George Webley
Encyclopedia
George Webley better known by the stage name
Big George, was a British
musician
, composer
, bandleader
, and broadcaster
who has been described as one of Britain's most successful theme music
writers.
secretary for Frankie Laine
, who attended Webley's baptism
at Macaulay, in the Church of England
, on 1 June 1957 as his godfather
. His first introduction to music was when Donald Swann
attended his primary school to play to all the pupils after the school's music teacher died. Webley later said "From the first moment he lifted the piano lid, I knew the direction my life was going to take."
Webley left school at the age of 14 to go on the road with a showband. He became friends with and regularly accompanied Herbie Flowers
in his late teens after writing to the bassist for advice and was a session bass player
until the age of 30.
at 30 and produced dozens of chart records. In 1989, Webley became bandleader
on Jameson Tonight with Derek Jameson
and Shane Ritchie. He composed or arranged the theme music
for the television programmes Have I Got News For You
, The Office
, Room 101
, and Graham Norton
as well as play-out music for One Foot in the Grave
(for which he claimed he was paid more than the more famous Have I Got News For You theme).
Webley also composed numerous other themes for the National Theatre, Arts Theatre, ballet, and radio including Ian McMillan’s East Coast Girls, Emma Clarke's Share and Share Alike, and Neil Mossey
’s Stockport So Good They Named It Once.
in 1994 and continued until 1996 when he suffered a heart attack whilst on the air. He successfully finished the show but was forced to take the next three years off to fully recover.
Upon his return in 1999 Webley presented the BBC Two
educational series Music File, which won the Prix La Basle award for educational excellence. In 2002 he won the Sony Radio Academy Gold Award
for Best Music Presenter whilst on BBC Three Counties, where he launched "Cabbie Chat - The Rank Opinion", which ran every morning on his Milton Keynes Breakfast programme. The idea was to ask the cab drivers of Milton Keynes their opinions on the day's news. It lasted until Webley offended some of the drivers over a news item about taxi drivers.
He appeared as an expert musicologist on various TV and radio programmes, including The Big Breakfast
, Esther, Kilroy, 5Live breakfast with Nicky Campbell
, Radio 4
's Today
, John Peel's Home Truths, Moral Notes, and Landmark Places with Laurie Taylor
. He wrote, presented and/or produced documentaries for Radio 4, including Playing Second Fiddle and Sense of Place.
He produced over three dozen parodies, songs and live performances for the Radio 1 Roadshow
with Chris Moyles
, who described him in his book The Gospel According To Chris Moyles as a genius. He was also mentioned in Angie Bowie's biography Backstage Passes (Life on the Wildside with David Bowie
) and in Bruce Thomas: The Big Wheel.
He was also a regular contributor on Network BBC radio programmes including the Today Programme, Simon Mayo
, Paul Gambaccini
, and 5Live Breakfast with Nicky Campbell
.
He presented the BBC London 94.9
over night show from August 2006, at the time of his death occupying the 2 am until 6 am slot Monday to Saturday. One of the features of the show was the 'moan in', where listeners were given the opportunity to vent their frustrations about various issues. Topics of discussion were generally those dealt with by tabloid newspapers. The format was very much akin to American talk radio
.
at the National Theatre, South Bank, London. The performance was filmed for a reality show to be shown later that year on E4
.
Their residency at The Mortimer Arms in Tottenham Court Road in September 2010 was a sell out. Their album was released on CD, vinyl and download and contains a song entitled Have I Got Nudes For You, a version of the theme to Have I Got News For You.
He spent his years in London with his partner JoAnne Good
, actress and broadcaster.
from a heart attack
. An inquest at Milton Keynes Coroner's Court resulted in a verdict of death by misadventure after the coroner heard that Webley, who had a history of heart disease, had taken the Class B drug mephedrone prior to the heart attack.
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
Big George, was a British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
, and broadcaster
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
who has been described as one of Britain's most successful theme music
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
writers.
Early life
Webley was born in Clapham, London. His aunt Vera was the fan clubFan club
A fan club is a group that is dedicated to a well-known person, group, idea or sometimes even an inanimate object . Most fan clubs are run by fans who devote considerable time and resources to supporting them. There are also "official" fan clubs that are run by someone associated with the person...
secretary for Frankie Laine
Frankie Laine
Frankie Laine, born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio , was a successful American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire" in 2005...
, who attended Webley's baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
at Macaulay, in the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, on 1 June 1957 as his godfather
Godparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
. His first introduction to music was when Donald Swann
Donald Swann
Donald Ibrahím Swann was a British composer, musician and entertainer. He is best known to the general public for his partnership of writing and performing comic songs with Michael Flanders .-Life:...
attended his primary school to play to all the pupils after the school's music teacher died. Webley later said "From the first moment he lifted the piano lid, I knew the direction my life was going to take."
Webley left school at the age of 14 to go on the road with a showband. He became friends with and regularly accompanied Herbie Flowers
Herbie Flowers
Herbie Flowers is an English musician specialising in bass guitar, double-bass and tuba. He is noted as a member of Blue Mink, T...
in his late teens after writing to the bassist for advice and was a session bass player
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
until the age of 30.
Music career
He became a musical director for EMIEMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
at 30 and produced dozens of chart records. In 1989, Webley became bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
on Jameson Tonight with Derek Jameson
Derek Jameson
Derek Jameson is a retired British tabloid journalist and broadcaster.As a child, Jameson was evacuated from London in WW2...
and Shane Ritchie. He composed or arranged the theme music
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
for the television programmes Have I Got News For You
Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...
, The Office
The Office (UK TV series)
The Office is a British sitcom television series that was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the programme is about the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictitious...
, Room 101
Room 101 (TV series)
Room 101 is a BBC comedy television series based on the radio series of the same name, in which celebrities were invited to discuss their pet hates and persuade the host to consign them to a fate worse than death in Room 101, named after the torture room in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which is...
, and Graham Norton
Graham Norton
Graham William Walker, known by his stage name Graham Norton , is an Irish actor, comedian, television presenter and columnist...
as well as play-out music for One Foot in the Grave
One Foot in the Grave
One Foot in the Grave is a BBC television sitcom series written by David Renwick. The show ran for six series, including seven Christmas specials, two Comic Relief specials, over an eleven year period, from early 1990 to late 2000...
(for which he claimed he was paid more than the more famous Have I Got News For You theme).
Webley also composed numerous other themes for the National Theatre, Arts Theatre, ballet, and radio including Ian McMillan’s East Coast Girls, Emma Clarke's Share and Share Alike, and Neil Mossey
Neil Mossey
Neil Mossey is a British comedy writer and television producer.His credits include Bounty Hamster , My Parents Are Aliens , The RDA with John Gordillo and RI:SE ....
’s Stockport So Good They Named It Once.
Broadcasting career
Webley began presenting the Saturday late show on GLRBBC London 94.9
BBC London 94.9 is London's BBC Local Radio station, and part of BBC London. Broadcasting across Greater London and beyond on 94.9 FM, DAB, Virgin Media Channel 930, Sky Channel 0152 and also online...
in 1994 and continued until 1996 when he suffered a heart attack whilst on the air. He successfully finished the show but was forced to take the next three years off to fully recover.
Upon his return in 1999 Webley presented the BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
educational series Music File, which won the Prix La Basle award for educational excellence. In 2002 he won the Sony Radio Academy Gold Award
Sony Radio Academy Awards
The Sony Radio Academy Awards , started in 1983, are some of the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. They are run by ZAFER Associates in association with the Radio Academy...
for Best Music Presenter whilst on BBC Three Counties, where he launched "Cabbie Chat - The Rank Opinion", which ran every morning on his Milton Keynes Breakfast programme. The idea was to ask the cab drivers of Milton Keynes their opinions on the day's news. It lasted until Webley offended some of the drivers over a news item about taxi drivers.
He appeared as an expert musicologist on various TV and radio programmes, including The Big Breakfast
The Big Breakfast
The Big Breakfast was a British light entertainment television show shown on Channel 4 and S4C each weekday morning from 28 September 1992 until 29 March 2002 during which period 2,482 shows were produced. The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24, the production company co-owned by former...
, Esther, Kilroy, 5Live breakfast with Nicky Campbell
Nicky Campbell
Nicholas Andrew Argyll "Nicky" Campbell is a Scottish radio and television presenter and journalist. He is known for his time presenting on programmes such as the consumer affairs programme Watchdog...
, Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's Today
Today programme
Today is BBC Radio 4's long-running early morning news and current affairs programme, now broadcast from 6.00 am to 9.00 am Monday to Friday, and 7.00 am to 9.00 am on Saturdays. It is also the most popular programme on Radio 4 and one of the BBC's most popular programmes across its radio networks...
, John Peel's Home Truths, Moral Notes, and Landmark Places with Laurie Taylor
Laurie Taylor (sociologist)
Laurence John "Laurie" Taylor is an English sociologist and radio presenter originally from Liverpool.-Academic career:After attending Roman Catholic schools including the direct grant grammar school St Mary's College in Crosby at the same time as Liverpool poet, Roger McGough, Taylor first...
. He wrote, presented and/or produced documentaries for Radio 4, including Playing Second Fiddle and Sense of Place.
He produced over three dozen parodies, songs and live performances for the Radio 1 Roadshow
Radio 1 Roadshow
The Radio 1 Roadshow was an annual summer event hosted and broadcast by BBC Radio 1 from the 1970s through to the 1990s. The roadshow enjoyed three decades of live broadcasts from beach resorts around the UK...
with Chris Moyles
Chris Moyles
Christopher David Moyles is an English radio and television presenter and author, who currently presents The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 and Chris Moyles' Quiz Night on Channel 4....
, who described him in his book The Gospel According To Chris Moyles as a genius. He was also mentioned in Angie Bowie's biography Backstage Passes (Life on the Wildside with David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
) and in Bruce Thomas: The Big Wheel.
BBC London 94.9 (2006 - 2011)
Webley joined BBC London 94.9 in August 2006. He hosted his radio show on BBC London 94.9 for four years. He first presented the 2 am until 6 am slot, Monday to Friday until 2 January 2009. From 5 January 2009 until January 2010 he presented the same type of madcap/serious phone-in show at the earlier time of 10 pm until 2 am, Monday to Friday. In January 2010, he returned to overnight shows on Tuesdays to Saturdays. On his radio show, the show's topics were usually concerned with issues to do with London and the day's news stories. He was known to be witty, enthusiastic about music and to have a fantastic general knowledge. Occasionally he and a listener used to have a little sing-along and have a banter. Webley was known to get a regular pop quiz from some of his callers on a wide range of issues, mainly to do with music. The show attracted a substantial amount of listeners outside of the United Kingdom.He was also a regular contributor on Network BBC radio programmes including the Today Programme, Simon Mayo
Simon Mayo
Simon Mayo is an English radio presenter who has worked for BBC Radio since 1981. As of January 2010, Mayo is presenter of Simon Mayo Drivetime on BBC Radio 2 and, with Mark Kermode, presenter of Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews on BBC Radio 5 Live.In 2008, Mayo was recognised as the "radio...
, Paul Gambaccini
Paul Gambaccini
Paul Matthew Gambaccini is a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom...
, and 5Live Breakfast with Nicky Campbell
Nicky Campbell
Nicholas Andrew Argyll "Nicky" Campbell is a Scottish radio and television presenter and journalist. He is known for his time presenting on programmes such as the consumer affairs programme Watchdog...
.
He presented the BBC London 94.9
BBC London 94.9
BBC London 94.9 is London's BBC Local Radio station, and part of BBC London. Broadcasting across Greater London and beyond on 94.9 FM, DAB, Virgin Media Channel 930, Sky Channel 0152 and also online...
over night show from August 2006, at the time of his death occupying the 2 am until 6 am slot Monday to Saturday. One of the features of the show was the 'moan in', where listeners were given the opportunity to vent their frustrations about various issues. Topics of discussion were generally those dealt with by tabloid newspapers. The format was very much akin to American talk radio
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
.
Live band
His band The G Spot (featuring Happy Dave on drums and Jez on guitar) played their first gig on 28 Aug 2010 for Natalie CassidyNatalie Cassidy
Natalie Ann Cassidy is a British actress, most commonly known for appearing in the television soap EastEnders where she played Sonia Jackson for many years. She has also appeared in the BBC Two sitcom Psychoville and was a contestant on the seventh series of Strictly Come Dancing.-Career:As a...
at the National Theatre, South Bank, London. The performance was filmed for a reality show to be shown later that year on E4
E4
E4, E.IV or E-4 may refer to:In entertainment:* E4 , a digital television channel in the United Kingdom and Ireland* Every Extend Extra Extreme a video game from Q Entertainment* Entertainment for All video game expo...
.
Their residency at The Mortimer Arms in Tottenham Court Road in September 2010 was a sell out. Their album was released on CD, vinyl and download and contains a song entitled Have I Got Nudes For You, a version of the theme to Have I Got News For You.
Personal life
George Webley was married to Sheila and had two sons Harry, and Twig, two daughters Natalie Jayne and Clare and three grandchildren.He spent his years in London with his partner JoAnne Good
JoAnne Good
JoAnne Dorothy Good is a British radio presenter, television presenter, broadcast journalist and actor.-Actor:As an actor, she is best known for her role as Carol Sands in the ITV soap Crossroads from 1982 to 1984. She played a schoolgirl in the 1978 cult British horror film Killer's Moon, and...
, actress and broadcaster.
Death
Webley died on 7 May 2011, at the age of 53 after collapsing at his family home in Milton KeynesMilton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
from a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
. An inquest at Milton Keynes Coroner's Court resulted in a verdict of death by misadventure after the coroner heard that Webley, who had a history of heart disease, had taken the Class B drug mephedrone prior to the heart attack.