Milner was born in
Bolton in 1928; his father was a headteacher and organiser of the Bolton Youth Orchestra. He was educated at
Bolton School, and went on to study at the
Royal Manchester College of Music (RMCM), where his violin professors were
Henry Holst and Thomas Matthews. He also studied in Denmark with
Emil Telmányi. In 1946 he joined the first violin section of the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He subsequently taught at the RMCM;
Family and later years He was married three times; with his first wife Elizabeth Walton (niece of
William Walton, and pianist at the RMCM) he had three sons and three daughters. With his third wife Diana Wanklyn, principal double-bass player in the Hallé, who survived him, he had three sons. Milner died in 2000, aged 72, at his home in
Didsbury in Manchester, after a long illness. ==References==