Paul Reade

Paul Geoffrey Reade (10 January 1943 – 7 June 1997) was an English composer. Born in Liverpool, he studied piano and composition (1962-1965) at the Royal Academy of Music with Alan Richardson and worked at English National Opera as a répétiteur. Career Reade’s first piece for orchestra, Overture to a City, was performed in 1965 by the Academy Orchestra under Maurice Handford. From the late 1960s he became well known as a composer for children’s television, with credits including the theme tune and many songs for Play School in 1968. (He was also the Play School pianist). He arranged the Beethoven extracts heard by millions of children in the surreal animated series Ludwig. His other children’s television credits include The Flumps, Crystal Tipps and Alistair, Alphabet Castle and Mortimer and Arabel. There is also a full length opera for children, David and Goliath (1975), which was successfully revived by Stephen Lawless at the Buxton Festival in 1985. The music for The Victorian Kitchen Garden (1989) has been published in various arrangements and continues to be played in recitals and music examinations. With Tim Gibson he composed the theme music for the Antiques Roadshow. Severa