Ronald Binge(1910-1979)
- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Born into a poor family in Derby in 1910, Ronald Binge had to learn
music the hard way. After his father, an iron moulder by trade, died
from injuries sustained in WW1, the family had no money to spare for
music lessons and Ronald had to teach himself, with help from a local
choirmaster. His film music career began in 1927 when he joined the
orchestra of the tiny Cosmo Cinema in Derby, and it was there that he
learned to sight read, arrange and compose for silent movies. In 1932
he moved to London and three years later began a long association as
arranger for conductor Mantovani. It was Binge, incidentally, who
invented the "cascading strings" effect known as the Mantovani sound.
The first of his ten film scores was composed in 1938, and he wrote a
huge output for radio, television and stock music libraries. His most
prestigious co-scoring assignment was possibly the BBC documentary
series War in the Air (1954) in which he joined forces with British
film music luminaries such as Arthur Bliss, Malcolm Arnold, William
Alwyn and Clifton Parker. Today, Binge is chiefly remembered for
composing the popular melodies Elizabethan Serenade (1952) and Sailing
By (1963), the latter of which became for many years the signature tune
of the BBC shipping forecasts. He died of cancer in 1979. A full
biography, also entitled "Sailing By" and written by Derby author Mike
Carey, was published by Tranters in 2000.