Delia Derbyshire
pioneer of electronic music
The British composer and mathematician Delia Derbyshire (5 May 1937 – 3 July 2001) worked at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and reached true cult-hero status with her electronic arrangement of the Dr Who Theme in 1963, one of the first entirely electronic music pieces used on television. Derbyshire brought the early electronic techniques of musique concrete and tape manipulation to a wider audience. The air raid sirens she heard as a child during the bombings of Coventry where she was born served as her inspiration, her own voice as an instrument, and she would often use a green lampshade to make music with.