John Addison was born in England on March 16th 1920. He was educated at Wellington College and was originally intended to follow a military career. He studied at the Royal College of Music from 1938-39 and then again, after serving for six years in the war, from 1947-48. Gordon Jacob was his professor of composition, and he also learned the oboe with L'on Goossens and the clarinet with Frederick Thurston. He was awarded the Sullivan prize at the RCM in 1948 and was appointed as professor of composition there in 1951.One of his first successes was a Sextet for Woodwinds, performed at the Frankfurt Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music. A number of commissions from prominent instrumentalists and from the BBC led to a steady stream of chamber and orchestral compositions, many of which have been recorded.