Beatrice Harrison, Suggia's contemporary and her only serious rival as a female 
cellist, suffered one of the crudest sexist put-downs in musical history from 
Sir Thomas Beecham. Unhappy with her work at a rehearsal, the maestro exclaimed: 
"Madam, you hold between your legs an instrument that could give pleasure to 
thousands, and all you do is sit there and scratch it."