Classic 100: Composer – what we learnt

The Classic 100: Composer asked the ultimate classical question: who's the composer you can't live without? There were eight composers in the countdown who are best known for their film music, and certain composers cropped up time and time again in your most special memories We also heard from thousands of people for whom choosing a favourite composer is like choosing a favourite child One fact that stands out is that half of the composers have names starting with B, P, R or S. We asked the ABC's language expert Tiger Webb whether there was a particular reason for this, or if it was coincidence. "Certain letters occur do with greater frequency at the start of English words: B, P and S are the 8th, 9th, and 5th most frequently occurring letters used to begin English words, while R is at about the halfway mark, at 14th place. Viewed one way, this Classic 100 sees Ravel, Bach and Paganini punch above their orthographical weight.