Robin Ray

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Robin Ray (17 September 1934 – 29 November 1998) was an actor, musician and broadcaster, the son of comedian Ted Ray. Educated at Highgate School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he first appeared as a professional actor in 1960, then took up teaching drama, also at RADA. He married children's TV presenter, Susan Stranks and had a son, Rupert. His original family name was Olden.

In 1966, Ray resigned his post at RADA, pursuing his career in show business. From 1965 he was the chairman of the new BBC show Call My Bluff and he was a popular regular panel member on the BBC classical music series, Face the Music, which began in 1966. Ray's claim to fame was his ability to recognise pieces of piano music and name not only the piece and the composer but also the opus number. His cheerful manner and boyish good looks made him a great favourite with viewers, so that when the programme ended its long run, he was invited to present other quiz programmes, including Movie Quiz and Film Buff of the Year.

The children's television programme Sounds Exciting, broadcast in 1968, was a musical education series culminating in a final "whodunit" called Dead in Tune with Robin Ray's original story set to the music of Herbert Chappell performed by a chamber group of players from the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra. Two years later Argo recorded the piece using an ensemble of 45 LSSO players conducted by Herbert Chappell. This LP also included a new commission, George and the Dragonfly, with John Kershaw’s words set to the music of Herbert Chappell and narrated by Robin Ray, John Kershaw and Susan Stranks (Robin Ray's wife).

In the early 1980s he presented a programme called "Robin Ray's Record Review" on Capital Radio.

In the early 1990s, he was one of the first executives hired by the start-up commercial classical music radio station, Classic FM, with which he remained associated from 1991 to 1997. He undertook the Herculean task of drawing up a list of 50,000 pieces of classical music, and rating them for popular appeal, which was the basis for the Classic FM playlist. This list proved to be extremely attractive to similar popular classical music radio stations in other countries and there was a legal dispute between Ray and Classic FM, which Ray won in 1998, as to who was entitled to the copyright in the playlist and ratings (Robin Ray v Classic FM Plc [1998] FSR 622).

[edit] Sources

Roger T. Stearn, "Ray, Robin (1934–1998)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 accessed 29 December 2006