Elgar the Wolves fan
In reply to the letter from Les Pearson stating that Elgar "was not a Wolves fan", while researching for my book Old Gold – A Living History Of Wolves And Wolverhampton, published in 1992, I did some research on The Wolves and Dora Penny.
Miss Dora Penny was the 22-year-old daughter of the Rev Alfred Penny, Rector of St Peter's Church in Wolverhampton, and the inspiration behind "Dorabella", a movement in Elgar's Enigma Variations.
Dora Penny formed a long and close relationship with Elgar and his wife, Alice.
When Dora's father re-married, her new step-mother introduced her to her friends the Elgars in 1895.
She writes in her book Edward Elgar: Memories Of A Variation, first published in 1937, that on meeting the Elgars for the first time she was left to look after Edward Elgar, and quickly found out that music was the last thing he wanted to talk about.
He wanted to know if she ever saw the Wolverhampton Wanderers play, and when he found out that her house was only a stone's throw from the Wolves ground he was quite excited.
In the months that were to follow they met on several occasions, walking on the Malvern Hills, discussing map reading, going to watch football and horse racing and going kite flying.
It is well known that Elgar was always interested in football, ciphers, cryptograms and the like, so why not a Wolves fan?
After all, according to Percy M Young, the distinguished scholar, writer and Wolves fan, author of the Centenary Wolves book, Elgar also composed a few bars of music in honour of Billy Malpass, right half player for Wolves, which were contained in a letter to Dora Penny.
Tony Ball, Lochalsh Grove, Willenhall.
