Here's a depressing, interesting, and all-too-familiar article that followers of this site should enjoy...
http://www.sound-scotland.co.uk/site/2010/diary/10_23@1400_transcript.htm (http://www.sound-scotland.co.uk/site/2010/diary/10_23@1400_transcript.htm)
Some very interesting points are raised in this article. By coincidence, whilst listening to some William Alwyn, I was considering today just how many significant British composers were active (or at least still alive) during the 1930s. Consider the following selective list:
William Alwyn; Richard Arnell; Malcolm Arnold; Edgar Bainton; Granville Bantock; Arnold Bax; Rutland Boughton; York Bowen; Arthur Bliss; Havergal Brian; Frank Bridge; Benjamin Britten; Frederic Cowen; Frederick Delius; George Dyson; Edward Elgar; Gerald Finzi; John Foulds; Edward German; Hamilton Harty; Joseph Holbrooke; Herbert Howells; Gustav Holst; John Ireland; Alexander Mackenzie; E. J. Moeran; Alan Rawsthorne; Cyril Rootham; Edmund Rubbra; Cyril Scott; Michael Tippett; Ralph Vaughan Williams; William Walton
Perhaps a true Golden Age - and this is only a list of British composers!