25 Facts About Frank Cordell

Frank Cordell was a British composer, arranger and conductor, who was active with the Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Frank Cordell composed music under the name Frank Meilleur or Meillear.

Frank Cordell's father was a doctor who served with the Royal Army Medical Corps in the First World War.

Frank Cordell's brother, Sid Cordell, who was a professional musician, composed music for some of the Hammer Horror films based at Pinewood Studios.

Frank Cordell entered a citywide London music contest and won a Melody Maker poll at the age of 17 for the most promising jazz pianist of 1935.

When World War II broke out Frank Cordell enlisted in the Royal Air Force and trained as a radio navigation operator, flying the Vickers Wellington in RAF Bomber Command.

Frank Cordell was then appointed music director of the Forces Broadcasting Service in Cairo, where he conducted a weekly radio program called Music For Moderns.

Magda later became a "Brutalist" artist, and along with Frank Cordell was a participant in the This Is Tomorrow Exhibit, and both were founder members of the Independent Group at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.

Frank Cordell returned to Britain in 1947, resided on Higher Drive in Banstead, and joined the BBC as a composer, arranger, and orchestra conductor.

Frank Cordell was commended in 1951 for his radio score of the historical drama The Gay Galliard, starring Valerie Hobson as Mary, Queen of Scots.

Frank Cordell worked with most of the performers and musicians of the day including Noel Coward, Charlie Chaplin, vocalists such as Alma Cogan and Ronnie Hilton, and the jazz trumpet player Humphrey Lyttelton.

In 1952, Frank Cordell was drawn to the cinema and made his music film debut.

Frank Cordell commenced composing music for many advertising commercials for film and TV.

Frank Cordell used the top floor with his piano and large windows overlooking the park as his music composing studio.

In 1955, Frank Cordell left the BBC to become musical director of His Master's Voice, known subsequently as EMI, a post held until 1962 when he decided to become a full-time film composer, and scored the music for the film The Captain's Table.

Frank Cordell married his second wife, Anja, whom he met on film location in Japan while doing the music score for the film Flight from Ashiya.

Frank Cordell composed over twenty music scores including The Voice of Merrill, First on the Road, The Rebel starring Tony Hancock, The Bargee, Never Put It in Writing, Khartoum, Mosquito Squadron, Ring of Bright Water, Hell Boats, Cromwell, Trial by Combat, and God Told Me To.

Between his film scores Frank Cordell wrote concert hall works including the Concerto for Cello, the Concerto for Horn, a wind quartet entitled Interplay; pieces for saxophone quartet, Gestures and Patterns, and mood miniatures such as Production Drive.

Frank Cordell wrote choral music for the Choir of King's College, Cambridge; and an arrangement for strings of the English air "Oh Dear, What Can the Matter Be", available on Guild GED5104.

Frank Cordell was nominated for the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for his feature film score of Cromwell, 1970.

Frank Cordell wrote the score for the documentary film Tiger Tiger.

Frank Cordell appeared in the Fathers of Pop interviewed by Reyner Banham in a 1970s TV documentary on the origins of British pop art.

Frank Cordell wrote two significant scores for brass band: Spirals and Movements.

Frank Cordell retired with his wife and son to their sheep farm in the English countryside, where they kept open house to many of Britain's leading artists and musicians including The Beatles.

Frank Cordell died in Hastings in 1980, and his original manuscripts now reside in the archives at the Trinity College of Music in London.