15 Facts About Dudley Simpson

Dudley George Simpson was an Australian composer and conductor.

Dudley Simpson was the Principal Conductor of the Royal Opera House orchestra for three years and worked as a composer on British television.

Dudley Simpson worked on the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, for which he composed incidental music during the 1960s and 1970s.

Dudley Simpson composed music for several plays from the BBC Television Shakespeare series.

Dudley Simpson was born in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern East.

Dudley Simpson learned piano as a child, served in New Guinea during World War II and then studied orchestration and composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music at the University of Melbourne.

Dudley Simpson became assistant conductor, pianist and later musical director for the Borovansky Ballet Company, forerunner to The Australian Ballet.

Dudley Simpson moved to the UK and after a season as guest conductor at Covent Garden, he became Principal Conductor of the Royal Opera House orchestra for three years.

Dudley Simpson accompanied the touring section of the Royal Ballet with Margot Fonteyn as principal ballerina.

Dudley Simpson appeared on screen as a music hall conductor in the Fourth Doctor story The Talons of Weng-Chiang at the invitation of Philip Hinchcliffe, who was the producer at the time.

Dudley Simpson had to be paid a special fee for this appearance, as he was a member of the Musicians' Union and not Equity.

Dudley Simpson composed the theme tune to the ITV-based Thames Television science fiction series The Tomorrow People.

Dudley Simpson provided the theme music for the series and was responsible for the incidental music for 50 of the episodes that were broadcast from 2 January 1978 to 21 December 1981.

Dudley Simpson died on 4 November 2017 in Sydney, Australia aged 95.

Between 1964 and 1980, Dudley Simpson composed the incidental music for the following Doctor Who serials:.