Politicians of all hues seem to like Beethoven, not least Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, who made no secret of his love of the Appassionata Sonata.
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In the UK, Conservative PM Margaret Thatcher made the ‘Emperor’ Concerto one of her Desert Island Discs choices in 1978.
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Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he once wrote a key speech listening to the Fifth Symphony.
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Former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown told the Financial Times he would like a hi-fi system that ‘would make the cottage bounce to Beethoven’.
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Among sporty types, 1980s England cricket captain Mike Brearley revealed that he hummed a cello passage from the Razumovsky quartets when going into bat.
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Tennis’s Rafael Nadal named his yacht Beethoven in homage.
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Erstwhile Italy football manager Giovanni Trapattoni collected Beethoven LPs in his playing days.
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Poet Sylvia Plath made references to Beethoven's music in her poems.
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TV news anchor John Suchet wrote five books about Beethoven.
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Actor Tom Conti once said a dream day would include sitting in on a rehearsal of Symphony No. 9 with the Berlin Philharmonic.
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