matgb: Artwork of 19th century upper class anarchist, text: MatGB (Lifetime)
Mat Bowles ([personal profile] matgb) wrote2007-10-02 11:52 pm

RIP Ronnie Hazlehurst

There are times when you don't even know how great someone is until you read their obituary. Sometimes, it's a name you've never heard before, and then you find out what they did. It's weird, but reading a list of the theme tunes that Ronnie Hazlehurst wrote was just so evocative, they came to me, and I don't normally remember music on tap. My childhood, in so many ways. Here's an edited highlights:
# Are You Being Served?
# The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
# Last of the Summer Wine
# To the Manor Born
# Yes Minister
And, because, y'know, TV tribute time, I bring you the three best (in my opinion, and hey, my journal, so that's what counts.YouTube - Yes Minister Intro:

YouTube - BBC Are you being served? 70s intro:

YouTube - Last Of The Summer Wine:

Yes Minister obviously an all-time great show, but the credits to each of the above are so memorable they good in and of themselves, regardless of your opinion of the show. What struck me in the BBC PM tribute was how varied they were. Ah well.

[identity profile] blue-condition.livejournal.com 2007-10-03 09:06 am (UTC)(link)
Ronnie H. truly was the sound of the seventies. Don't forget the Two Ronnies theme tune, either.

[identity profile] caramel-betty.livejournal.com 2007-10-03 11:31 am (UTC)(link)
The one that got me when it was on the news yesterday was the Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em theme tune. Also Ronnie Hazlehurst, but possibly the most bizarre thing I've ever heard of being done for a theme tune - basing it on the name of the series in Morse code (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Mothers_Do_'Ave_'Em#Theme_Tune).