A few months ago, I posted on my memories about Doctor Who and his first appearance in the US.
What stuck with me most, as I said then, was the show's theme, one of the first (and finest) examples of electronic music exclusively for television. Following what I'd read elsewhere at the time, I casually mentioned that the "recipe" for the original music was lost somewhere in the archives of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
Maybe not.
It seems that legendary workshop had an even more legendary member, whose identity has remained, well, maybe not exactly a secret, but definitely in the shadowy background ("Do not look behind the screen! There's nothing in there!").
Now, we can see inside.
(There's always more … )
Her name was Delia Derbyshire. A private legend among aficionados of electronic music, she was the genius arranger who put composer Ron Grainger's orginial score to tape, using techniques that are only now coming to light.
The theme she helped create did not earn her credit at the time, because it apparently violated BBC policy to credit arrangers. However, it is said that when Grainger first heard her arrangement of his theme played for him, he exclaimed, "Did I write that?" "Most of it," was Derbyshire's reply, according to the tale.
You can start digging on Wikipedia for the rest of her history, including the b&w photo that all the sources use of a stylish young Delia in period hairstyle and hairband and miniskirt expertly synching up a tape loop in the Beeb's sound lab.
This is just amazing stuff.
BTW, her legend appears to be growing, now that her work has made the Proms. Somewhere, someone's evanescence must be smiling.
LJ orig.: Sept. 24, 2008
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