Freddie Phillips starts the day
The BBC-1 daily opening music from April 1964
For two generations of children, Freddie Phillips is best known for the music in the Gordon Murray Trumptonshire trilogy – 1966’s Camberwick Green, 1967’s Trumpton, and 1969’s Chigley, which were on a rotational repeat pattern on BBC-1 until 1985.
In 1964, that fame lay ahead of him. But when BBCtv became BBC-1 in April 1964, it was Freddie Phillips and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop that they turned to for the daily start-up music of the relaunched flagship channel. He composed eight pieces of music – two were used on Sundays because there was a need for a more ‘solemn’ piece before the church service – and anybody who turned on the television before programmes started got to hear them. Pretty soon, people were putting the television on 5 minutes early just to hear them. Here they are.
About the author
The independent broadcasting authority since 1964
Is the Radiophonic Workshop start up music mentioned in the article available? I remember one tune before the start of children’s programmes that sounded like a version of the children’s rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence