Frederick Ashton retirement in 1963, in the company known successively as the Vic-Wells Ballet, the Sadler's Wells Ballet and the Royal Ballet. He succeeded de Valois as director of the company, serving until his own retirement in 1970. Ashton is widely credited with the creation of a specifically English genre of ballet. Among his best-known works are "Façade" (1931), "Symphonic Variations" (1946), "Cinderella" (1948), "La fille mal gardée" (1960), "Monotones" I and II (1965), "Enigma Variations" (1968) and the feature film ballet "The Tales of Beatrix Potter" (1970). Ashton was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, the fourth of the five children of George
Will Ashton Will Ashton Sir John William Ashton, OBE, ROI (20 September 18811 September 1963) was an English-Australian artist and director of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales from 1937 to 1945. Ashton was born on 20 September 1881 in Clifton, York, England, the son of James Ashton, an artist. The Ashtons migrated to Adelaide, South Australia, and he was educated at Prince Alfred College from 1889-1897. Upon graduating, Ashton entered the life of an artist. In 1900, he left for England to work, and spent 1902-1903 at the Académie Julian in Paris. Ashton had some of his works accepted