Wissenswertes

Laurence Olivier, Noël Coward and poet/writer Siegfried Sassoon were among his social circle.

The internationally prestigious "Ivor Novello Awards" are prizes given out annually by the record industry to British publishers, composers and arrangers.

He served in the Royal Naval Air Service during WWI and survived two crash landings.

Portrayed by Jeremy Northam in the largely fictional Gosford Park (2001).

On 27th June 2009 a 7' tall bronze statue of Ivor Novello was unveiled near the Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, Wales. The statue shows Novello seated at work on a manuscript. It was created by Peter Nicholas, a celebrated Welsh sculptor who lives in Swansea, and was paid for by public subscription. Apart from a plaque on the house where he was born, it is the only memorial to Ivor Novello in the city of his birth. There are various memorials to Ivor in London including a "blue plaque" between the Novello Theatre and the Waldorf Hotel marking the entrance to the flat above the theatre where he lived until his death in 1951. There is a memorial at Golders Green Crematorium where he was cremated, a plaque in St Paul's Church, Covent Garden (the Actors' Church) and a memorial in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral, London where his ashes were placed.

He was jailed for eight weeks in 1944 for misusing petrol coupons during a WWII rationing period. Some say he never got over the public humiliation.

One of the most famous matinée idols, writers and composers of the British stage during the early part of the 20th century. He played the title role in the first London production of Ferenc Molnar's "Liliom", the Hungarian play from which the American musical "Carousel" was adapted.

Godfather of Ida Lupino.

To honor the work and memory of Mr. Novello, since 1956 the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA), honour and reward excellence in British and Irish songwriting and composing by presenting The Ivor Novello Award. The award has been sponsored by PRS for Music since 1974.