Ron Grainer

Ronald Erle Ron Grainer (11 August 1922 21

February 1981) was an Australian composer who worked
for most of his professional career in the United Kingdom. He is mostly remembered for his lm and television
music, especially the theme music for Doctor Who.

Aloomba is situated on the eastern side of another rock

monolith, the 922-metre-high Walshs Pyramid.[14] At
the age of 9, as part of the Aloomba school team,
Grainer won second prize for solo violin at the inaugural Cairns and District School Eisteddfod. This is
the rst newspaper mention of him giving a music performance in public.[15] In early 1933, Grainers family
moved to Cairns[16] where, apart from school work at
Edge Hill State (19331934) and Cairns High (1935
1936),[17] he commenced a serious study of music theory and interpretation.[18] His family relocated south to
Brisbane[19] in 1937 where Grainer completed his secondary school education at St Josephs College, Nudgee,
matriculating in 1938. He enrolled at the University
of Queensland in 1939 to study civil engineering and
music,[20] a course which included harmony, counterpoint, and composition as taught by classical musician
Percy Brier, a traditionalist educator who encouraged
his more talented students to think for themselves.[21]
Grainer gained his Associate of Trinity College London
Diploma (ATCL) on piano.[22]

Childhood

Ron Grainer was born on 11 August 1922 in Atherton,

Queensland, Australia,[1] the rst child of Margaret
Clark, an amateur pianist,[2] and Ronald Albert Grainer,
a storekeeper and postmaster.[3]
For the rst eight years of Rons life the Grainer family
lived in Mt Mulligan, a small town built around the extraction of coal from three seams which lay beneath a 400metre-high sandstone monolith,[4] located 100 km west
of Cairns.[5] Apart from the industrial noise and dust, the
family sometimes had to contend with the after eects of
a high consumption of alcohol by the shift miners. On
one such occasion a stray bullet ew through the roof of
their home and almost hit the 11-week-old Ron as he lay
on his bed.[6]
Because of Mt Mulligans physical isolation, encouraging a sense of community was vital. This was achieved
by regularly holding dance and social functions.[7] These
public entertainments became very important for bolstering local morale, especially after a massive explosion on
19 September 1921 killed 75 resident mine workers one
third of Mt Mulligans adult population.[8]

3 RAAF
After the outbreak of World War II, Grainer joined the
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in December 1940
and was sent to Amberley, Queensland, posted to 73 Signals, given a course at Point Cook and assigned to Radar
Station No. 58, Townsville. While stationed there, and
in subsequent similar postings, he contributed to barracks
recreation activities by scoring and organising numerous
servicemen shows.[23] In February 1940 he joined the
RAAF entertainment unit. In the ocial report on his
audition performance, the only music piece mentioned
by title was Ravel's Bolero,[24] a seemingly simple instrumental ri which holds the listeners attention in a similar manner to Grainers later themes and signature tunes.
Grainer had only a few months performing for his fellow airmen, for in July 1944, a 44-gallon drum fell on his
leg while he was travelling in a truck; he sustained a severe injury and was admitted to the 3 RAAF Hospital,
seriously ill.[25] For a while, the air force medical team
considered amputation, but Grainer eventually recovered.
He was discharged from the RAAF as permanently medically unt in September 1945.[26] A rehabilitation course
took him to the New South Wales State Conservatorium
of Music, where he studied under Eugene Goossens.[27]

Concerts in the years following the disaster included performances by a very young Ron Erle Grainer, taught
piano-playing from the age of four by his mother [9]
and encouraged to learn the violin by an elderly Welsh
miner.[10] As Grainers music skills developed, he started
demonstrating an ability to reconstruct tunes he had
heard at school or on gramophone records.[9] Mary Wardle, a Classical music singer, historian, and former resident of Mt Mulligan, remembers Grainer performing on
keyboard instruments when he could barely reach the
pedals.[11]

Education

The Grainer family left Mt Mulligan in 1930.[12] By April

1932 they were living in Aloomba, a sugar-growing rural community on the Far North Queensland coast.[13]
1

Early musical education and career

PORTUGAL

satellite seen hovering over the city of London.[34]

Grainer received his teaching and performing diploma for

pianoforte in December 1949.[28] During 1950 and 1951
he began appearing in a series of solo artist radio shows
for the Australian Broadcasting Commission.[29] In August 1951 a presentation of Delius, Faure, and Milhaud
compositions by Grainer on piano and Don Scott on violin was ridiculed in a newspaper review for the duos uncompromising disregard of mob appeal, lack of practical concert sense, and unrelievedly pastel colouring
set list that was in need of a more impulsive and heartfelt spirit on the well tendered surface having earlier
said by the time the programme ended the recital badly
needed blood transfusion.[30] By the mid 1950s Grainer
had abandoned his classical repertoire and live concert
work with such a determined change of attitude that he
claimed in a 1964 magazine interview that he had always
loathed performing.[25]

Maigret and after

At one stage, to pay the rent on their room, Grainer and

his wife had to work as caretakers of a large block of London ats where he stoked two large boilers, morning and
night, whilst Margot washed stairs and cleaned rooms.[32]

shop.[39][40]

In 1960 Grainer achieved public recognition with his

theme and incidental music for the TV series Maigret.[35]
When Maigret was given the Ivor Norvello Outstanding
Composition for Film, TV or Radio award in 1961, commissions from a wide range of genres poured in: Goon
Show silliness (Its a Square World, 1961), one-o pilots
(Comedy Playhouse), documentaries (Terminus. 1961),
kitchen sink drama (A Kind of Loving), quirky domestic
sitcoms (Steptoe and Son 1962), teen icks (Some People 1962), late night satire (That Was The Week That
Was, 1962), outpost angst (Station Six Sahara, 1962), ballet (The Kings Breakfast, 1963), science ction (Doctor
Who, 1963), psycho killers (Night Must Fall, 1964), childrens adventure stories (The Moon Spinners, 1964), patriotic biography (The Finest Hours, 1964), big-budget
musicals (Robert and Elizabeth, 1964), unusual love stories (Boy Meets Girl, 1967), acclaimed dramas To Sir,
5 London
with Love (1967), allegorical social commentary (The
Prisoner, 1967) and crime-caper movies (Only When I
[36]
Grainer also worked with the instruIn 1952 Grainer left Australia for London with his wife Larf, 1968).
mental
group
The
Eagles who recorded a number of his
Margot and 10-year-old stepdaughter Rel. He managed
themes.
to nd a three-month engagement playing piano in a
nightclub along with other occasional jobs, the worst of Most of these projects required considerable research,
which became a twelve-month stint with a touring Aus- group discussion, and creative team eort.[37] They are
tralian comedy act called The Allen Brothers and June. only a small sample of work completed by Grainer from
This required the classically trained Grainer to be hit on 1960 to 1968. He once indicated he felt a trie wistful
the head nightly by a falling grand piano lid and then to that so many people just associated him with the Doctopple over into the orchestra pit, an experience he later tor Who theme,[38] the only tune in his extensive portsaid was even harder to do than a days fencing in the Aus- folio that had its sound dynamics realised by someone
tralian outback.[31]
else Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic WorkThe time-consuming work commitments eventually contributed to the breakdown of Grainers relationship with
his wife; he and Margot divorced in 1966. Later that
To increase his public prole Grainer had two attempts at year, he married Jennifer Dodds, a member of the cast
[41]
Their son Damian was born
song contests: Englands Made of Us (1956), an entry of Robert and Elizabeth.
[42]
shortly
afterwards.
with lyricist David Dearlove for the First British Festival
of Popular Song, which received the score of no points
from the judges [33] and, the following year, Don't Cry
Little Doll (1957) (also written with David Dearlove),
which reached fourth place in the British Eurovision entry 7 Portugal
decider heats.
[43]
Grainers most dramatic pre-success music involvement In September 1968, tired of London trac jams[44]
was with Before The Sun Goes Down, a TV play which and worried about his intensifying eyesight problems,
caused audience panic and questions to be raised in the Grainer moved permanently to his former retreat propBritish Parliament when it was shown on 20 February erty in southern Portugal. He and Jenny started a farm
the
1959. Taking inspiration from Orson Welles' 1938 ra- growing organic fruit and vegetables, undertaking
[45]
planting
and
maintaining
of
1,000
peach
trees.
dio drama of The War of the Worlds, the production used
a similar format in which a regular programme broadcast From 1969 to 1975, Grainer composed themes and
was interrupted by a fake public service announcement. soundtracks for an average of around one TV series and
In this instance it was about a mysterious and terrifying one lm each year.

Return

In April 1974 the Carnation Revolution[46] had prompted

Grainer and his family to leave Portugal and return to
England until the political climate cleared. Damian went
rst to boarding and then to day school. Grainer was being oered work again so he set up house in Brighton.
In 1976 he and Jenny went through an amicable divorce
as she had gone back to Portugal while he decided to
stay permanently in London.[47] Over the next ve years
Grainer had a second round of creativity, achieving respect with the Emmy and Bafta award-winning miniseries Edward & Mrs Simpson and the well-received scores
for Tales of the Unexpected (1979) and Rebecca (1979).
Skin [1980], an episode of Tales of the Unexpected with
the theme of exploitation of the socially vulnerable and a
poignant Grainer soundtrack, won the 1980 Edgar Allan
Poe Award for Best Television Episode.[48]

Steptoe and Son, 1962 Ivor Novello Award Outstanding Composition for Film, TV or Radio

12 Nominations
Flickers [1980] Bafta Best Television Music Award
1981
Shelley [1979] Bafta Best Television Music Award
1981
Tales of the Unexpected [1979] Bafta Best Television
Music Award 1981

13 Film credits
Terminus (1961)

Final year

Grainer had one notable incidental music score and two

TV signature tunes debut the year of his sudden illness,
and death, from cancer on 21 February 1981.
Sunday Night Thriller, with its funeral music theme and
separation of bodies credits sequence, was broadcast on
18 January 1981.[49]
On 17 May 1981, his All Things Bright And Beautiful inuenced ambient music for The Sound Machine
episode of Tales of the Unexpected, accompanied a central character obsessed with Sounds I long to hear
Songs beyond the planets.
The last of Grainers TV themes, It Takes A Worried Man,
was broadcast on 21 October 1981, and featured a closing
credits lm clip of the series hero gradually losing pieces
of his torso and face until all that is left are his eyes.[50]

A Kind of Loving (1962)

Some People (1962)
Station Six-Sahara (1962)
The Mouse on the Moon (1963)
The Kings Breakfast (1963)
The Caretaker (1963)
Nothing But the Best (1964)
Night Must Fall (1964)
The Moon-Spinners (1964)
To Sir, with Love (1967)
Only When I Larf (1968)
The Assassination Bureau (1969)

10

Compilations

Only three compilations of Grainers output have been

released commercially. 1969s Themes Like (RCA)
was a collection of his better known 1960s compositions.
This was followed by Exciting Television Music of Ron
Grainer (RCA, 1980), which covered the 1970s. In 1994
a career-spanning thirty-track CD was released as part of
the A to Z of British TV Themes project on the Play it
Again record label.

Lock Up Your Daughters (1969)

In Search of Gregory (1969)
Before Winter Comes (1969)
Homan (1970)
The Omega Man (1971)
Mutiny on the Buses (1972)
I Don't Want to Be Born (1975)

11

Awards

Maigret, 1961 Ivor Novello Award Outstanding

Composition for Film, TV or Radio

The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones (1976)

One Away (1976)
Never Never Land (1980)

16

14

Television credits

Maigret (1960)
Comedy Playhouse (1961)
That Was The Week That Was (1962)
Steptoe and Son (1962)
Giants of Steam (1963)

REFERENCES

[4] The Historical Society of Mareeba. Mbahistsoc.org.au.

Retrieved 27 September 2014.
[5] Peter Bell If Anything Too Safe 2nd ed James Cook Uni
1996 p1,2
[6] From Our Own Correspondent Cairns Post 8th November 1922 p3
[7] Mike Rimmer Up The Palmerston Glovers Printing
Works Bundaberg 2004 p 209

The Home Made Car (1963)

[8] Peter Bell If Anything Too Safe 2nd edition James Cook
Uni 1996 p87

Doctor Who (1963)

[9] Composer Lumped Coal Sunday Mail 1 March 1981 p8

Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life

(1964)
Man in a Suitcase (1967)
The Prisoner (1967)
Paul Temple (1969)
For the Love of Ada (1970)
The Train Now Standing (1972)
South Riding (1974)
Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978)
Tales of the Unexpected (1979)
Malice Aforethought (1979)

[10] Ron Grainer The Man Behind The Maigret Theme'

Decca Records 1961
[11] Mike Rimmer Up The Palmerston Glovers Printing
Works Bundaberg 2004 p. 209.
[12] Grainers fathers store is listed in the Mt Mulligan section of the Queensland Post Oce Directory from 1916
until the 193132 edition. RA and wife M Grainer
were regularly mentioned in the Cairns Post MM social
notes columns as members of the MM rie club the MM
Queensland Country Womens Association or MM school
functions from Jan 1918. The mentions abruptly stop with
the childrens fancy dress ball article Mareeba District
Notes Mt Mulligan Items, Cairns Post, 30 August 1930,
p.15
[13] Aloomba Notes Cairns Post 11 April 1932 p11

Shelley (1979)

[14] Walshs Pyramid, Wooroonooran National Park.

Nprsr.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 27 September 2014.

Sunday Night Thriller (1981)

[15] Aloomba Notes / Eisteddfod Cairns Post 24.6. 1932 p8

The Sound Machine (1981)

[16] Farewell Function At Alomba cp 29.3.33 p10

15

Stage credits

1964 Robert and Elizabeth

1966 On the Level
1970 Sing A Rude Song
1975 Nickleby And Me

16

References

[1] Australian Dictionary of Biography vol 17 2007 Ron

Grainer *sister Margorie was born at Mt Mulligan in
1924

[17] National Archives of Australia Ronald Erle Grainer

RAAF air crew appl. p15/80, p25/80
[18] Veni Parker concert cp14.12.36 p3
[19] Mrs R Grainer Farewelled cp 2.11.37 p3. Grainer
boarded at St Josephs from start of school year
[20] National Archives of Australia, Ronald Erle Grainer
RAAF application for air crew p25/80
[21] Biography - Percy Brier - Australian Dictionary of Biography. Adb.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
[22] National Archives of Australia, Ronald Erle Grainer entertainment party application p31/80
[23] On The Trail of Inspector Maigret, Australian Womens
Weekly, 27 June 1962, p. 42.

[2] Mt Mulligan Notes Cairns Post 27 July 1920 p3

[24] National Archives of Australia, Ronald Erle Grainer

RAAF entertainment audition report, p. 7/80.

[3] Mt. Mulligan Notes Cairns Post 16 February 1914 p7 /

Brisbane Courier 22.9.21 p7

[25] Move over Rodgers Here Comes Grainer Australian

Womans Weekly 5 August 1964 p9

[26] National Archives of Australia, Series A9301, Control

symbol 23963, Barcode 4564067: Grainer, Ronald Erle
19391948
[27] As soon as I was discharged in '46 I went to the Sydney
Conservatorium to study under Sir Eugene Gossens, Ron
Grainer statement quoted in article Move Over Rodgers
Here Comes Grainer, Australian Womens Weekly, 5 August 1964, p. 9.
[28] Sydney Morning Herald, 23 December 1949, p. 8.
[29] Radio, Adelaide Advertiser, 18 September 1950, p. 16,
cp 5.4.51 p6, Townsville Bulletin 4.5.51 p3, cp 4.9.51 p6
[30] Sydney Morning Herald, 16 August 1951, p.4.
[31] Music from Paradise New Idea 29.1.66 p49
[32] ABC on the Trail of Inspector Maigret Australian
Womens Weekly 27 June 1962 p42
[33] Gordon Roxburgh Songs For Europe Telos Publishing
Denbighshire p. 5360
[34] Television (Bogis News Broadcast)", Common Sitting HC
Debates (Hansard), Vol 602, 16 March 1959, cc 16172
[35] Bucks Music Group. Bucks Music Group. Retrieved 27
September 2014.
[36] Ron Grainer - biography. Rongrainer.org.uk. Retrieved
27 September 2014.
[37] Churchills Music Will Go Ringing Around The World.
Glasgow Times, Glasgow, Scotland, 7 May 1964.
[38] The Music Man, The Age newspaper, Melbourne, 17
June 1966, p. 2.
[39] Brian Hodgson Delia Derbyshire obituary The Guardian
7 July 2001
[40] The composition was not a rush job by Grainer. Doctor
Who producer Verity Lambert said that after being given
the brief, Grainer 'went to work at his Putney home and
three weeks later came back with the required notes written on music manuscript paper.' Veritys Tune Is Way
Out. Daily Mirror, 1 December 1963, p. 12.
[41] Ancestry.com, Ronald Erle Grainer Births Marriages
Deaths
[42] RonGrainer.org Biography. Rongrainer.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
[43] The Missing Music Mans Secret, Chris Greenwood,
The Sun London, c. 1973.
[44] Music From Paradise New Idea 29 January 1966 p5
[45] Jenny Grainer, Portugal and the Algarve Now And
Then, Pen Press, 2010, p. 71.
[46] On This Day, BBC website.. News.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
[47] ""Biography, Ron Grainer website.. Rongrainer.org.uk.
Retrieved 27 September 2014.

[48] 1980 Edgar Allan Poe Awards. IMDb.com. Retrieved

27 September 2014.
[49] Radio Times, 18 January 1981.
[50] It Takes A Worried Man. IMDb. 20 November 2003.
Retrieved 27 September 2014.

17 External links
Ron Grainer website
Ron Grainer at the Internet Movie Database
Ron Grainer The Australian Years blog
All Music Guide to compilation CD with music
samples

18

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