During World War I he worked for the War Office, and while he was there in 1918 he planned a series of concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra, which included several important new British works including Gustav Holst's "The Planets", "A London Symphony" by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Elgar's "Symphony No. 2". When Boult was a boy he had already met Elgar. Elgar now wrote to him and said he felt sure the future of his music was safe in Boult's hands. Boult was at the start of a great career in which he conducted a lot of 20th century British music.