Cedric King Palmer lived for many years in Popes Grove, Twickenham, where he taught the piano until his death on 13th July 1999.

He made a substantial contribution to popularising music as a composer, pianist, violinist, author, singer, lecturer, conductor, writer and teacher. He was a prolific composer, his works included film and radio music, arrangements of popular classics, musicals and instrumental pieces.

He was born in Sussex in 1913 and was educated at Tonbridge School and the Royal Academy of Music. While still a student, he was invited by Sir Henry Wood to conduct at the Queen's Hall. During the Second World War, he volunteered for service in the RAF, but his application was rejected because of his poor sight. He married Winifred Henry in 1947 and the couple briefly ran a bookshop in South Kensington.

This image is c1965. Interestingly all his dogs were called Nimrod.

After the war, he conducted the King Palmer Light Music Orchestra (on the BBC Light Programme), the Sevenoaks Music Society, the City Literary Institute Orchestra, and various film and theatre orchestras. He composed the orchestral suites Down a Country Lane, Out of Doors, Eight Period Pieces, Studies in Motion, and Studies in Happiness. His arrangements of classical pieces for orchestra include Galopade, (a pot-pourri of galops and can-cans) and Sousa on Parade and were popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Amongst his works for television and radio was the Eleventh Hour Melody, the theme music for the show The Eleventh Hour (a medical drama).

It is as a prolific composer of light music that King Palmer will perhaps be most remembered. His many compositions include Fairy Cobweb, Golden Harvest, Blue Days at Sea, Country Market, Hackney Carriage (selected by an Internet site as an ideal piece of music to accompany dinner for people over 60!), Paddle Steamer, Enchantment, Feather on the Breeze, Paul Pry, Frivolity, Procession, Gala, Spindlelegs, Stormy Passage, Softly She Sleeps, Busy Life, Tomorrow the World and March of the Astronauts. He composed music for children's plays such as Hop o' my Thumb, Two Weeks to Californiay, Aladdin, Dick Whittington, and Coalblack and the Seven Giants.

After the death of his wife in 1973, King Palmer took a course in teaching music therapy, working with patients who had been discharged from mental hospitals. He was a magistrate in Richmond and a prison visitor. He will be remembered by his many pupils as a kind and patient piano teacher and more widely for his prodigious output of popular music

On this week's show we are featuring Galopade played by thre Lindley Band conducted by Neil Jowett. 

Bio details courtesy of http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.php?aid=187&cid=18&ctid=1

Enjoy the show...