The actresses claim that they were
attacked in halls of residence and in
dressing rooms on campus. One of the
women said that she was drugged and
sexually assaulted by a male student
Rule Britannia
row is nothing
to do with me,
says conductor
Night. I understand its promi-
nence in the UK classical
music calendar and wider
cultural landscape. It is
incredibly exciting to
be part of an event
with such long-stand-
ing tradition.
“It is testament to
the unfailing work
and commitment of
the organisers that the
Proms can proceed at
all this year. However, in
recent days there has
been a good deal of inaccu-
rate speculation about my role
in determining the format of this
year’s Last Night of the Proms.
“This false speculation has led to
abuse and threats towards me and my
family, which is why I am speaking out.
For the record I have played no role in
deciding the traditional elements of the
programme. I recognise these are an
important part of the event. I’ve been
wrongly portrayed as a person who
tries to influence political debates —
this is not true. I am an artist, I want to
speak through my work to bring people
together and build solidarity.”
Friends of Stasevska, who made herMatthew Moore Media Correspondent
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