At the age of ten he joined the choir of Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford. He learned the piano and violin. He was only 16 years when he went to University of Oxford where he was at Christ Church, Oxford. Most of what he knew about composing he taught himself. He studied the scores of works by Stravinsky, Debussy, Sibelius and others. He had some lessons from Hugh Allen, the cathedral organist. At Oxford Walton became friends with two poets: Sacheverell Sitwell and Siegfried Sassoon. Most of the music he wrote when he was very young has been lost, but the choral anthem "A Litany", written when he was just fifteen, shows his musical talent with its modern harmonies. 