Delia Derbyshire
Delia Derbyshire
Born	5 May 1937(1937-05-05) Coventry, UK
Died	3 July 2001 (aged 64) Northampton, UK

Delia Ann Derbyshire (5 May 1937 - 3 July 2001) was a British musician and composer who was a pioneer of electronic music. She is probably best known for her electronic realisation of Ron Grainer's theme music to the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and for her work with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Image File history File links Deliaderbyshire. ... is the 125th day of the year (126th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Coventry (disambiguation). ... is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... Northampton is a large market town and a local government district in the English East Midlands region. ... is the 125th day of the year (126th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... For other uses, see Electronic music (disambiguation). ... Ron Grainer (August 11, 1922 - February 21, 1981) was an Australian-born composer who worked for most of his professional career in the United Kingdom. ... The Doctor Who theme music was created in 1963, composed by Ron Grainer and realised with electronics by Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... This article is about the television series. ... The BBC Radiophonic Workshop, one of the sound effects units of the BBC, was created in 1958 to produce effects and new music for radio, and was closed in March 1998, although much of its traditional work had already been outsourced by 1995. ...

Early career

Educated at Coventry Grammar School, Derbyshire then completed a degree in mathematics and music at Girton College, Cambridge. In 1959 she applied for a position at Decca Records only to be told that the company did not employ women in their recording studios. Instead she took a position at the UN in Geneva, soon returning to London to work for music publishers Boosey & Hawkes. For other meanings of mathematics or uses of math and maths, see Mathematics (disambiguation) and Math (disambiguation). ... Full name Girton College Motto - Better is wisdom than weapons of war (Alumni) Named after Girton Village Previous names The College for Women (1869), Girton College (1872) Established 1869 Sister College(s) Somerville College Mistress Professor Dame Marilyn Strathern Location Huntingdon Road Undergraduates 503 Postgraduates 201 Homepage Boatclub Girton College... It has been suggested that Decca Music Group be merged into this article or section. ... UN redirects here. ... For other uses, see Geneva (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher, the largest classical music publisher in the world. ...

Some of her most acclaimed work was done in the 1960s in collaboration with the British artist and playwright Barry Bermange, for the Third Programme (the radio station which later evolved into BBC Radio 3). Besides the Doctor Who theme, Derbyshire also composed and produced scores, incidental pieces and themes for many BBC Radio and BBC TV programmes. A selection of some of her best 1960s electronic music creations for the BBC can be found on the album BBC Radiophonic Music (BBC Records), which was re-released on CD in 2002. Several of the smaller pieces that Derbyshire created at the Radiophonic Workshop were used for many years as incidental music by the BBC and other broadcasters, including the ABC. The BBC Third Programme was the third national radio network broadcast by the BBC, has since become Radio 3, but was originally known (at least within the BBC) as C. The other two were the Home Service (mainly speech based) and the Light Programme, dedicated to light music, usually cover... BBC Radio 3 is a radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. ... This article is about the television series. ... BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. ... This article is an overview article about the Crown chartered British Broadcasting Corporation formed in 1927. ... BBC Radiophonic Music was the first compilation of music released by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... The Australian Broadcasting Corporation or ABC is Australias national non-profit public broadcaster. ...

One set of recordings made for the Third Programme labeled "Dreams" was made in collaboration with Barry Bermange (who originally recorded the narrations). Bermange put together The Dreams (1964), a collage of people describing their dreams. It was set by Delia into a background of pure electronic sound. "Dreams" is a collection of spliced/reassembled interviews with people describing their dreams, particularly recurring elements. The program of sounds and voices is an attempt to re-create in five movements some sensations of dreaming: running away, falling, landscape, underwater, and colour. Delia's editing and repetition, together with her dissonant, often terrifying musique concrete soundbeds, make this distinctly uneasy bedtime listening. This set of haunting recordings circulates around the underground electronic scene. Musique concrète is the name given to a class of electronic music produced from editing together fragments of natural and industrial sounds. ...

Downloads of "dreams" are available at "http://www.delia-derbyshire.org/recordings.php"

Doctor Who

In 1963, Ron Grainer was asked to compose the theme tune to the Doctor Who series that began late in that year. As part of the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop, Derbyshire developed this into the version that was then used on the original show.

Audio sample performed by Delia Derbyshire:

Doctor Who theme excerpt Image File history File links Doctor_Who_theme_excerpt. ...

An excerpt from the theme music to Doctor Who

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

Ron Grainer was so amazed by her rendition of his original theme that he attempted to get her a co-composer credit, but this was prevented by BBC bureaucracy. Derbyshire's interpretation of Grainer's theme used electronic oscillators and magnetic audio tape editing (including tape loops and reverse tape effects) to create an eerie and unearthly sound that was quite unlike anything that had been heard before. Derbyshire's original Doctor Who theme is believed to have been the first television theme to be created and produced by entirely electronic means. For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... Compact audio cassette Magnetic tape is a non-volatile storage medium consisting of a magnetic coating on a thin plastic strip. ... Tape loops are loops of prerecorded magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns. ... Reverse tape effects are special effects created by recording sound onto magnetic tape and then physically reversing the tape so that when the tape is played back, the sounds recorded on it are literally heard in reverse. ...

As synthesizers and multi-track recorders did not exist in those days, much of the Doctor Who theme was constructed by recording the individual notes from electronic sources one by one onto magnetic tape, cutting the tape with a razor blade to get individual notes on little pieces of tape a few centimetres long and sticking all the pieces of tape back together one by one to make up the tune (see e.g. this page). This was a laborious process which took weeks.

More recent arrangements of the theme were realized using conventional synthesizers; however, the most recent rendition used for the revived series in 2005, arranged by Murray Gold, incorporates elements of Derbyshire's original arrangement not heard since 1980. Synth redirects here. ... Murray Gold (born 1969, Portsmouth, England) is a British composer for stage, film, and television and a dramatist for both theatre and radio. ...

Other work

In 1966, while still working at the BBC, Delia with fellow Radiophonic Workshop member Brian Hodgson and EMS founder Peter Zinovieff set up Unit Delta Plus, an organisation which they intended to use to create and promote electronic music. Based in a studio in Zinovieff's townhouse in Putney, they exhibited their music at a few experimental and electronic music festivals, including The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave at which The Beatles' "Carnival of Light" had its only public playing. After a troubled performance at the Royal College of Art, in 1967, the unit disbanded. Brian Hodgson is a British television composer and sound technician. ... Electronic Music Studios (London) Ltd. ... Peter Zinovieff is a British inventor, most notable for his EMS company, which made the famous VCS3 synthesiser in the late 60s. ... Putney is a district of south-west London in the London Borough of Wandsworth. ... The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ... Carnival of Light was an unreleased experimental piece by The Beatles. ... The Darwin Building at Kensington Gore The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a university in London, England. ...

Also in the late sixties, she again worked with Hodgson in setting up the Kaleidophon studio in Camden Town with fellow electronic musician David Vorhaus. The studio produced electronic music for various London theatres and, in 1968, the three used it to produce their first album as the band White Noise. Although later albums were essentially solo Vorhaus albums, the debut, An Electric Storm featured collaborations with Derbyshire and Hodgson and is now considered an important and influential album in the development of electronic music, prefiguring the sound of Stereolab or Broadcast by 20 years. For other uses of Camden, see Camden. ... White Noise is an electronic music band formed in London, England by American born David Vorhaus who studied both classical music and electronics, and Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. ... White Noise is a metal band formed in Norfolk, the home of such famous landmarks as the Norwich Puppet Theatre and the Colemans Mustard Shop. ... An Electric Storm is the debut album by electronic music group White Noise. ... Stereolab are an English alternative music band formed in 1990 in London. ... Broadcast are an electronic music band, based in Birmingham, England. ...

The trio, using pseudonyms, also contributed to the Standard Music Library. Many of these recordings, including compositions by Delia using the name "Li De la Russe" (note the anagram of Delia), were later used on the seventies ITV science fiction rivals to Doctor Who; The Tomorrow People and Timeslip. For other uses, see ITV (disambiguation). ... The Tomorrow People is a childrens science fiction television series, devised by Roger Price and produced by Thames Television for Britains ITV network between 1973 and 1979. ... Timeslips Liz & Simon, played by Cheryl Burfield and Spencer Banks Timeslip was a 1970s British childrens science-fiction television series about the adventures of two children, Simon Randall (played by Spencer Banks) and Liz Skinner (Cheryl Burfield), who had the ability to travel through a time barrier that...

In 1967, she assisted Guy Woolfenden with his electronic score for Peter Hall's production of Macbeth with the Royal Shakespeare Company. The pair also contributed the music to Hall's 1968 film Work is a Four Letter Word. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Sir Peter Reginald Frederick Hall CBE (born 22 November 1930) is an English theatre and film director. ... This article is about Shakespeares play. ... Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a British theatre company. ...

Her other work during this period included taking part in a performance of electronic music at The Roundhouse, which also featured work by Paul McCartney, the soundtrack for a Yoko Ono film, the score for an ICI-sponsored student fashion show and the sounds for Anthony Roland's award-winning film of Pamela Bone's photography, entitled Circle of Light. The Roundhouse was built in 1847 as a turntable engine shed for the London and Birmingham Railway at Chalk Farm (near Camden Town), in London, England. ... Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, entrepreneur, painter, record producer, film producer, and animal-rights activist. ... For the song by Die Ärzte, see Yoko Ono (song). ...

Later life

In 1973, she left the BBC and, after a brief stint working at Hodgson's Electrophon studio during which time she contributed to the soundtrack to the film The Legend of Hell House, stopped composing music. She had a series of jobs as a radio operator, in an art gallery and in a bookshop. She was briefly married but eventually she met her life-partner, Clive Blackburn, who gave her stability. She returned to music in the late nineties after having her interest renewed by fellow electronic musician Peter Kember and was working on an album when she died aged 64 of renal failure while recovering from breast cancer. The Legend of Hell House is a 1973 horror film by Academy Pictures. ... Peter Kember (born 19 November 1965) is a British musician, more usually known as Sonic Boom. ... Renal failure or kidney failure is a situation in which the kidneys fail to function adequately. ... Breast cancer is cancer of breast tissue. ...

In 2002, a play entitled Blue Veils and Golden Sands about her work at the Radiophonic Workshop and subsequent life was broadcast as part of BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play slot. In September 2006 this was released as part of the 2-CD set, Doctor Who at the BBC: The Plays. In 2004, at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow, her life was also portrayed in the play Standing Wave - Delia Derbyshire in the '60s written by Nicola McCartney. old Radio 4 logo BBC Radio 4 is a UK domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. ... The Tron Theatre is located in Glasgow, Scotland. ... For other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation). ...

Further Reading and documentaries

• BBC 4, "Alchemists of Sound", Saturday 28 May 2005. Television documentary on the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

For the BBC radio station, see BBC Radio 4. ...

External links

• delia-derbyshire.org
• Delia Derbyshire's Audiological Chronology
• Delia Derbyshire at the Internet Movie Database
• Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Programme Catalogue
• Delia Derbyshire's discography at MusicBrainz
• Delia Derbyshire at Discogs
• Delia Derbyshire's obituary by Brian Hodgson in The Guardian, dated July 7, 2001
• Article from The Scotsman 24 September 2004 by Susan Mansfield
• "Radiophonic Ladies" by Jo Hutton

For the in-memory database management system, see In-memory database. ... The BBC Programme Catalogue is a prototype online archive of the entire BBC back catalogue of TV programmes. ... MusicBrainz (MusicBrainz. ... Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about music recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and certain bootleg or off-label releases. ... For other uses, see Guardian. ... is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Scotsmans offices in Edinburgh The Scotsman is a Scottish national newspaper, published in Edinburgh. ... is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

‹The template Lifetime is being considered for deletion.›  The BBC Radiophonic Workshop, one of the sound effects units of the BBC, was created in 1958 to produce effects and new music for radio, and was closed in March 1998, although much of its traditional work had already been outsourced by 1995. ... Desmond Briscoe is a musician and studio manager. ... Daphne Oram (December 31, 1925 - January 5, 2003), pioneering British composer and electronic musician. ... Dick Mills (born 1936) is a British sound engineer and composer, specialising in electronic sound effects which he produced at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. ... Maddalena Fagandini is a electronic musician and television producer. ... Brian Hodgson is a British television composer and sound technician. ... John Baker (1937-1997) was a musician and composer who worked in jazz and electronic music. ... David Cain (born 1941) was a composer and technician for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. ... Malcolm Clarke (born 1943) was a British composer, and a member of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop for 25 years from 1969 to 1994. ... Paddy Kingsland is a composer of electronic music best known for his incidental music for science fiction series on BBC radio and TV, including two versions of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: the second radio series and the TV adaptation, as well as several serials of Doctor Who. ... Richard Yeoman-Clark is a British composer and sound engineer who worked at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop for a number of years. ... Roger Limb is a British composer, specialising in electronic music. ... Glynis Jones was a composer, musician and member of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. ... Peter Howell is a television composer who is best known for his work on Doctor Who. ... Elizabeth Parker is a British composer, who worked at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop for many years. ... Jonathan Gibbs is a British composer. ... Richard Attree is a British TV and Film composer. ... Mark Ayres is a television composer who is best known for his work on Doctor Who. ... Time Beat was the first commercial release from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. ... BBC Radiophonic Music was the first compilation of music released by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. ... Fourth Dimension was a 1973 compilation album by BBC Radiophonic Workshop composer Paddy Kingsland. ... The Radiophonic Workshop was a compilation album of music by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop released in 1975. ... Out of This World was a 1976 compilation of atmospheric sounds and effects from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. ... Through A Glass Darkly was the 1978 album by Peter Howell and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. ... BBC Sound Effects No. ... BBC Radiophonic Workshop - 21 was a compilation by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to celebrate their 21st anniversary in 1979. ... BBC Sound Effects No. ... Doctor Who - The Music was a 1983 compilation of music from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop featuring incidental music from the popular science-fiction televsion series Doctor Who. ... The Soundhouse was the 1983 compilation of music from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. ... The Living Planet - Music from the BBC TV Series is the soundtrack album to the television series The Living Planet. ... Doctor Who - The Music II was the follow-up to 1983s Doctor Who - The Music. ... Music from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop was a 2003 limited edition 4x 10 vinyl compilation collecting and re-ordering the comilations BBC Radiophonic Music and The Radiophonic Workshop, including the bonus tracks from their 2002 CD re-releases. ... For other uses, see Electronic music (disambiguation). ... Musique concrète (French; literally, concrete music), is a style of avant-garde music that relies on natural environmental sounds and other non-musical noises to create music. ... Tape loops are loops of prerecorded magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns. ... Ring modulation is an audio effect performed by multiplying two audio signals, where one is typically a sine-wave or another simple waveform. ... Reverse tape effects are special effects created by recording sound onto magnetic tape and then physically reversing the tape so that when the tape is played back, the sounds recorded on it are literally heard in reverse. ... Cross coupled LC oscillator with output on top An electronic oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces a repetitive electronic signal, often a sine wave or a square wave. ... Oramics is a drawn sound technique developed, beginning in 1962, by musician Daphne Oram after receiving a grant from the Gulbenkian Foundation. ... Synth redirects here. ... Electronic Music Studios (London) Ltd. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... White Noise is a metal band formed in Norfolk, the home of such famous landmarks as the Norwich Puppet Theatre and the Colemans Mustard Shop. ... Dudley Simpson is a television composer who is best known for his work on Doctor Who. ... The Doctor Who theme music was created in 1963, composed by Ron Grainer and realised with electronics by Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. ... Since the 1970s, there have been many official and unofficial Doctor Who and related spin-offs released on audio, as LPs, audio cassettes, audio CDs and MP3 CDs. ...