The composer John Wooldridge, was a pupil of Sibelius and a contemporary and friend of William Walton. He spent the war in Bomber Command. His promising career ended in a fatal car accident at the age of 47 in 1958. He was married to the actress Margaretta Scott from 1948 and was the father of the actress Susan Wooldridge and the director Hugh ...
In his RAF bomber command career he was a flight commander in 105 Squadron, the first to be equipped with the de Havilland Mosquito, known as the 'Wooden Wonder'. During his wartime service, Wooldridge reached the rank of Wing Commander and earned a Distinguished Flying Medal and a Distinguished Flying Cross along with a bar to the DFC. In 1943 he wrote "Low Attack, The Story of Two Mosquito Squadrons, 1940-1943". One of the Mosquitos in his squadron, serial number LR503, known as 'F for Freddie', became the most accomplished bomber aircraft of WWII. At 213 missions, it flew combat operations than any other bomber during the war.
2
Although several reference sources give his year of birth as 1911, the Wooldridge family believe he was born in Japan in 1919. Confusion may have arisen when the composer exaggerated his age to get into the RAF. Watford Register Office, who issued the death certificate in 1958, recorded his age as 46.
Composer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Prescription for Murder
1958
Soapbox Derby
1958
Count Five and Die
1957
The Last Man to Hang?
1956
Raiders in the Sky
1953
Blackmailed
1951
Five Angles on Murder
1950
Paper Gallows
1950
A Journey for Jeremy
1949
Short
Conspirator
1949
Edward, My Son
1949
The Outsider
1948
Fame Is the Spur
1947
Music Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Prescription for Murder
1958
musical director
Soapbox Derby
1958
conductor
Count Five and Die
1957
conductor
The Last Man to Hang?
1956
musical director
Raiders in the Sky
1953
conductor
Crow Hollow
1952
composer: stock music - uncredited
Angels One Five
1952
conductor / music arranger / musical director - uncredited
$12 Million
