While in Finland he met his wife Sandra before returning to the UK in 1990 when Phil joined the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester before joining the BBC Symphony orchestra in December 1991 where he is now sub-principal viola. He then auditioned for and landed a principal viola role in Jyväskylä, Finland:

Phil was always a talented musician but his career really took off after leaving the amalgamated St Mary’s and St Joseph’s in 1984 when he went to Lancaster University to study Music.įrom there, Phil did a post-graduate orchestral studies course at Goldsmith’s College. The Halls, from Erith, are a great St Mary’s family with Jim starting in 1973, followed by Matt in 1976 and Phil in 1977, the same year as myself. In this case my old mate Phil Hall, one of the most talented musicians to emerge from St Mary’s, wanted copies for his older brothers Jim and Matt. So we’ve been finding creative ways to get the book into the hands of people who want them. I’m pleased to say plenty of Christmas orders came my way for copies of We Did Our Homework On The Bus but a combination of postal strikes and weather made distribution from In Omnibus Labora towers slightly challenging.

We did our homework on the bus