The Cello and the Nightingales: The Life of Beatrice Harrison

The memoirs of cello prodigy Beatrice Harrison, the woman who brought the music of the nightingale to millions worldwide - and created the first interspecies collaboration

In 1924, Beatrice Harrison broadcast a miracle to the world: a wild nightingale singing with her cello. Over a million people tuned in to hear the nightingale that night, and the BBC went on to broadcast their duet worldwide every spring until 1942. This transformed the public interest in nightingales - a species already in decline.

If Beatrice’s duets with the nightingales touched a chord with the world, her own life proved to be as musical, free-spirited and inspiring. From her early years as a musical prodigy to recording with the most important composers of the day or playing for the wounded in the Second World War, Beatrice’s warmth and love for sharing music are as endearing now as they were to her original audiences.

Patricia Cleveland-Peck, the editor, is the bestselling author of fourteen children’s books, including You Can’t Take an Elephant on the Bus, and also writes travel pieces and non-fiction books. She came to know the Harrison family when living in a cottage on their estate at Smallfield, Surrey. It was while researching a biography of the four Harrison sisters that she discovered Beatrice’s unpublished autobiography. She lives near East Grinstead, Surrey.