Edwin Astley

Ted Astley
Born	Edwin Thomas Astley (1922-04-12)12 April 1922 Warrington,Lancashire,England
Died	19 May 1998(1998-05-19)(aged 76) Goring-on-Thames,Oxfordshire,England
Spouse	Hazel Balbirnie ​ (m.1945)​
Children	5, includingJonandVirginia
Family	Emma Townshend(granddaughter)

Edwin Thomas "Ted" Astley(12 April 1922 – 19 May 1998) was a Britishcomposer.His best known works are British television themes and scores, most notably the main themes forThe Saint,Danger ManandThe Baron.He also successfully diversified intosymphonic popand the arrangement of his theme toThe Saint,as re-recorded byOrbital,reached number three in theUK singles chart.

Early life

Astley was born inWarrington,Lancashire,to Lawrence Astley and Mary Alice Pester. He served in theSecond World Waras a musician in theRoyal Army Service Corpsband playingsaxophoneandclarinetfor the troops.

Career

In the early 1950s, Astley was arranging forGeraldo.His song "I Could Never Tell" was written by Edwin and Billy Bowen as an entry into a song writing contest when they were both serving in the army. Edwin won the prize of £250 and later used this money to pay for his wedding to Hazel Balbirnie. "I Could Never Tell" was later recorded by bothVera LynnandRichard Tauber.

His own band, the Ted Astley Orchestra, became well known in the north of England,and he wrote songs for performers such asAnne Shelton.

He wrote music for many British television series of the 1950s and 1960s, including incidental music forThe Champions,and the opening titles toThe Adventures of Robin Hood(with the exception for the closing titles),Danger Man(known asSecret Agentin North America, where a new graphic opening credit sequence was added which featured the song"Secret Agent Man"by P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri and was followed by the original English credits accompanied by Astley'sHigh Wiretheme),Department S,Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased),The Saint,Gideon's WayandThe Baron.All of these programmes wereITC Entertainmentproductions.

Astley also wrote the orchestral and "opera" score for theHammer Filmsversion ofThe Phantom of the Opera(1962).

Astley wrote two arrangements of his own theme forThe Saint,a slow version used in the black and white episodes and a more up-tempo arrangement of the same theme for the colour episodes. He then wrote a second theme, used in the second season of the colour episodes, based aroundLeslie Charteris' own theme music, which had previously been used in films and on radio. Charteris' theme would also open its main theme toReturn of the Saintand would close its theme for itsTV moviesofThe Saintwhich starredSimon Dutton(neither of which were composed by Astley); however, Astley's originalSainttheme was chosen forthe film of the same name.

Astley also wrote two themes forDanger Man– one for the 30-minute series transmitted from 1960 to 1962 entitled "The Danger Man Theme", and a new theme for the 60 minute series (1964–68) entitled "High Wire". Astley was asked to write music forThe Prisoner,but had to withdraw because he felt that he would be unable to createPatrick McGoohan's vision for the score – due to McGoohan being too busy to hold meetings with him.

However, Astley showed his diversity by writing the music for SirKenneth Clark'sBBCdocumentary seriesCivilisation(1969),and scoring several British Transport Films includingDiesel Train Ride(1959),Broad Waterways(1959/60) andThe Signal Engineers(1962).

In 1997, Astley found himself at number three on theUK singles chartas composer of "The Saint",33 years after he wrote it, which had been revived byOrbitalfor the newSaintmovie.His last work was a 1998 symphonic interpretation of Who music calledWho's Serious: The Symphonic Music of the Who,which followed 1995'sSymphonic Music of the Rolling Stones.

Recordings

Astley's actual recorded output is quite sparse, consisting of a few singles and albums of the music fromThe SaintandDanger Man.These were only available in the United States until 1997 when he arranged for CDs to be issued in the UK, where the albums were expensive collectors' items. Other recordings included the soundtrack forInternational Detective,a few library records which were only semi-official and a series of albums made by theLondon Symphony Orchestrawhich featured his work.

Recently the complete recordings of the score toRandall and Hopkirk (Deceased)was released by Network DVD in the UK. The three disc box-set featured over two hundred recorded music cues from the series, and a book detailing the music production.

In 1977, Astley wrote the orchestral score forStreet in the City,a song contained in the Pete Townshend andRonnie Lane's albumRough Mix.

Personal life

Astley married Hazel Balbirnie in 1945, and had five children.Their eldest daughter, Karen, marriedPete Townshend.Their son,Jon Astley,produced and remastered The Who's reissues. DaughterVirginia Astleyis a singer-songwriter.His other children are Virginia's twin Alison, and son Gareth.

Astley retired in the late 1970s, and died in 1998.Recognition of his death was limited to brief obituaries inThe TimesandThe Independent.However, tributes later appeared on television and in print.

Legacy

In 2001,Jools Hollandpresented a television tribute calledAstley's Way.Holland had recorded theDanger Mantheme earlier, and he appeared withJools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestrato play "High Wire", plus various other themes and incidental music composed by Astley. The documentary also included interviews with his widow, son Jon, daughter Virginia and son-in-lawPete Townshend.

Selected filmography

• Devil Girl from Mars(1954)
• The Gay Dog(1954)
• The Happiness of Three Women(1954)
• The Crowded Day(1954)
• The Hornet's Nest(1955)
• You Lucky People(1955)
• Fun at St. Fanny's(1955)
• The Case of the Mukkinese Battle-Horn(1956)
• Kill Her Gently(1957)
• At the Stroke of Nine(1957)
• The Woman Eater(1958)
• Dublin Nightmare(1958)
• Naked Fury(1959)
• The Man Who Liked Funerals(1959)
• The Giant Behemoth(1959)
• The Mouse That Roared(1959)
• The Day They Robbed the Bank of England(1960)
• Passport to China(1961)
• Follow That Man(1961)
• A Matter of WHO(1961)
• The Phantom of the Opera(1962)
• The World Ten Times Over(1963)
• The Syndicate(1968)
• Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World(1973)

Television

• Colonel March of Scotland Yard(1955)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood(1955)
• The Adventures of Sir Lancelot(1956)
• The Buccaneers(1956)
• Ivanhoe(1958)
• International Detective(1959)
• Danger Man(1960)
• The Saint(1962)
• Gideon's Way(1965)
• Seaway(1965)
• The Baron(1966)
• Department S(1968)
• Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)(1969)
• Whoops Baghdad(1973)

External links

• BFI Screenonline: Astley, Edwin (1922-1998) Biography

Data

• Edwin Astley
• Edwin Astleydiscography atDiscogs
• Edwin AstleyatIMDb

Fansites

• Danger Manfansite
• Edwin Astley Appreciation Society (Facebook)