Anthony Inglis was born into a Royal Air Force family. His father, Squadron-leader Jeremy Howard-Williams DFC, was a WW2 night fighter pilot in 604 squadron flying Blenheims and Mosquitos, and as Flight Commander of Fighter Command's FIU (Fighter Interception Unit) a key figure in the early experiments of airborne radar (Night Intruder published by David Charles).  His uncle, Wing-Commander Peter Howard-Williams DFC, was one of "The Few" having fought in The Battle of Britain in 19 Squadron, flyng Spitfires from Duxford: (after the BOB and when in 118 Squadron at Ibsley, he was one of the real pilots featured in the David Niven/Leslie Howard 1942 film The First of The Few shot on the aerodrome, for which William Walton specially composed his Spitfire Prelude and Fugue...the Prelude is heard on the Home Page, performed by The Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Anthony Inglis).  His maternal grandfather was Air-Vice-Marshal F.F.Inglis CB. CBE., Head of RAF Intelligence during WW2, and as such on Hitler's hit list for after the war should Germany have won.  His paternal grandfather was Air Commodore Bill Howard-Williams MC.  Having been a Major in the Royal Flying Corps before the existence of the RAF, he was one of the first to join the fledgling new service, and there was hanging on the wall behind the desk of the commanding officer of 25 Squadron, a painting loaned by the family, of him leading a group of 25 Squadron Sopwith Snipes attacking a dummy airfield at the Hendon Air Show on 24th June 1922. The resultant painting by C.E.Turner was copied into the London Illustrated News. With the disbandment of 25 Sqdn, the painting has been returned to the family and now hangs in Mr. Inglis' house  Bill Howard-Williams was the first person to fly across Africa, and there is an amazing story (told by him on tape) of how he went up as a passenger in a new (open-air) aircraft and the pilot inverted the aircraft to try and clear a blocked fuel line.  Bill's seat straps were not tight enough, and he fell out!!!  Unbelievably, he was over the Suez Canal and therefore fell into the water!  When he surfaced he was underneath the wreckage of the aircraft and therefore survived the loss of the machine.  He was more fortunate than the pilot who had stayed with the aircraft and didn't. Some might say Anthony Inglis is very fortunate to be here, as not content with having one grandfather who crashed into foreign waters, his other grandfather did the same! In 1924 his maternal grandfather (at the time Fl. Lt. Inglis) describes in a letter how his aircraft's engine broke up mid-air and he was presented with 3 options: crashing into buildings, Palmdates or The Euphrates. He chose the latter and as soon as his non-retractable wheels hit the water, the aircraft flipped 180º over its nose. His observer apparently did a wonderful forward dive half way through the flip, being propelled 30 yards at a speed of 70mph. He meanwhile was strapped in and found himself struggling to release himeslf upside down underwater. That he did, meant his daughter was born and subsequently her son! Air Marshall Sir Victor Goddard was a great-uncle by marriage and in some quarters the man credited with the idea of sending the little ships over to Dunkirk to rescue the British forces stranded on the beaches in 1940.  In 1955 a film starring Michael Redgrave, Michael Hordern and other greats from the British cinema, was made from his extraordinary story of extra-sensory paranormal. Some years previously the Air-Marshall had attended a drinks party in Japan when he had overheard an RAF Officer saying how sad it was that Air Marshall Goddard had been killed in such tragic circumstances.  He confronted the horrified airman who at first refused to reveal why he had thought the Air Marshall dead. However, upon further persuasion, the airman recounted what he had seen happen (in a dream?). The Air-Marshall had flown with a specified group and number of people in a Dakota to an airfield in Japan and the aircraft had crashed on a beach in a storm, killing all on-board. The Air Marshall was in fact due to fly to an airfield the next day, but not in a Dakota nor with as many people in the dream. However, the circumstances changed with first, the original aircraft going unserviceable and being substituted by a Dakota, and second the number of people changing to the number in the dream. The aircraft did indeed encounter a storm and did indeed crash on a beach. In the end, the only difference between the dream and reality was that all on board, survived! He had another encounter with the paranormal, when he got lost in cloud over Scotland, flew extremely low and encountered RAF Drem airfield where he was convinced he saw the future: a monoplane (which at the time the RAF were not flying and blue overalls rather than the grey he was used to). Both were to see entry into the RAF prior to Air Marshall Goddard's retirement. Group Captain Peter Helmore, tragically killed in the Bay of Biscay while taking his 2-masted ketch "Caperer" out to Malta, flew Canberras and was an uncle by marriage. Amongst his non-RAF ancestory, there is his Great-Uncle Lt John Inglis who lost his life at The Battle of Loos, Vermilles and Hill 70 in 1915. Anthony is directly descended from the great Scottish engineer Robert Napier, he of the Napier-Railton Motor Cars and the man to whom Samuel Cunard turned to install engines into his first ships such as The Britannia Class Steamships. Quite a fitting coincidence now he has such a close tie with the Cunard shipping line. Also he is directly descended from Colonel Sir John Inglis who commanded the British garrison during The Siege of Lucknow in 1857 and General Charles James Napier, famous for conquering the Sindh Province in present day Pakistan. The statue in the lower left hand corner of Trafalgar Square, London is of him. He continues the association with the name Napier as he has given his son Alexander, 'Napier' as his middle name.

He was a border from his pre-prep school, Freston Lodge in Sevenoaks, and then on to prep school and Hordle House in Milford-on-Sea where he quickly outgrew the talents of the school piano teacher. This meant he had to travel on a bus into nearby Lymington, a journey of some 3 or 4 miles, twice a week; hard to believe a boy of about 9 being allowed to do that nowadays! He was also a very good goalkeeper, but travelling twice a week on a Tuesday and Friday afternoon meant 1st XI football practise was not possible and therefore to his chagrin, he never made the team. He did though keep goal for the 2nd XI and they never lost a match with only about 3 goals passing through his hands. He was also witness to an historic cricket match, where the opposing team made the grand total of 5 all out! The 1st XI Hordle Captain called Best then went in and scored a six off the very first ball. Upon leaving Hordle he entered Marlborough College in Wiltshire on a Music Scholarship. He studied piano and conducting at The Royal College of Music in London (having first mastered some of the intricacies of the violin and bassoon) where he won a number of prizes including the Ricordi conducting prize and the Sir Adrian Boult Scholarship three times. His teachers for conducting were Harvey Philips and Vernon Handley. He also prepared orchestras for Sir Colin Davis, Sir Adrian Boult and Bernard Haitink, and interviewed Leopold Stokowksi for American TV.

Upon leaving The College, he earned his living, and learned his craft, by conducting West End Shows. These included "Irene" with Jon Pertwee at The Adelphi; "My Fair Lady" with Dame Anna Neagle and Tony Britton at The Adelphi; "Oliver!" with Ron Moody, Jimmy Edwards and Roy Hudd; "Cinderella" with Paul Nicholas and Dame Anna Neagle at the London Palladium; and also at the London Palladium " The Two Ronnies" with Messrs Barker and Corbett. He spent 6 months in Australia in 1979 with the Two Ronnies and their stage show.  The first of what would turn out to be many visits to this country.  During his time in The West End he also worked on a number of films; these included Lisztomania and Mahler for Ken Russell. Interestingly while at The College, he and several friends were recruited to dub the singing voices of a group of revellers in a pub.  The film became the cult film The Wicker Man and his voice is the high tenor that can be heard (unfortunately) soaring above everyone else!  Luckily, he was supposed to sound as though he had had one too many!  In the 1980s he made a conscious decision to leave the West End and concentrate on his classical career, shortly after conducting all three Tchaikovsky ballet scores for Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Ballet. He made videos with The Philharmonia Orchestra in the Royal Festival Hall and the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra in the Concertgebouw. Television appearances with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, and guest conducting British and some European orchestras followed. Thereafter his career flourished. Concerts and broadcasts in Europe, The Far East and Australia have all added to the international reputation of this most dynamic of conductors. As have six Royal concerts in the UK. One was in the presence of HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at The Royal Festival Hall in celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Battle of Britain; another, at the beginning of 2004 and also in the presence of HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, again with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra plus the Royal Choral Society, Lesley Garrett and Heather Small, for the naming ceremony of the then world's largest liner the Queen Mary 2; a dance gala in the presence of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, with members of The Royal Ballet including Sylvie Guillem and The Royal Ballet Sinfonia at Her Majesty's Theatre; and the fourth was a concert in aid of farmers in the presence of HRH The Prince of Wales with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at The Royal Albert Hall.  A fifth was added when Cunard named the latest addition to their fleet, the 90,000 ton Queen Victoria.  The naming was performed by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall accompanied by HRH The Prince of Wales.  Sir Derek Jacobi narrated and on this occasion the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Westminster Cathedral Choir were engaged with soloists Katherine Jenkins, Gardar Cortes, Alfie Boe and Jon Cristos. The final sixth was the even more recent Naming Ceremony of the slightly larger Cunarder Queen Elizabeth, again in the presence of Her Majesty. He did two special arrangements, one was of Jerusalem which required a treble solo at the beginning and sung by his son Alexander (Napier!), the other Victor Sylvester's Queen Elizabeth Waltz. His arrangement of Amazing Grace was once again performed by Lesley Garret.

He has given a number of world premieres.  These include his commissioning from the original composers of the symphonic suites to Miss Saigon (Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra), Les Miserables (Les Miserables Symphonic Suite) and Phantom of The Opera (Phantom Fantasia).  He has just given the world premiere of the new Phantom Phantasia with Julian Lloyd Webber and Lucia Micarelli at the Izmir Festival, and interestingly a few years ago, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Evening Echo ran a competition amongst local composers for a short piece of music to be played at a concert which he conducted.

He must be one of the few conductors to regularly conduct most years, every major British regional independant orchestra (CBSO, Halle, BSO, RSNO, Ulster, RLPO), and also be one of the busiest. For instance between the beginning of October and end of December 2006 he had 60 concerts; and they weren't just in the UK!  These concerts were in Australia and Japan as well as the UK.

Perhaps out of all the journeys he has done, two are worth a special mention.  On 30th September 2005, he performed an evening concert with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta in City Hall, Hong Kong and immediately afterwards caught the midnight BA flight straight to Heathrow, where he had a taxi meet him.  But not to take him home!  It was there to drop off some clean clothes which his wife had given the taxi driver and to take his excess luggage home.   He was changing planes to fly to Germany for Europe's biggest TV show "Wetten Das" with an average audience of 15 million.  Unfortunately there was no direct flight that would get him to Leipzig in Germany in time, and he had to change planes at Frankfurt.  He arrived at the German TV studio on 1st October to find the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra ready for him and rehearsals, with a live performance that evening. In his words, he wasn't sure what planet he was on, let alone continent!  However, he had enough adrenalin flowing through him, despite travelling for 24 hours, to not only conduct the performance, but to go to the party afterwards, attended by some of the stars on the show. They included: Monserrat Caballe, Simply Red, Catherine Zeta Jones and Antonio Banderas. He stayed until 2am, though was unsure whether that was Hong Kong or European time!! The other happened more recently, in 2010 he flew to Melbourne and the Melbourne Symphony, arriving back in the UK 6 days after he left, gave 4 concerts in 10 days in the UK, one of which was televised from the Llangollen Festival, then drove through the night from North Wales to be at Heathrow early the next morning for a flight back out to Perth and 2 concerts with the West Australian Symphony, once again arriving back in the UK 6 days after he left. The next day he was on a flight to Jersey and a concert with Katherine Jenkins. He still went to the bar with the orchestra afterwards!

He lives by the River Thames in Kingston-upon-Thames Surrey with his wife Jan, and their three children Eleanor, Dominic and Alexander