A mushroom-related brush with mortality: how John Cage fell for fungi

Despite one foraging trip landing him in hospital, the avant garde composer held a lifelong passion for mycology, using his expertise to supply New York restaurants - and surprise Italian quiz show audiences

In February 1959, while on a visit to fellow composer Luciano Berio in Milan, John Cage appeared five times on a popular Italian television quiz show called Lascia o Raddoppia? (Double or Nothing). Cage performed several new sound pieces at the beginning of each programme, much to the bemusement of the studio audience. He then answered questions on his specialist subject which, surprisingly, was not musical composition, but mushrooms.

Over consecutive evenings, Cage progressed to the final, answering every question correctly and doubling his prize money each time. In the final episode, with 5m lire at stake (the historical equivalent of about $8,000 or 3,000), he was asked to list the 24 names of the white-spored Agaricus as identified in GF Atkinson's Studies of American Fungi. He named them all in alphabetical order, prompting sustained applause from the audience. Mr Cage has proved he's a real mushroom expert," the host concluded. He hasn't just been an odd character performing strange music on the stage..."