51. When Ravel toured America in 1928, his hosts were startled to discover that he had brought with him twenty pairs of pyjamas and fifty-seven ties. #Ravel150
52. A standing ovation from a 3000-strong crowd after a Boston Symphony performance moved Ravel to tears: ‘This would never happen to me in Europe’. #Ravel150
53. From the US Ravel kept a close eye on things at home, sending a letter to his brother, from somewhere along the Mississippi, to ask whether he’d done anything about getting a new vacuum cleaner for Montfort. #Ravel150
54. In Texas, Ravel's 1928 tour produced the memorable headline ‘Reporters Mourn Lack of French as Maurice Ravel Talks about Jazz and US in Native Tongue’. #Ravel150
55. In his mid-50s Ravel was crippled by a rare form of early onset dementia. Weeping after a performance of Daphnis, he told a friend, ‘I’ll never write like that again, but it was good, all the same, it was good’. #Ravel150
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