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- Young Robin and his sister Renee lived above a shop which their parents owned in Hucknall, Nottingham. On leaving school, Robin worked as a sorter and trainee telegraphist at the GPO. In 1936, he read for a part in the local drama club's production of 'Death Takes a Holiday.' In 1938, he had his first professional part at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham, then was called up for army service and got a commission, but was taken ill. After convalescing, he was sent for officers' training in Kent. After demobilisation in 1944, he joined the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company and was in the first European theatrical tour with Jean Anderson. Summer 1946 found him in repertory at Worthing, then he went to Australia as Henry Higgins in 'My Fair Lady; then to America in 'Jenny' with Mary Martin. In 1965, he was back in Australia doing his own production of 'A Severed Head' He was watching television when he spotted a newscaster and gave her a part in a play. Her name was Jan Leeming.
- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
The master of melody, Eric Coates, the composer of familiar music ("Sleepy Lagoon", "Knightsbridge") worldwide, had classical training at the Royal Academy of Music with Frederick Corder for composition and Lionel Tertis for the viola, his main instrument. As a freelance violist he became principal viola by 1913 for the Queen's Hall orchestra, leaving in 1919 to devote his full attentions to composition. His music was often used in ballet although he wrote only one, "The Seven Dwarfs", in 1930. An avid dancer himself, he studied jazz and wrote syncopated music under the pseudonym 'Jack Arnold". In the 1920s he and his wife moved to a seaside home near Selsey, Sussex where he found the quietude he sought to continue his work. His music was featured regularly over the BBC and sold hundreds of thousands of records. To this day his music carries a vast and loyal fan base.