Times Archive: Ten greatest Proms moments

The Proms have been bending the boundaries of concert presentation for so long now that a Dalek gliding through the Royal Albert Hall and taking the conductor hostage almost seems like small beer. After all, the very first classical night of Henry Wood’s “promenade concerts” in 1895 offered what might seem to us now a bizarre potpourri of classical hits, none longer than 15 minutes each - and this in an age when a 90-minute slab of Bruckner or Beethoven was considered the suitable dosage for anyone aspiring to the classical diet.

This was all part of a deliberate strategy to demystify classical music: not for nothing did Wood, the Proms’ redoubtable founder, permit eating, drinking and even smoking in the concert hall. More cunning yet, he also smuggled in bold performances of new and unfamiliar works. Dumb populism this certainly was not.

Since then few have done more than Sir Nicholas Kenyon, whose tenure as director of the Proms finished last year, to broaden the festival’s scope. It was Sir Nicholas who set up the hugely successful franchise of the Proms in the Park, which took the stuffy Last Night shenanigans and turned them into an outdoor knees-up that now takes place right across the country. And it was Sir Nicholas who set up the Blue Peter Prom, a concert specially tailored for a young audience, which this year cunningly morphed into the Doctor Who Prom. Incidentally, the concert included a British premiere by Mark-Anthony Turnage, the uncompromisingly modernist composer.

Ten greatest Proms moments

Our pick of the ten key moments in the history of the Proms

• The Times Proms Podcast: episode two with Danielle De Niese

• Our Times Proms Podcast presenter introduces her Promcast

Related Links

• The Proms: Time Lord opens the Tardis

For every cheerleader of these crowd-pleasing innovations you will find a sceptic who will argue that the Proms are diluting their core classical mission. But since that debate has been running ever since the festival began, I’d say that the balance is probably about right.

Editor's choice

• Vote for the Breakthrough Award winner
• David Tennant back as Hamlet after back surgery
• Matt Smith is the new Dr Who