Ron Goodwin

Friday Night is Music Night - Ken Bruce presents a concert to celebrate the life and works of film composer Ron Goodwin in what would have been his 90th birthday year.

Ron Goodwin conducted the BBC Concert Orchestra many times in a career that spanned 5 decades.
Born in Plymouth in 1925 he started to learn piano aged 5 before taking up the trumpet in the school band. After a short spell as an insurance clerk he joined the arranging department of Campbell Connelly the music publishers and worked his way up the career ladder arranging for bands like Ted Heath and Geraldo and eventually scoring for major films on the 1960s.

He conducted on hits for Petula Clark and was MD on Jimmy Young's hit, Too Young. Ron began a working partnership with producer George Martin at Parlophone records and guided Peter Sellers through his comedy song recordings of Balham Gateway to the South; A Hard Day's Night; Bangers and Mash and Goodness Gracious Me.

But it's for his film work Ron is most remembered - with scores for Those Magnificent men in their Flying Machines, Where Eagles Dare, Force Ten From Navarone and, of course, 633 Squadron.

The BBC Concert Orchestra is conducted by Gavin Sutherland and the concert is presented by Ken Bruce.

The programme was first broadcast in March 2015.