Elgar’s ‘Caractucus’ tells the story of a British chieftain who fought the Roman invaders. Eventually defeated at the British Camp on the Malvern Hills Caractacus was taken to Rome for trial but so impressed Emperor Claudius that he was pardoned. Elgar began composition some months after Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee - with a swaggering ‘Triumphal March’ which dominates the final scene and remains the best known of the work’s music.