John Philip Sousa for Monty Python's Flying Circus), "The Thunderer" and "The Washington Post". Sousa began his career playing violin and studying music theory and composition under John Esputa and George Felix Benkert. His father enlisted him in the United States Marine Band as an apprentice in 1868. After departing the band in 1875, Sousa learned to conduct. From 1880 until his death, he focused exclusively on conducting and the writing of music. He eventually rejoined the Marine Band and served there for 12 years as director. On leaving the Marine Band, Sousa organized his own band. Sousa aided in the development of
The Royal Welch Fusiliers (march) The Royal Welch Fusiliers (march) "The Royal Welch Fusiliers" is a march composed by John Philip Sousa in 1929, and then rewritten in 1930. It is the only march written by Sousa for a British Army regiment. In 1900 the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers was part of the multinational force that lifted the Siege of the International Legations during the Boxer Rebellion; during this action they served alongside elements of the United States Marine Corps' 1st Marine Regiment. In 1929, at the request of surviving Marine veterans who had served at Peking, the then 75 year-old Sousa