The English tenor, Peter Pears, made a unique contribution to British musical life, not only through his own singing, but as the inspiration and muse of his life-long companion Benjamin Britten, who created for Pears some of the greatest tenor roles in 20th-century opera. This book describes Pears's life, his childhood and school days at Lancing College, his abortive academic career at Oxford and his early professional work as a member of the BBC singers. The first half of this book culminates in Pears's meeting with Britten in the 1930s, and their relationship consolidated during their wartime years in America, and by the fruitfulness of their artistic collaboration which resulted in several extraordinary song cycles and a number of inspirational roles on the stage including Grimes in Peter Grimes, Captain Vere in Billy Budd and Aschenbach in Death in Venice.