London Press Club Awards: Lord Black pays tribute to Andrew Lloyd-Webber as he presents him with the Londoner of the Year Award 2015.
My Lord, Archdeacon Emeritus, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a very great honour to present the prestigious London Press Club Londoner of the Year Award to a man whose creative genius has been an absolutely vital part of our Capital’s cultural and entertainment fabric for more than a generation.
Andrew Lloyd-Webber is a Londoner through and through. Born in Kensington, a scholar at Westminster School, and then one of the brightest stars at the Royal College of Music – which, as a Member of its Council, I can proudly say is London’s greatest conservatoire – he has more than a dozen phenomenal West End shows to his name, several of which have enlivened theatre-land for more than a decade.
The list of his hits includes The Phantom of the Opera, Evita, Cats, which ran for a record-breaking 21 years in London and has of course recently had its first revival, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Starlight Express, beloved by fans for its roller-skating toy trains, and my own favourite Sunset Boulevard. The great songs from them are known the world over. And we should be in no doubt about how important that record of achievement is to London. In a recent London Visitor Survey, 60% of overseas visitors said that theatre, music and arts performances were very important in their decision to visit us. That, of course, has a big economic impact not just in millions of pounds of ticket sales but in the spending on hotels, restaurants and souvenirs in our great City - and Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s shows are at the heart of that huge commercial and artistic success. London owes him a huge debt.
When not pouring his energy into a new score, he works tirelessly to promote the arts, culture and heritage for the public benefit through the Andrew Lloyd-Webber Foundation, which was established in 1992. In the last few years, the Foundation has awarded grants of over £9 million to support training and personal development to enrich the quality of cultural life for individuals and communities, as well as funding ten Musical Theatre scholarships at colleges throughout the UK.
In recognition of all these great achievements, and his role as a philanthropist and artistic ambassador, he has been recognised by the award of no less than seven Tonys, the top Broadway Theatre honour, seven Oliviers, three Grammys, an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Knighthood and a Peerage – all of which pale into insignificance alongside the Londoner of the Year Award 2015.
Ladies and Gentlemen, there could be no more appropriate person to receive this accolade, than a great artist, philanthropist and entrepreneur, and above all a great Londoner, Andrew Lloyd-Webber.