I WAS chatting with a neighbour about classical music, and Sir Thomas Beecham came up.

He is arguably the person from St Helens to achieve the greatest international profile.

I own several CDs where he conducts the music, an exception to my usual rule of buying classical music because of the composer and not the work. So, not only has he introduced me to new works, but I have played them as background orchestral music at various local history events as an extra local theme.

After my chat I went online to look again at the available music he has recorded which have been re-released. I was delighted to find a 10 CD box set for less than £15. There was no track listing but the featured orchestras were two he founded (London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic) so I ordered it, and then wrote this column.

Sir Thomas was born in 1879 in St Helens, in a house adjoining the Beecham’s Pills laxative factory founded by his grandfather, Thomas Beecham.

Thomas was self-taught as a conductor. Sir Joseph Beecham had made a lot of money making medicines, and he also liked music, so he was able to help his son in his career as a musician.

He first conducted in public, in St Helens, in October 1899, with an ad hoc ensemble comprising local musicians and players from the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hallé in Manchester.

A month later, he stood in at short notice for the celebrated conductor Hans Richter at a concert at our Theatre Royal by the Hallé, to mark Joseph Beecham’s inauguration as mayor of St Helens. Joseph had paid for the Hallé Orchestra to give a concert. It was going to be conducted by the famous German conductor but a few days before the concert it was announced that Richter was ill.

Thomas immediately said he would conduct the concert. The orchestra at first refused to play for a 20-year-old who had only once ever conducted a concert, but in the end they changed their minds and the concert was a great success.

Beecham’s professional début as a conductor was in 1902 at the Shakespeare Theatre, Clapham, with Balfe’s The Bohemian Girl, for the Imperial Grand Opera Company. (Laurel and Hardy starred in the film version of The Bohemian Girl but didn’t do any singing, just comedy).

During the First World War, Beecham strove, often without a fee, to keep music alive in London, Liverpool, Manchester and other British cities. He conducted for, and gave financial support to the Hallé Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Philharmonic Society. In 1915 he formed the Beecham Opera Company.

In 1916, he received a knighthood in the New Year Honours and succeeded to the baronetcy on his father’s death later that year.

His final concert was at Portsmouth Guildhall on 7 May 1960. Beecham died of a coronary thrombosis at his London flat, aged 81, on 8 March 1961.