Berners himself once said that he would have been a better composer if he had accepted fewer lunch invitations. But English composer Gavin Bryars, quoted in Peter Dickinson’s biography of Berners, disagrees saying: "If he had spent more time on his music he could have become a duller composer". Dinah Birch, reviewing "The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother and Me", a biography of Berners written by Robert's granddaughter, Sofka Zinovieff, concurs saying: "Had he committed himself to composition as his life's work, perhaps his legacy would have been more substantial. But his music might have been less innovative, for its amateur quality — 'amateur in the best sense', as Stravinsky insisted — is inseparable from its distinctive flair".