In 2004 the London Symphony Orchestra celebrates its hundredth birthday. The centenary finds the orchestra acclaimed as one of the best in the world, making music with the most charismatic conductors and soloists on the planet.
Leading columnist Richard Morrison looks at both the dazzling public face of the LSO and the personal stories - heroic, hilarious and touching, and explores what makes this great orchestra tick. He looks at the bad times as well as the good, including the disastrous early years at the Barbican, the notorious playboy era of the 1970s and the remarkable transformation over the past 20 years into one of the most successful and ambitious arts organisations Britain has ever produced.