TV theme tunesmith dies at 79

LOCAL resident Ronnie Hazlehurst, composer of television theme tunes such as Last of the Summer Wine and The Two Ronnies, died yesterday. The talented musician created the title music to some of the BBC's best-loved sit-coms and gameshows.

Are You Being Served?, Blankety Blank, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and To The Manor Born were just a few of those for which he either composed or arranged.

He said he always tried to make the music fit the title of the programme - even using a piccolo to spell out the title to Some Mothers Do 'Ave Em in Morse code.

'I wouldn't prostitute a tune, to bend it every which way to fit the title,' he said, 'but if I can make it so, I do'.

It was a skill that earned him the accolade 'the John Williams of British TV themes'.

But he was also much more.

Mr Hazlehurst was a talented jazz musician, a former BBC Light Entertainment musical sirector, a musical director for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974, 1977 and 1981 and conducted the British entry on seven occasions.

In 1977 he famously conducted Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran's Rock Bottom with a rolled-up umbrella instead of a baton.

He also co-wrote the S Club 7 hit, Reach, which peaked at number two in the charts in 2000.

He made his home in Guernsey 10 years ago, having moved from Hendon, north London, and underwent heart bypass surgery in October last year.

Jean Fitzgerald, his long-time partner, said he died peacefully at the PEH on Monday. He was 79.

He suffered a stroke on Thursday night and never regained consciousness, she said.

'He was just a perfectionist in his profession and a very kind and generous man - to write that sort of music you have to be sensitive,' she said.

Mr Hazlehurst is survived by Ms Fitzgerald and two sons from his second marriage.