Edwin Thomas "Ted" Astley (12 April 1922 – 19 May 1998) was a British composer. His best known works are British television themes and scores, most notably the main themes for Department S, The Saint, Danger Man and The Baron. He also successfully diversified into symphonic pop and the arrangement of his theme to The Saint, as re-recorded by Orbital, reached number three in the UK singles chart.
Early life
Astley was born in Warrington, Lancashire, to Lawrence Astley and Mary Alice Pester. He served in the Second World War as a musician in the Royal Army Service Corps band playing saxophone and clarinet for the troops.
Career
In the early 1950s, Astley was arranging for Geraldo. His song "I Could Never Tell" was written by Edwin and Billy Bowen as an entry into a song writing contest when they were both serving in the army. Edwin won the prize of £250 and later used this money to pay for his wedding to Hazel Balbirnie. "I Could Never Tell" was later recorded by both Vera Lynn and Richard Tauber. (known as Secret Agent in North America, where a new graphic opening credit sequence was added which featured the song "Secret Agent Man" by P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri and was followed by the original English credits accompanied by Astley's High Wire theme),
However, Astley showed his diversity by writing the music for Sir Kenneth Clark's BBC documentary series Civilisation (1969), 33 years after he wrote it, which had been revived by Orbital for the new Saint movie.
Recordings
Astley's actual recorded output is quite sparse, consisting of a few singles and albums of the music from The Saint and Danger Man. These were only available in the United States until 1997 when he arranged for CDs to be issued in the UK, where the albums were expensive collector's items. Other recordings included the soundtrack for International Detective, a few library records which were only semi-official and a series of albums made by the London Symphony Orchestra which featured his work.
Recently the complete recordings of the score to Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) was released by Network DVD in the UK. The three disc box-set featured over two hundred recorded music cues from the series, and a book detailing the music production.
In 1977, Astley wrote the orchestral score for Street in the City, a song recorded for the Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane album Rough Mix.
Personal life
Astley married Hazel Balbirnie in 1945, and had five children. Their son, Jon Astley, produced and remastered The Who's reissues. Daughter Virginia Astley is a singer-songwriter. His other children are Virginia's twin Alison, and son Gareth.
Astley retired in the late 1970s, and died in 1998. However, tributes later appeared on television and in print.
Legacy
In 2001, Jools Holland presented a television tribute called Astley's Way. Holland had recorded the Danger Man theme earlier, and he appeared with Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra to play "High Wire", plus various other themes and incidental music composed by Astley. The documentary also included interviews with his widow, son Jon, daughter Virginia and son-in-law Pete Townshend.