Music: Most Happy Man

The London police were questioning an American who had tried to buy a watch with Andre Previn's credit card. The suspect produced an orchestration of Previn's identity papers along with a crescendo of protests. At length the detective in charge went through the motions of dismissing him. As the man turned to leave, the officer said casually, "By the way, that Vaughan Williams piece you played last week on television—was that his seventh symphony or his eighth?" The suspect stared at the detective for one slack-jawed moment. Then in disgust he threw up his hands and said, "Oh, hell!"

The real Andre...