Ivor Ernst Slaney (born 27 May 1921 in

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area known as the Black Country, in terms of geography, c ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, d. 20 March 1998,

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, United Kingdom) was a prolific

musical composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and conductor, notable for his work in film,

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

and

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

. Slaney was educated at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...

, and married Mary D Ludlow

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

Dolores Ventura in 1948. He divorced in 1969 and remarried in 1974. His father, Ernst Wallace Slaney, was the principal 'cellist in the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra in the 1920s and 1930s under Sir

Dan Godfrey Sir Daniel Eyers "Dan" Godfrey (20 June 1868 – 20 July 1939) was a British music conductor and member of a musical dynasty that included his father Daniel Godfrey (1831–1903). His son, also Dan Godfrey, was also a musician, station man ...

. As a youngster Ivor joined the choir of

St Stephen's Church, Bournemouth St Stephen's Church is an Anglican church in Bournemouth, Dorset (formerly in Hampshire). The liturgical life of the Church is rooted in the Anglo-Catholic tradition. The Church has a noted Lady Chapel, and celebrates Marian masses, benediction ...

where he was also taught by Percy Whitlock, the church's Director of Music and a colleague of Ernst Slaney at the Bournemouth Pavilion. According to Whitlock's diary, Ivor was known as 'Tiny'. Ivor's mother was Grace Elizabeth Arney (b 22 April 1893, died July 1988). She married Ernst in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

in 1920. In 1935, aged 14, Ivor entered the Royal Artillery in Woolwich and gained a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. Following this, he joined up as a musician in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Ivor Slaney's son, Adrian E Slaney, was born in 1950. His daughter was born in 1979. In later life Ivor Slaney lived in

Milford on Sea Milford on Sea, often hyphenated, is a large village or small town and a civil parish on the Hampshire coast. The parish had a population of 4,660 at the 2011 census and is centred about south of Lymington. Tourism and businesses for quite pr ...

, Hampshire. His best-known works include ''"Top Dog"'', which was used as the theme music for the

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

comedy series ''

The Men from the Ministry ''The Men from the Ministry'' is a British radio comedy series broadcast by the BBC between 1962 and 1977, starring Wilfrid Hyde-White, Richard Murdoch and, from 1966, when he replaced Hyde-White, Deryck Guyler. Written and produced by Edwar ...

'' and Carlos' Theme (from ''

The Sentimental Agent ''The Sentimental Agent'' is a television drama series spin-off from '' Man of the World.'' It was produced in the United Kingdom in 1963 by Associated Television and distributed by ITC Entertainment. The series ran for 13 one-hour monochrome ...

'') for which he won an

Ivor Novello award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been ...

. Ivor Slaney also composed hundreds of

mood music Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, no ...

pieces, fanfares and "stings". Many examples are available on the DeWolfe site (see below). He also wrote the music for several Hammer Films, including '' 36 Hours'' (1953), ''

The Gambler and the Lady ''The Gambler and the Lady'' is a 1952 British crime film directed by Patrick Jenkins and Sam Newfield and starring Dane Clark, Kathleen Byron and Naomi Chance. It was made by Hammer Films. Plot An American gambler, Forster (Clark), aspires t ...

'' (1953), '' Spaceways'' (1953), and '' The House Across the Lake'' (1954), as well as the scores to ''

The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It ''The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It'' is a 1977 comedy film directed by Joseph McGrath and starring John Cleese. It is a low-budget spoof of the Sherlock Holmes detective series, as well as the mystery genre in gener ...

'' (1977), ''

Prey Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

'' (1977), '' Terror'' (1978), and '' Death Ship'' (1980). Slaney was also composer and musical director for the British

Children's Film Foundation The Children's Film Foundation (CFF) was a non-profit organisation which made films for children in the United Kingdom originally to be shown as part of childrens' Saturday morning matinée cinema programming. The films typically were about 55 ...

cinema movie series '' The Magnificent Six and 1/2'' from 1968–69, as well as the TV series '' Here Come the Double Deckers'' (1970–71) which followed it. He also composed the theme to the " Harry Worth" TV show which showed the famous "window routine".

External links

Biography of Slaney by David NoadesIvor Slaney music (full excerpts) at www.dewolfe.co.uk
*

References

1921 births 1998 deaths Alumni of the Royal College of Music 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century English composers {{UK-composer-stub