the orchestra was formed in 1945 by walter legge. legge was not a conductor, but he was a man who organized a lot of music, especially recordings. the orchestra spent most of their time making gramophone recordings, but sometimes they also gave concerts. the conductor thomas beecham led their first concert in 1946, but beecham had always organized his own orchestras and he wanted to organize this one. he even wanted to change the orchestra’s name. the players decided that they did not want beecham as their conductor. beecham went on to form another orchestra which he called the royal philharmonic orchestra.