Ralph Vaughan Williams after Boult, Sargent and Barbirolli are Vernon Handley, Richard Hickox, Sir Mark Elder and Sir Andrew Davis. Record companies with extensive lists of Vaughan Williams recordings include EMI, Decca, Chandos, Hyperion and Naxos. Vaughan Williams refused a knighthood at least once, and declined the post of Master of the King's Music after Elgar's death. The one state honour he accepted was the Order of Merit in 1935, which confers no prenominal title: he preferred to remain "Dr Vaughan Williams". His academic and musical honours included an honorary doctorate of music from the University of Oxford (1919); the Cobbett medal for
Symphony No. 6 (Vaughan Williams) London Symphony Orchestra. Both used the original version of the third movement. The composer revised that movement in 1950, and Boult recorded it for Decca. At the end of those sessions, the composer thanked the musicians; this speech was taped and included on disc releases of the main recording. Altogether there have been 25 recordings: Part of the symphony's first movement (Allegro) was used as the theme tune for the ITV drama "A Family at War". Symphony No. 6 (Vaughan Williams) Ralph Vaughan Williams's Symphony in E minor, published as Symphony No. 6, was composed in 1946–47, during and immediately