Composer was given drug export exemption
William Walton allowed to take thousands of Ritalin pills to his home in Italy as he was dependent on them
William Walton, the composer, was allowed to travel to Italy with prescription drugs in breach of rules on their export, after Home Office officials lobbied the Italian ambassador, papers released by the National Archives papers show. Walton was able to take thousands of Ritalin pills to his holiday home on an Italian island after the ambassador pushed through the arrangement because British doctors had warned he could not survive without them.
‘British doctors warned that he could not survive without the drug, which he had to take five times a day’
‘I have no alternative but to give a prescription for a year’s supply 1,500 pills as he can only come to England [once a] year’
WILLIAM WALTON was allowed to travel to Italy with prescription drugs in breach of rules on their export, after Home Office officials lobbied the Italian ambassador, papers released by the National Archives reveal.
The renowned composer was able to take his “lifesaving” Ritalin pills to his home on a holiday island without being held up by customs checks. Andrea Cagiati, the Italian ambassador to London, agreed to arrange for Walton to carry thousands of the pills into the country after British doctors warned the composer he could not survive without them.
Ritalin is the brand name for methylphenidate, a stimulant used to treat attention deficit disorders.
Walton, best known for his musical score for the 1942 film The First of the Few and the Battle of Agincourt scenes in Laurence Olivier’s Henry V, had to take the drug five times a day, George Wilson, his physician, told the drugs branch of the Home Office on July 16 1980.
In a similar letter to a Home Office official on Feb 22 1982, Dr Wilson explained that Walton appeared to be addicted to the psychotropic drug, writing, “on clinical examination there is no doubt that he is dependent on Ritalin and almost certainly it is keeping him alive”.
For most of Walton’s life, Ritalin was not available in Italy, where he spent most of his time, so he had to obtain it in the UK. After the Home Office’s intervention, Walton was issued with a letter by the Italian Embassy in London in September 1980 that smoothed his passage through the country, en route to his home on the island of Ischia, in the gulf of Naples.
In newly released Whitehall documents, a Home Office official called KER Rogers states: “Enclosed is the original import authority, which we have received from the Italian Embassy, so that this may, if necessary, be presented at customs when Sir William is re-entering Italy.”
The letter from the minister of the Italian Embassy said: “I hereby certify that the Italian government has no objection to the forwarding to Sir William Walton, Forio D’ischia, Italy, of the drug Ritalin prescribed to him by his physician, Dr William St George Wilson.”
Dr Wilson wrote to a Home Office official on Feb 22 1980 requesting authorisation to issue Walton one year’s worth of Ritalin, which he estimated to be “1,500 tablets”.
Dr Wilson explained: “I … have no alternative but to give a prescription for a year’s supply [1,500 tablets] as he is now fit enough to only come to England [once a] year.” Two years later, in a letter in July 1982, Dr Wilson informed the Home Office that he wanted to prescribe Walton “a further year’s supply, say 2,000 tablets”.
The arrangement was approved despite the Home Office having previously warned Walton’s doctors that it was potentially illegal.
On Feb 2 1978, an inspector in the drugs branch of the Home Office wrote: “I pointed out … that the prescribing of controlled drugs for ‘export’ was unlawful.”
The Italian government rescinded its approval of the arrangement later in 1982 when Ritalin became available in Italy and Walton, who died in 1983 aged 80, was advised to obtain the drug locally.