- The producers of "Bridge on the River Kwai" wanted to release the movie in time to make the deadline for Academy Award consideration. However, they couldn't find any composers willing to write a score on such a tight deadline. Arnold accepted the challenge. They gave him 10 days to compose the complete film score; he did it, and won the Oscar for best score.
- Arnold was so infuriated by the way in which Sir William Walton had been treated over the music for "Battle Of Britain" that he vowed he would withdraw from the film world and never again write film music. He had already contracted to compose the scores for "The Reckoning" and the TV movie "David Copperfield", but once he had fulfilled these obligations, he kept his promise and disappeared from the world of films completely, always refusing movie offers. (He did occasionally write music for TV).
- He was given exemption from the military during WWII, but after his brother in the RAF was killed, he was determined to serve in the armed forces. He was turned down by the parachute regiment and the Navy, but was finally enlisted in the infantry.
- As a favor to long-time friend William Walton, Arnold agreed to orchestrate Walton's score for Battle of Britain (1969). When Walton found difficulty composing under the schedule at his age, Arnold secretly helped compose several cues. Ultimately, however, the score was rejected and replaced with one by Ron Goodwin. The Walton/Arnold version of final battle scene score, however, was retained in the release version. The Walton/Arnold score has since been released on CD and as an alternate track on the M-G-M release of the film on Blu-Ray and DVD. Arnold's contribution is unmistakable to those familiar with his style.
- David Lean greatly admired Arnold and, after their successful collaborations on three previous films, offered him the chance to write the score for "Lawrence Of Arabia". Arnold viewed a rough-cut of the film after a very large lunch with Sir William Walton. Somewhat drunk, Arnold dismissed the film as a "glorified travelogue" and walked out. Lean, insulted and angry, never worked with him again.
- His extreme mood-shifts, frequent rudeness and unpleasantness to those closest to him, and periods of being extremely withdrawn and uncommunicative were eventually diagnosed as part of a bi-polar condition which had probably been with him throughout his life.
- In 2001 was awarded a Fellowship of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters, it was presented on the occasion of an 80th Birthday concert at Wigmore Hall.
- He was the youngest of five children of a shoemaker. A rebellious teenager, he enjoyed the creativity and freedom of jazz music. After seeing Louis Armstrong play in Bournemouth, he took trumpet lessons, and won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music when he was 17. By 1943, he was principal trumpet with the London Philharmonic, and he loved brass music throughout his life.
- Children: (with Sheila) Katherine and Robert; (with Isobel) Edward
- Has one son and one daughter through first marriage with Sheila Nicholson, and one son from second marriage with Isobel Gray.
- Malcolm Arnold composed music for the "Ring Around the Rosy" sequence in Gene Kelly's Invitation to the Dance (1956) which was filmed in England in 1952. Later in Hollywood, André Previn was commissioned to write a new score for the number and had to match his music exactly to the filmed dancers' movements, the reverse of normal ballet procedure.
- He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1970 Queen's New Year Honours List for his services to music.
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