Ronnie Hazlehurst facts for kids

Ronald Hazlehurst (born March 13, 1928 – died October 1, 2007) was a talented English composer and conductor. He joined the BBC in 1961 and later became their Light Entertainment Musical Director. This meant he was in charge of music for many popular TV shows.

Hazlehurst composed the theme tunes for many famous British TV shows. These included comedies and game shows from the 1970s and 1980s. Some well-known examples are Yes Minister, Are You Being Served?, I Didn't Know You Cared, and Last of the Summer Wine.

Early Life and Music Beginnings

Ronald Hazlehurst was born in Dukinfield, Cheshire, England, in 1928. His father worked on the railway, and his mother was a piano teacher. He went to Hyde County Grammar School. At age 14, he left school to work as a clerk in a cotton mill. He earned £1 a week.

From 1947 to 1949, he completed his National Service. During this time, he was a bandsman in the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards. In his free time, he played in a band. Soon, he became a professional musician, earning £4 a week.

His band even appeared on the BBC Light Programme. However, Hazlehurst left when he was not given a pay raise. He moved to Manchester and worked as a freelance musician. Later, he joined another band at a London nightclub. Ronnie Hazlehurst also worked at Granada for about a year in 1955. After that, he even worked on a market stall in Watford to earn money.

Ronnie Hazlehurst's BBC Career

Hazlehurst joined the BBC in 1961. He started as a staff arranger, helping to create music for shows. Some of his early works included music for The Likely Lads, The Liver Birds, and It's a Knockout.

In 1968, he became the Light Entertainment Musical Director. This was a big role. During his time, he wrote theme tunes for many popular comedies. These included Are You Being Served?, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, and Last of the Summer Wine. He also wrote all the other instrumental music for Last of the Summer Wine.

Other famous theme tunes he composed were for I Didn't Know You Cared, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, and To the Manor Born. He also created the music for Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. Later, he wrote themes for Just Good Friends and Three Up, Two Down.

Hazlehurst also arranged the themes for shows like Butterflies, Sorry!, and the first series of Only Fools and Horses. He wrote themes for the sketch show The Two Ronnies and game shows like Blankety Blank and Odd One Out. He also composed the music for Bruce Forsyth's The Generation Game and the chat show Wogan.

His theme tunes often had special sounds that matched the shows. For Are You Being Served?, he used the sound of a cash till. For The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, the music went up and down. He even used the Big Ben chimes for Yes Minister. In Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, Hazlehurst used Morse code to spell out the show's title. He also composed music for the BBC's coverage of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. He left the BBC in the 1990s.

Other Musical Work

Ronnie Hazlehurst was also involved with the Eurovision Song Contest. He was the musical director when the United Kingdom hosted the event. This happened in 1974, 1977, and 1982.

He also conducted the British entry seven times. These were in 1977, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, and 1992. In 1977, he conducted both the British and the German entry. For the British entry that year, he famously used a closed umbrella instead of a baton. He also wore a bowler hat.

He arranged and conducted music for singers. This included Clare Torry for Butterflies and Paul Nicholas for Just Good Friends. Hazlehurst also recorded LPs and CDs with his orchestra. One project was a 2-CD set of Laurel and Hardy film music. His orchestra also played for singer Marti Caine on one of her albums.

Later Years

Around 1997, Hazlehurst moved from Hendon, North London, to Guernsey. In 1999, he received a Gold Badge from the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. This award recognized his great contributions to music.

Music was a huge part of Hazlehurst's life. He continued to work right up until October 2006. At that time, he had a heart bypass operation. On September 27, 2007, he suffered a stroke. He passed away on October 1, 2007, at Princess Elizabeth Hospital in St Martin, Guernsey. He was married twice and had two sons from his second marriage. At the time of his death, his partner was Jean Fitzgerald.