Peter Warlock (Philip Heseltine) is one of the most fascinating and enigmatic of twentieth-century British composers. He was by turns a sensitive songwriter of remarkable genius, a witty and caustic critic, a rare scholar of early music, and a friend of some of the leading figures of the day--including William Walton, Jacob Epstein, and D. H. Lawrence. This is a complete account of this mercurial musician. Barry Smith uses new and often controversial material in telling his real, and frequently outrageous story. Here is the man, the composer, writer, and scholar, from his dangerous involvement in the occult to his long lasting loves and hates--all of which ended by his own hand in a gas-filled London flat on a cold winter's morning in 1930.