With the European Brass Band Championships due to take place in Birmingham at the end of the month 4BR continues its series of interviews with players, conductors and personalities who have made their mark on the event since its inception in 1978.

Today we are joined by one of the iconic figures in the history of the championships — Howard Snell.

Its perhaps difficult to really quantify just how significant his contribution has been — and not just due to the fact that he won the contest of four occasions with three different bands.

In all he has appeared 14 times from 1986 to 2002 — with those quartet of victories also backed by four runner-up places. He was never out of the top-six and he also led his bands to top at least one element of the two legged contests on nine occasions.

And if that wasn't enough, even greater perhaps was the musical impact of those victories with Desford in 1986, Eikanger in 1988 and again 1989 and Foden's in 1992.

Today people still speak in reverential terms of those performances of 'Daphnis & Chloe', 'The Year of the Dragon' and 'Variations on an Enigma'.

2022 European Championships:

To find out more about the 2022 European Championships in Birmingham and to book tickets for the events go to: https://www.bbe.org.uk/ebbf