The Children´s Hour 1961

Highly accomplished English pianist, composer and arranger who shined from the 1930s through to the '80s.
Although the third finger of his right hand was amputated following a playtime accident as a child, McGuffie persevered with his music studies, and at the age of 11 was awarded the Victoria Medal for his piano proficiency by the Victoria College, Glasgow. A year later he made his first broadcast on Childrens’ Hour, and at the age of 14 was playing regularly with the BBC Scottish Variety Orchestra. For a while he studied to be a naval architect, before moving to Ayr to join the Miff Hobson Orchestra. Early in 1944, he moved to London and played with Teddy Foster at the Lyceum, and then spent four years with Joe Loss, before joining Maurice Winnick and Sidney Lipton…