John Jeffrey Gough (23 June 1903 7 November 1951) was an Australian-born

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 def ...

radio producer A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. The job title covers several different job descriptions: *Content producers or executive producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature. The content producer might organize music cho ...

and

radio play Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

wright who relocated to the United Kingdom and worked for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. Gough was the only son of John T. Gough and his wife, Hilda May Atkins Gough, of

Launceston, Tasmania Launceston () is a city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, at the confluence of the North Esk River, North Esk and South Esk River, South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River, Tasmania, Tamar River (kanamaluka). As of 2021, the Launc ...

. He was educated at Charles St School and Launceston High School. He was a talented swimmer, diver and oarsman, and taught himself to play the cello. He worked for two years as a cadet reporter for ''The Daily Telegraph'', Launceston. At the age of 19, he won a three-year scholarship to the

Melbourne Conservatorium of Music The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music is the music school at the University of Melbourne and part of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne City Centre on the S ...

. He was awarded the Bronze Medal of the Trinity Society of Music. He was solo cellist with and deputy conductor of the orchestra of the

Capitol Theatre, Melbourne The Capitol is a theatre on Swanston Street in the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Opened in 1924 as part of the Capitol House building, the theatre was designed by American husband and wife architects Walter ...

. He toured with theatrical orchestras, playing for some time in Sydney. He left Australia to continue his studies in Paris, where he supported himself by playing small parts in films made by Gaumont Studios. He won a scholarship for composition at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) 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 pe ...

, where he studied under

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

. His income was meagre, and he suffered "privations that have often included starving". He joined the BBC in London as "tone and control officer", and was subsequently appointed musical director and later features producer. He relocated to Scotland; where he was known for wearing a kilt, and a beard, and using the leg of a hare as a cigarette holder. He seems to have returned to London no later than 1941: a photograph exists of Gough with his fellow-countryman the conductor and composer

Hubert Clifford __NOTOC__ Hubert John Clifford (31 May 1904 – 4 September 1959) was an Australian-born British composer, conductor and musical director for films. Education and early career A native of Bairnsdale in rural Victoria, he studied chemistry befor ...

and the British conductor

Sir Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundr ...

inspecting the ruins of the

Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...

, London soon after it had been destroyed by German bombing on 10 May 1941. During World War II and afterwards, he worked for the BBC Pacific Service, becoming BBC Pacific Programme Organiser. He died in 1951, and was survived by a wife and five children. He wrote several plays for radio, mostly in the 1930s and on historical topics, which were broadcast by the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

, Scotland. On 4 April 1929, his

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...

''The Wallaby Track'' was premiered at the

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

Music Festival. On 5 July 1943, it was played at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

in a Proms concert broadcast by the BBC. It may have been that piece which was broadcast nine days later by the BBC-

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

radio relay ''Calling Australia''. His other compositions included settings for voice and piano of the poem "Song of the Rain" by his fellow Australian

Hugh McCrae Hugh Raymond McCrae OBE (4 October 1876 – 17 February 1958) was an Australian writer, noted for his poetry. Life and career McCrae was born in Melbourne, the son of the Australian author George Gordon McCrae and grandson of the painter and ...

and of the poem "Beauty's Beauty" by the 17th century English dramatist

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), better known as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and w ...

; ''Love Song for Strings in the Form of a Rondo'' (commented on favourably by

John Ireland John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian-American actor and film director. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia and raised in New York City, he came to prominence with film audiences for his supporting roles i ...

in 1943); and ''Serenade for Small Orchestra'' (1931; recorded in 1999 by

Vernon Handley Vernon George "Tod" Handley (11 November 1930 – 10 September 2008) was a British conductor (music), conductor, known in particular for his support of British composers. Early life and education He was born of a Welsh father and an Irish mothe ...

and the

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra The BBC Philharmonic is a national British broadcasting symphony orchestra and is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Philharmonic is a department of the BBC North Group division based at Media ...

, Chandos 9757).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gough, John 1903 births 1951 deaths People from Launceston, Tasmania University of Melbourne alumni Alumni of the Royal College of Music BBC radio producers Australian radio producers Australian male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Australian dramatists and playwrights Australian male classical composers Australian classical composers 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Australian male musicians 20th-century Australian musicians