Sir Thomas Beecham was one of the most important orchestra conductors of the 20th century, exerting a huge impact on the entire field of classical music — and the way people listen to it, and the way people have been exposed to it — through his performances, recordings, and the two major orchestras that he founded. Beecham was born in 1879, the son of Sir Joseph Beecham, the maker of a popular and profitable brand of patent medicine. The elder Beecham was also a lover of music and when his son manifested an interest in music, the old man was glad to encourage him in any way that he could. Beecham was educated at Oxford but was virtually entirely self-taught in music. He led a small opera company from 1902 to 1904, and a year later made his debut as a conductor with the members of the Queens Hall Orchestra. A year after that, he established the New Symphony Orchestra of London, and began attracting the serious attention of the musical and critical establishments.