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| 1 | He got on well with Yul Brynner (with whom he worked on a revival of The King and I) and Rex Harrison (whom he conducted during the first London run of My Fair Lady), both of whom had a reputation for being difficult: "In the theatre, when people say artists are difficult," Ornadel observed, "it all boils down to the fact that they want it right.". |
| 2 | Ornadel remains best known for conducting, with his back to the camera, the Palladium pit orchestra which, every week, opened Sunday Night At The London Palladium, ITV's variety show compered by Bruce Forsyth. |
| 3 | During the 1950s he was famous for conducting the orchestra for the hit TV show Sunday Night at the London Palladium. This followed as a musical director for a number of major West End shows, including the first London production of My Fair Lady, and at the London Palladium the hit shows The Sound of Music and The King and I starring Yul Brynner. |
| 4 | He married, in 1961, Shoshana Shapira, with whom he had two sons and a daughter. After his retirement in 1989, he and his wife moved to Israel. |
| 5 | In 1958, Ornadel and David Croft joined forces again to write The Pied Piper, which ran for a month at the Connaught Theatre, Worthing. In 1963 the two men worked on a musical adaptation of HG Wells's novel Ann Veronica, at the Cambridge Theatre, with Dorothy Tutin; but the reviewers found it insipid and flabby, and the production had only a short run. |
| 6 | He conducted music with the London Symphony Orchestra for The Strauss Family, by the eponymous composers and was presented with a gold disc for sales. |
| 7 | He was the son of a dress manufacturer who assumed he would join the family business. When Cyril went his own way, his father effectively had him thrown out of the Royal College of Music by telling it that his son was in breach of the rules by playing piano in a nightclub and dating a fellow student. |
| 8 | Ornadel's contribution to music for television includes scores for the remake of Brief Encounter (1974) starring Richard Burton and Sophia Loren, Edward the Seventh (1975), which won a BAFTA, starring Timothy West as Edward VII, and the music for the British television science-fiction series Sapphire & Steel (1979). |
| 9 | Cyril Ornadel was awarded the Gold Badge of Merit by the British Academy of Songwriters and Authors for services to British music. |
| 10 | After the war Ornadel's interest in theatre music blossomed, and he worked as musical director of touring revues and pantomime, and for a stage version of the 1950s radio comedy series Take It From Here, with Jimmy Edwards and Joy Nichols. |
| 11 | In 1956, Ornadel wrote his first score, a musical called Star Maker, with David Croft writing the lyrics. The show was a Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge vehicle that toured the regions with success, but failed to make it to London. By then, however, Ornadel had begun to make his mark in the pit on Sunday Night. The show eventually ran until 1967. |
| 12 | Ornadel wrote the music for Treasure Island, adapted by Bernard Miles and Josephine Wilson, with lyrics by Hal Shaper, in 1973. His second dip into Dickens, Great Expectations, again with Hal Shaper as lyricist, never made it to the West End, but after a British tour was presented in Canada. None the less, both shows won Best British Musical at the Ivor Novello Awards. |
| 13 | Ornadel worked closely with such major names as Leonard Bernstein, Forrest and Wright, and Lerner and Loewe, and with many of the major stars of the day. |
| 14 | He composed several musicals of his own, including Pickwick (1963, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse), starring Harry Secombe, from which came the hit song "If I Ruled the World", which won an Ivor Novello Award; Great Expectations (1975) starring John Mills, both adapted from Charles Dickens; and Treasure Island (1973) adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson and starring Bernard Miles and Spike Milligan. Great Expectations and Treasure Island (both with lyrics by Hal Shaper) were designated Best British Musical at the Ivor Novello Awards. |
| 15 | He had two sons and a daughter, Dan, Guy, and Sharon. Dan is a consultant in respiratory medicine working at Northwick Park Hospital, Sharon teaches English for the English Council, and Guy is the managing director of Mainstage Artists and Ornadel Management. |
| 16 | He penned the song "Portrait of My Love" (lyrics by Norman Newell), a hit for Matt Monro in 1960, which also won the 1960 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. |
| 17 | During the 1950s he was the youngest musical director in the West End, working on musicals such as Kiss Me Kate; Call Me Madam; Paint Your Wagon; Pal Joey; Wonderful Town; Kismet; and Plain And Fancy. |
| 18 | In the early 1950s Ornadel formed a successful partnership with the actor and lyricist David Croft, to whom he had been introduced by Ian Carmichael. Together they wrote several hundred songs for variety shows for the BBC, Croft writing the lyrics and Ornadel composing and arranging the music. |
| 19 | A highlight of his career included conducting the London Symphony Orchestra at Wembley Arena with music from The Strauss Family in 1973. |
| 20 | "At My Time of Life" from Great Expectations was recorded by Bing Crosby in 1976. |
| 21 | British composer and conductor, trained at the Royal College of Music. Beginning in the 1950's, he wrote scores for radio, stage and screen, as well as being musical director in residence at the London Palladium. Retired to Israel, where he wrote his autobiography "Reach for the Moon". |
$5 Million
