Finally

And, lo, 429 days after they knew they had a vacancy, the BBC has lighted upon David Pickard to be the next Director of the Proms.

David (St Alban's School and Corpus, Cambridge) has been General Director at Glyndebourne for nearly 15 years. He started in cultural admin with a pre-university gig at the Royal Opera House, putting parts and pencils on music stands for rehearsals. After his music degree, they remembered him, and he walked into a role as company manager straight from university in 1982.

There followed a year each at the New Shakespeare Company, Kent Opera and a couple of international festivals, before a longer gig with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Pickard says he plays piano duets with anyone who will indulge him; occasionally, he's indulged by his big brother Martin who is Head of Music and occasional conductor at Opera North.  He's less confident on the cello, though last year participated in a school string quartet re-union.