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.
In the UK, Conservative PM Margaret Thatcher made the ‘Emperor’ Concerto one of her Desert Island Discs choices in 1978.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he once wrote a key speech listening to the Fifth Symphony.
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’.
Among sporty types, 1980s England cricket captain Mike Brearley revealed that he hummed a cello passage from the Razumovsky quartets when going into bat.
Tennis’s Rafael Nadal named his yacht Beethoven in homage.
Erstwhile Italy football manager Giovanni Trapattoni collected Beethoven LPs in his playing days.
Poet Sylvia Plath made references to Beethoven's music in her poems.
TV news anchor John Suchet wrote five books about Beethoven.
Actor Tom Conti once said a dream day would include sitting in on a rehearsal of Symphony No. 9 with the Berlin Philharmonic.
