What's so interesting is how sort of fiercely analytical he is in his approach to life and how pragmatic he is in sort of overcoming the adversities and sort of the bad things that were thrown his way.

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"It doesn't really matter how much it rains here, it depends on how bad it is in mid-Wales, " he said.

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He was woefully slow to see how bad the economic crisis was going to be in 2007 and leading into 2008.

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"We knew they were in financial difficulties but we didn't know how bad it was, " he said.

BBC: Birmingham & Black Country

Mr Johnston had described how he got off to a bad start with Mr Rizzi during the conductor's first stint as WNO musical director in 1994, when he asked him to stop singing at a rehearsal.

BBC: Murray Johnston