Editing Delia Derbyshire

{{Short description|English musician and composer of electronic music (1937–2001)}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name            = Delia Derbyshire
| image           = Deliaderbyshire.jpg
| caption         = Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
| image_size      = 200px
| birth_name      = Delia Ann Derbyshire
| birth_date      = {{Birth date|df=yes|1937|5|5}}
| birth_place     = [[Coventry]], [[Warwickshire]], England
| death_date      = {{death date and age|df=yes|2001|7|3|1937|5|5}}
| death_place     = [[Northampton]], [[Northamptonshire]], England
| instrument      =
| genre           = [[Electronic music]], [[musique concrète]], [[library music]]
| occupation      = Composer
| associated_acts = [[White Noise (band)|White Noise]], Unit Delta Plus
| years_active    = 1959–2001
| website         = {{URL|delia-derbyshire.org}}
}}

'''Delia Ann Derbyshire''' (5 May 1937&nbsp;– 3 July 2001)<ref name="Guardian Obit">{{cite news |last=Hodgson |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Hodgson |title=Obituary: Delia Derbyshire |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=7 July 2001 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/jul/07/guardianobituaries1|access-date=17 May 2021}}</ref> was an English musician and composer of [[electronic music]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Wrench |first=Nigel |title=Lost tapes of the Dr. Who composer |work=[[BBC News]] |date=18 July 2008 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7512072.stm |access-date=22 July 2008}}</ref> She carried out notable work with the [[BBC Radiophonic Workshop]] during the 1960s, including her electronic arrangement of the [[Doctor Who theme music|theme music]] to the British [[science-fiction]] television series ''[[Doctor Who]]''.<ref name=allmusic1>{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/delia-derbyshire-mn0001525775 |title=Delia Derbyshire |author=Andy Kellman |work=AllMusic}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/51LC2shThjnCNR8dd4z2SRQ/delia-derbyshire |title=An Adventure in Space and Time – Delia Derbyshire – BBC Two |website=BBC |access-date=2016-12-11}}</ref> She has been referred to as "the unsung heroine of British electronic music",<ref name=allmusic1/> having influenced musicians including [[Aphex Twin]], [[the Chemical Brothers]] and [[Paul Hartnoll]] of [[Orbital (band)|Orbital]].<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.openculture.com/2016/01/the-fascinating-story-of-how-delia-derbyshire-created-the-original-doctor-who-theme.html | title= The Fascinating Story of How Delia Derbyshire Created the Original Doctor Who Theme | work=Open Culture | first=Josh | last=Jones | quote=her electronic music, recorded under her own name and with the band White Noise, influenced "most every current legend in the business—from Aphex Twin and the Chemical Brothers to Paul Hartnoll of Orbital" | date=7 January 2016 | access-date=9 June 2019}}</ref>

==Biography==
===Early life===
Derbyshire was born in [[Coventry]], daughter of Emma ({{nee}} Dawson) and Edward Derbyshire.<ref name="Brennan">Breege Brennan, Master's Thesis in Computer Music, Dublin, 2008.</ref> of Cedars Avenue, Coundon, Coventry.<ref name=MorseCodeMusician>Christine Edge, ''[http://delia-derbyshire.net/Morse%20code%20musician Morse code musician: How Delia crashed the sound barrier]'', ''Sunday Mirror'', 12 April 1970, p. 8.</ref> Her father was a sheet-metal worker.<ref name="Dial a tune">Article by Kirsten Cubitt "Dial a tune" in The Guardian newspaper, 3 September 1970.</ref> She had one sibling, a sister, who died young.<ref name=Brennan/> Her father died in 1965 and her mother in 1994.<ref name="About Delia"/>

During the [[World War II|Second World War]], immediately after the [[Coventry Blitz]] in 1940, she was moved to [[Preston, Lancashire]] for safety. Her parents were from the town<ref name=Brennan/> and most of her surviving relatives still live in the area.<ref name="About Delia"/> She was very bright and, by the age of four, was teaching others in her class to read and write in primary school,<ref name=Brennan/> but said "The radio was my education".<ref name=Cavenagh1998>Delia Derbyshire in conversation with John Cavanagh, 4 October 1998.</ref> Her parents bought her a piano when she was eight years old. Educated at [[Barr's Hill Grammar School]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.barrshill.coventry.sch.uk/index.php/general-news-newsmenu-37/392-did-you-know |title=Did You Know? &#124; Barr's Hill School and Community College |access-date=2016-05-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604033717/http://www.barrshill.coventry.sch.uk/index.php/general-news-newsmenu-37/392-did-you-know |archive-date=4 June 2016 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> from 1948 to 1956, she was accepted at both [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] and [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]], "quite something for a working class girl in the 'fifties, where only one in 10 [students] were female",<ref name=Brennan/> winning a scholarship to study mathematics at [[Girton College, Cambridge]] but, apart from some success in the mathematical theory of electricity, she claims she did badly.<ref name=Brennan/> After one year at Cambridge she switched to music, graduating in 1959 with a BA in mathematics and music, having specialised in medieval and modern music history.<ref name=Brennan/> Her other principal qualification was [[LRAM]] in pianoforte.<ref name="About Delia">{{cite web |last=Blackburn |first=Clive |title=About Delia |url=http://www.cblackburn.fslife.co.uk/about_delia.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911230845/http://www.cblackburn.fslife.co.uk/about_delia.htm |archive-date=11 September 2011 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

She approached the careers office at the university and told them she was interested in "sound, music and acoustics, to which they recommended a career in either [[deaf aids]] or [[depth sounding]]".<ref name=Brennan/> Then she applied for a position at [[Decca Records]], only to be told that the company did not employ women in their recording studios.<ref name="Scotsman Article">{{cite news |last=Mansfield |first=Susan |title=Variations on the Dr Who theme |newspaper=[[The Scotsman]] |date=25 September 2004 |url=http://news.scotsman.com/doctorwho/Variations-on-the-Dr-Who.2567025.jp |access-date=25 July 2008}}</ref><ref name=Surface>Interview with Delia Derbyshire, conducted by Sonic Boom and published in ''Surface Magazine'' (May 2000).
</ref> Instead, she took positions at the [[United Nations]] in Geneva,<ref name="Guardian Obit"/> from June to September, teaching piano to the children of the British Consul-General and mathematics to the children of Canadian and South American diplomats.<ref name=Brennan/> Then from September to December, she worked as an assistant to Gerald G. Gross,<ref name=Brennan/> Head of Plenipotentiary and General Administrative Radio Conferences at the [[International Telecommunication Union]]. She returned to [[Coventry]] and from January to April 1960 taught general subjects in a primary school there. Then she went to London, where from May to October she was an assistant in the promotion department of music publishers [[Boosey & Hawkes]].<ref name="About Delia"/>

===BBC Radiophonic Workshop===
In November 1960, she joined the BBC as a trainee assistant studio manager<ref name=Brennan/> and worked on ''Record Review'', a magazine programme where critics reviewed classical music recordings. She said: "Some people thought I had a kind of second sight. One of the music critics would say, 'I don't know where it is, but it's where the trombones come in', and I'd hold it up to the light and see the trombones and put the needle down exactly where it was. And they thought it was magic."<ref name=Brennan/> She then heard about the [[BBC Radiophonic Workshop|Radiophonic Workshop]] and decided that was where she wanted to work. This news was received with some puzzlement by the heads in Central Programme Operation because people were usually "assigned" to the Radiophonic Workshop. But in April 1962, she was assigned there<ref name="About Delia"/> in [[Maida Vale]], where for eleven years she would create music and sound for almost 200 radio and television programmes.<ref name="CMJ obituary">{{cite web |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/computer_music_journal/v025/25.4news.pdf |title=obituary |work=[[Computer Music Journal]], Vol 25, No. 4, Winter 2001, p. 13 |publisher=[[MIT Press]]/[[Project MUSE]] |access-date=26 July 2011}}</ref>

In August 1962, she assisted composer [[Luciano Berio]] at a two-week [[Dartington International Summer School|summer school]] at [[Dartington Hall]], for which she borrowed several dozen items of BBC equipment.<ref name=Papers>Delia Derbyshire's papers at Manchester University.</ref> One of her first works, and most widely known, was her 1963 electronic realisation of a score by [[Ron Grainer]] for the [[Doctor Who theme music|theme of the ''Doctor Who'' series]],<ref name="BBC28112016" /> one of the first television themes to be created and produced entirely with electronics.

When Grainer heard it, he was so amazed by her arrangement of his theme that he asked: "Did I really write this?", to which Derbyshire replied: "Most of it".<ref>{{cite web |title=Delia Derbyshire Electronic Music Pioneer |work=Official Delia Derbyshire website |url=http://www.delia-derbyshire.org |access-date=30 January 2010}}</ref> Grainer attempted to credit her as co-composer, but was prevented by the [[BBC]] bureaucracy because they preferred that members of the workshop remain anonymous.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ayres |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Ayres |title=Doctor Who—The Original Theme |work=A History of the Doctor Who Theme |url=http://markayres.rwsprojects.co.uk/DWTheme.htm#Original |quote=The story goes that on listening to playback, he enquired of Delia, "Did I write that?". To which she replied, "Most of it!". |access-date=15 January 2010}}</ref> She was not credited on-screen for her work until ''Doctor Who''<nowiki/>'s 50th anniversary special, ''[[The Day of the Doctor]]''. Derbyshire's original arrangement served as the Doctor Who main theme for its first seventeen series, from 1963 to 1980. The theme was reworked over the years, to her horror, because the only version that had her approval was the original.<ref name="Delia Derbyshire Radio Scotland interview 1997">{{cite web |title=Delia Derbyshire Radio Scotland interview 1997 |website=[[YouTube.com]] |date=13 May 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-Fw5aTz_2I&si=bwt2QUPU0xf4irjx&t=490 |access-date=11 November 2023}}</ref> Delia also composed music for other BBC programmes, including ''Blue Veils and Golden Sands'' and ''The Delian Mode''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/e71ca197-4808-4132-b1cc-0078d8066fee |title=BBC Music – Classic photos from the golden days of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop |date=20 July 2018 |website=BBC |access-date=14 December 2018}}</ref> The Doctor Who story Inferno reused some of Derbyshire's music originally composed for other productions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/top-10-classic-doctor-who-scores/|title = Top 10 classic Doctor Who scores|date = 28 June 2010}}</ref>

In 1964–65, she collaborated with the British artist and playwright [[Barry Bermange]] for the BBC's [[Third Programme]] to produce four ''[[Inventions for Radio]]'', a series of collages of people describing their thoughts on dreams, belief in God, the possibility of life after death, and the experience of old age, voiced over an electronic soundscape.<ref>{{cite web |last=Deacon |first=Nigel |title=Barry Bermange Plays |url=http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/BB.HTML |access-date=25 July 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Guy |first=Martin |title=Delia Derbyshire – An audiological chronology |date=10 November 2007 |url=http://delia-derbyshire.net/#TheDreams |access-date=25 July 2008 }}</ref> 
In 1966, working with composer [[George Newson]], she collaborated on the BBC experimental radio drama, ''The Man Who Collected Sounds'' with producer [[Douglas Cleverdon]].<ref>[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/289e0e9244204242bfbc539baf3edf16 ''Radio Times'' Issue 2224, 25 June 1966]</ref><ref>'Games for players and spectators', ''The Times'', 11 June 1966, p. 7</ref>

===Unit Delta Plus===
In 1966 while working at the BBC, Derbyshire, fellow Radiophonic Workshop member [[Brian Hodgson]] and [[Electronic Music Studios (London) Ltd|EMS]] founder [[Peter Zinovieff]] set up Unit Delta Plus,<ref name="Guardian Obit"/> an organisation which they intended to use to create and promote electronic music. Based in a studio in Zinovieff's townhouse in [[Putney]], they exhibited their music at experimental and electronic music festivals, including the 1966 ''The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave'', at which [[The Beatles]]' "[[Carnival of Light]]" had its only public performance.

In 1966, she recorded a demo with [[Anthony Newley]] entitled "Moogies Bloogies", but Newley moved to the United States and the song was left unreleased until 2014. After a troubled performance at the [[Royal College of Art]], in 1967, the unit disbanded.<ref name="Unit Delta Plus">{{cite web |title=Unit Delta Plus |website=Delia-derbyshire.org |url=http://www.delia-derbyshire.org/unitdeltaplus.php |access-date=25 July 2008}}</ref>

===Kaleidophon and Electrophon years===
In the late 1960s she again partnered with Hodgson to set up the Kaleidophon studio in [[Camden Town]] with fellow electronic musician [[David Vorhaus]].<ref name="Guardian Obit"/> The studio produced electronic music for London theatre productions, and in 1968 the three produced their first album there as the band [[White Noise (band)|White Noise]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Delia_Derbyshire_(1937-2001) |title=Delia Derbyshire (1937–2001) – The Doctor Who Cuttings Archive |website=Cuttingsarchive.org}}</ref> Their debut, ''[[An Electric Storm]]'', is considered an influential album in the development of electronic music.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mixmag.net/feature/the-50-most-influential-dance-music-albums-of-all-time |title=The 50 Most Influential Dance Music Albums of All Time |website=mixmag.net |access-date=9 January 2019}}</ref> Derbyshire and Hodgson subsequently left the group, and future White Noise albums were solo Vorhaus projects.

The trio, under pseudonyms, contributed to the Standard Music Library.<ref>{{discogs release|id=435907|name=Standard Music Library ESL 1104}}.</ref> Many of these recordings, including compositions by Derbyshire using the name "Li De la Russe" (from an anagram of the letters in "Delia" and a reference to her auburn hair) were used on the 1970s [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] science fiction rivals to ''Doctor Who'': ''[[The Tomorrow People]]''<ref name="The Tomorrow People">{{cite web |title=The Tomorrow People – Themes and Incidentals |publisher=[[Trunk Records]] |url=http://www.trunkrecords.com/turntable/tomorrow_people.shtml |access-date=25 July 2008 |archive-date=13 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513030555/http://www.trunkrecords.com/turntable/tomorrow_people.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref> and ''[[Timeslip]]''.<ref name="Timeslip">{{cite web |title=The Music of Timeslip |website=Timeslip.org.uk |url=http://www.timeslip.org.uk/production/music.php |access-date=25 July 2008}}</ref>

In 1967, Derbyshire provided sound design alongside [[Guy Woolfenden]]'s score for [[Peter Hall (theatre director)|Peter Hall]]'s production of ''[[Macbeth]]'' with the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]].<ref name="Guardian Obit"/> The two composers also contributed the music to Hall's film ''[[Work Is a Four-Letter Word]]'' (1968).<ref name="IMDb page">{{IMDb name|0220262}}.</ref> Her other work during this period included taking part in a performance of electronic music at [[The Roundhouse]],<ref name="Guardian Obit"/> which also featured work by [[Paul McCartney]], the score for an [[Imperial Chemical Industries|ICI]]-sponsored student fashion show<ref name="Guardian Obit"/> and the sounds for [[Anthony Roland]]'s award-winning film of Pamela Bone's photography, entitled ''Circle of Light''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Circle of Light |publisher=The Roland Collection of Films & Videos on Art |url=http://www.roland-collection.com/rolandcollection/section/29/660.htm |access-date=25 July 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080914075457/http://www.roland-collection.com/rolandcollection/section/29/660.htm |archive-date=14 September 2008 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> She composed a score for [[Yoko Ono]]'s short film ''Wrapping Event'', but no copy of the film with the soundtrack is known to exist.<ref>{{cite web |last=Guy |first=Martin |title=Delia Derbyshire – An audiological chronology |date=10 November 2007 |url=http://delia-derbyshire.net/#WrappingEvent |access-date=25 July 2008}}</ref>

In 1973, Derbyshire left the BBC and worked briefly at Hodgson's Electrophon studio,<ref name="Guardian Obit"/> where she contributed to the soundtrack to the film ''[[The Legend of Hell House]]''.<ref name="IMDb page"/>

In 1975, she stopped producing music. Her final works included two soundtracks for video artists [[Madelon Hooykaas]] and [[Elsa Stansfield]] on their short films ''{{lang|nl|Een van die dagen}}'' ("One of These Days") in 1973 and ''{{lang|nl|Overbruggen}}'' ("About Bridges") in 1975.<ref>{{cite web |last=Guy |first=Martin |title=Delia Derbyshire – An audiological chronology |date=10 November 2007 |url=http://delia-derbyshire.net/#EenVanDieDagen |access-date=25 July 2008}}</ref>

===Later years===
Following her music career, Derbyshire worked as a radio operator for a [[British Gas]] pipelaying project, in an art gallery, and in a bookshop.<ref name="Guardian Obit"/> In late 1974 she married David Hunter.<ref name="bmd-marriage">{{cite book |publisher=[[General Register Office for England and Wales]] |title=Register of Marriages |volume=Northumberland West 1 |page=1761 |date=Oct–Dec 1974}}</ref> The relationship was brief, although the couple never divorced.{{clarify|date=May 2024}} She also frequented the LYC Museum and Art Gallery established by Chinese artist [[Li Yuan-chia]] at his stone farmhouse in [[Cumbria]] and worked there as his assistant.<ref>{{Cite web|title=John Rylands Research Institute and Library: Delia Derbyshire Papers|url=https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/special-collections/exploring/a-to-z/collection/?match=Delia+Derbyshire+Papers|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-24|website=www.library.manchester.ac.uk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420035429/https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/special-collections/exploring/a-to-z/collection/?match=Delia+Derbyshire+Papers |archive-date=20 April 2021 }}</ref> In 1978, she returned to London<ref name="About Delia"/> and met Clive Blackburn. In January 1980 she bought a house in Northampton, where four months later Blackburn joined her. He remained her partner for the rest of her life.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.covmm.co.uk/2016/the-delian-way/ |title=Doing things the Delian Way |author=Pete Chambers, Dean Eastment, Tony Seaton |website=THE COVENTRY MUSIC MUSEUM |date=21 March 2016 |access-date=27 October 2019 |archive-date=21 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190921063848/http://www.covmm.co.uk/2016/the-delian-way/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2001, she returned to music, providing sounds used as source material by [[Peter Kember]] on ''Sychrondipity Machine (Taken from an Unfinished Dream)'', a 55-second track for the compilation ''Grain: A Compilation of 99 Short Tracks'', released by Dot Dot Dot Music in 2001. In the liner notes, she is credited with "liquid paper sounds generated using [[Fourier synthesis]] of sound based on photo/pixel info (B2wav – bitmap to sound programme)".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://dotdotdotmusic.com/fulltrack1.html |title=Fulltrack3 |access-date=15 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704131547/http://www.dotdotdotmusic.com/fulltrack1.html |archive-date=4 July 2017 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The track was released posthumously and dedicated to her.

Derbyshire's later life was chaotic due to struggles with [[alcoholism]]. She died of [[renal failure]] brought on by cancer, aged 64, in July 2001.<ref name="Guardian Obit" /><ref>Jonny Mugwump, "[http://thequietus.com/articles/00768-the-bbc-radiophonic-workshop-review The BBC Radiophonic Workshop]", The Quietus, 25 November 2008.</ref>

==Archive==
After Derbyshire's death, 267 [[Reel-to-reel audio tape recording|reel-to-reel tapes]] and a box of a thousand papers were found in her attic. These were entrusted to the composer [[Mark Ayres]], who had salvaged the tape archive of the Radiophonic Workshop, and in 2007 were given on permanent loan to the [[University of Manchester]] for preservation. The tapes consist primarily of material from Derbyshire's freelance projects (e.g. works for theatre productions, films and festivals), some of her BBC work (the majority of Derbyshire's BBC work, including the original version of the ''Doctor Who'' theme, is housed in the BBC Archive Centre at Perivale), off-air recordings of interviews with Derbyshire and recordings of music by other composers and musicians, including [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]], [[Krzysztof Penderecki]] and [[Can (band)|Can]]. Almost all the tapes were digitised in 2007 by Louis Niebur and David Butler, but none of the music has been published owing to copyright complications.<ref name="Wrench">{{cite news |last1=Wrench |first1=Nigel |title=Lost tapes of the Dr Who composer |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7512072.stm |access-date=3 September 2020 |work=BBC News |date=18 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200601161938/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7512072.stm |archive-date=1 June 2020}}</ref><ref>Murray, A. "Delia Derbyshire: the lost tapes" in ''[[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]]'' 297 (November 2008), page 12.</ref> In 2010, the university acquired Derbyshire's childhood collection of papers and artefacts from Andi Wolf. Subsequent donations to the archive have included items and recordings from Brian Hodgson, Madelon Hooykaas, Jo Hutton and Elisabeth Kozmian. These collections of material, including Derbyshire's working papers and digitised transfers of the tapes, are accessible at the [[John Rylands Library]] in Manchester.<ref>"[http://archives.li.man.ac.uk/ead/html/gb133bdd-p1.shtml Juvenile Papers of Delia Derbyshire]". [[University of Manchester]]. Accessed 15 July 2017.</ref> Material from the archive was used in the Radiophonic Workshop's score for the 2018 film ''Possum'' and provided a source of inspiration for [[Cosey Fanni Tutti]] in her soundtrack to the film ''Delia Derbyshire: The Myths And The Legendary Tapes'' (2020).<ref>{{Cite web|last=Murray|first=Eoin|date=2020-10-09|title=A new feature length film on electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire to premiere online next week|url=https://djmag.com/news/new-feature-length-film-electronic-music-pioneer-delia-derbyshire-premiere-online-next-week|access-date=2020-10-15|website=DJMag.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Eede|first=Christian|date=2020-10-07|title=The Quietus {{!}} News {{!}} New Film About Delia Derbyshire To Premiere Online Next Week|url=https://thequietus.com/articles/29045-delia-derbyshire-the-myths-the-legendary-tapes-film-cosey-fanni-tutti-soundtrack|access-date=2020-10-15|website=The Quietus|language=en-gb}}</ref>

==Dramatic and documentary portrayals==
In her 1968 novel ''The Bloater'', [[Rosemary Tonks]] describes a BBC experimental sound studio based on the Radiophonic Workshop. Tonks had previously collaborated with Derbyshire at the Workshop on a sound poem, ''Sono Montage'' (1966).<ref>Lucy Scholes. [https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2022/05/23/re-covered-the-bloater-by-rosemary-tonks/ 'Re-Covered: The Bloater by Rosemary Tonks'], in ''The Paris Review'', 23 May 2022</ref>  Min, the narrator of the novel, resembles Tonks herself, while her friend Jenny was partly based on  Derbyshire.<ref>Audrey Wollen. [https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/the-writer-who-burned-her-own-books 'The Writer Who Burned Her Own Books'], in ''The New Yorker'', 3 January, 2023</ref>

In 2002, [[BBC Radio 4]] broadcast a [[radio play]] entitled [[Doctor Who at the BBC: The Plays#Blue Veils and Golden Sands by Martyn Wade|''Blue Veils and Golden Sands'']] as part of its ''[[Afternoon Drama|Afternoon Play]]'' strand, telling the story of Derbyshire and her notable musical work.<ref name="guard-review">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/dec/23/tvandradio.radio |title=Pick of the day |first=Harold |last=Jackson |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=23 December 2002 |access-date=10 February 2013}}</ref> The play starred [[Sophie Thompson]] as Derbyshire<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jvh7 |title=Blue Veils and Golden Sands |work=[[BBC Online]] |access-date=10 February 2013}}</ref> and was written by Martyn Wade.<ref name="guard-review"/>

In October 2004, the Tron Theatre in Glasgow hosted ''Standing Wave'', a play written by Nicola McCartney focusing on the life of Derbyshire. This was produced by Reeling and Writhing, directed by Katherine Morley, score by Pippa Murphy.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2004/oct/12/theatre1 |title=Standing Wave, Tron, Glasgow |last=Fisher |first=Mark |date=2004-10-12 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |language=en |access-date=2018-08-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Variations on the Dr Who theme |url=http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/variations-on-the-dr-who-theme-1-555717 |access-date=3 September 2020 |work=The Scotsman |date=25 September 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402174732/http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/variations-on-the-dr-who-theme-1-555717 |archive-date=2 April 2016}}</ref>

In 2009, Canadian filmmaker [[Kara Blake]] released ''[[The Delian Mode]]'', a short documentary film about Derbyshire.<ref>[http://www.rtve.es/television/20111114/the-delian-mode/475329.shtml "The Delian Mode"]. [[RTVE]], 14 November 2011.</ref> The film won the [[Genie Award]] for [[Canadian Screen Award for Best Short Documentary|Best Short Documentary Film]] in 2010.

In 2013, the BBC showed a television drama depicting the creation and early days of ''Doctor Who'' in 1963, called ''[[An Adventure in Space and Time]]'', as part of the celebrations for the programme's 50th anniversary. Derbyshire appeared as a character in it, portrayed by [[Sarah Winter]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2013/02/delia-derbyshire-cast-in-adventure-in.html |title=Delia Derbyshire cast in An Adventure in Space and Time |first=Chuck |last=Foster |work=Doctor Who News |date=10 February 2013 |access-date=10 February 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://guide.doctorwhonews.net/story.php?story=AnAdventureInSpaceAndTime |title=Doctor Who Guide: An Adventure In Space And Time |website=Doctorwhonews.net}}</ref><ref name=bbc24aug2014>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01kqt9x |title=BBC Two – An Adventure in Space and Time |website=BBC |access-date=14 December 2018}}</ref>

Episode 5 "Derbyshire" of the BBC children's science TV programme ''[[Absolute Genius with Dick & Dom]]'' is an exploration of Derbyshire's creation of the ''Doctor Who'' theme recording using her techniques on equipment archived from the Radiophonic Workshop.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/cbbc/episode/b01qy0b5/Absolute_Genius_with_Dick_and_Dom_Derbyshire/ |title=Derbyshire |work=[[BBC Online]] |access-date=27 March 2013}}</ref>

Coventry-based theatre company Noctium Theatre produced a play named Hymns for Robots about Derbyshire's working life,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.noctiumtheatre.com/ |title=Noctium |last=Noctium |website=Noctiumtheatre.com |access-date=14 December 2018}}</ref> which played at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe festival.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

In 2017, a short film by [[Caroline Catz]], ''Delia Derbyshire: The Myths And The Legendary Tapes'' (2017) was screened at the [[BFI London Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://deliaderbyshireday.com/delia-derbyshire-the-myths-and-the-legendary-tapes/ | title="Delia Derbyshire: The Myths And The Legendary Tapes" | website=DeliaDerbyshireDay.com |access-date=9 October 2020}}</ref> It has been expanded into a feature-length movie that debuted in October 2020.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13099212/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 | title=Delia Derbyshire: The Myths And The Legendary Tapes | website=IMDb |access-date=9 October 2020}}</ref>

The 2020 documentary ''[[Sisters with Transistors]]'' touches on Delia Derbyshire's work in electronic music and the composing of the Doctor Who soundtrack.

Derbyshire was also featured in episode 4 of [[Mark Ronson]]'s "[[Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson|Watch the Sound]]" 2021 documentary series on [[Apple TV+]]. The episode deals with synthesizers and hails Derbyshire's contributions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/07/27/mark-ronson-talks-pleasures-and-problems-in-making-watch-the-sound-for-apple-tv | title=Mark Ronson talks pleasures and problems in making 'Watch the Sound' for Apple TV+| date=27 July 2021}}</ref>

==Honours==

[[File:Delia Derbyshire Plaque - 2019-07-17 - Andy Mabbett.jpg|thumb|upright|Plaque honouring Derbyshire, at [[Coventry University]] ]]

Her hometown Coventry named a street after her in November 2016, the "Derbyshire Way".<ref name="BBC28112016">{{cite news |url=http://bbc.in/2fIMn7n |title=Doctor Who composer has a Way to go |last=Pearce |first=Vanessa |date=28 November 2016 |work=BBC News |access-date=2 December 2016}}</ref>

A blue plaque was unveiled at Derbyshire's former home of 104 Cedars Avenue, Coventry, on 15 June 2017 as part of a BBC initiative celebrating important musicians and venues.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/7f78803d-e6ae-469a-9e44-a243634a80db |title=BBC Music Day: Blue Plaques celebrating your local music legends – revealed! |website=BBC |access-date=2017-06-15}}</ref> The ceremony was performed by former ''[[Doctor Who]]'' actors [[Colin Baker]] and [[Nicola Bryant]] along with BBC Coventry & Warwickshire presenter Vic Minett.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2017/06/delia-derbyshire-honoured-with-blue.html |title=Delia Derbyshire honoured with blue plaque |website=Doctor Who News |access-date=2017-06-16}}</ref>

On 20 November 2017, Derbyshire was awarded a posthumous honorary doctorate for her notable contributions to electronic music, by [[Coventry University]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.coventry.ac.uk/primary-news/celebrating-delia-university-honours-electronic-music-pioneer-behind-doctor-who-theme/ |title=Celebrating Delia – University honours electronic music pioneer behind Doctor Who theme |website=Coventry University |access-date=2017-11-21}}</ref> who also erected a plaque honoring Derbyshire, on their Ellen Terry Building. Adjacent to it is a mural depicting Derbyshire. There is a permanent display dedicated to Delia at ''[[Coventry Music Museum]].''

In 2022, [[Coventry University]] announced that it would name its new flagship Faculty of Arts and Humanities building after Derbyshire.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-21 |title=Coventry University naming flagship new building after city icon Delia Derbyshire |url=https://www.coventry.ac.uk/news/2022/delia-derbyshire-building/ |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=[[Coventry University]]}}</ref> The Delia Derbyshire building was officially opened in May 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reide |first=Kev |date=2025-05-07 |title=Tribute to Coventry's Doctor Who pioneer Delia Derbyshire 'fitting' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp0g5d6j68yo |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=[[BBC]] |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Daphne Oram]]
* [[Else Marie Pade]]

==References==
{{Clear}}
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading and documentaries==
*[[BBC Four|BBC 4]], "Alchemists of Sound", Saturday 28 May 2005. Television documentary on the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
*[[BBC Radio Four|BBC Radio 4]], [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02sxf48 Sculptress of Sound: The Lost Works of Delia Derbyshire], Saturday 27 March 2010. Radio documentary about Delia Derbyshire, her work at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and the ongoing digital archiving of a collection of her recordings.
* Book by [http://www.unr.edu/cla/music/pages/bios/niebur.htm Louis Niebur] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217014857/http://www.unr.edu/CLA/MUSIC/pages/bios/niebur.htm |date=17 December 2013 }}, "Special Sound: The Creation and Legacy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop", [[Oxford University Press]], 2010.
* A short documentary, ''The Delian Mode'', was released in 2009, written and directed by [https://thedelianmode.com Kara Blake].
* James Percival's "Delia Derbyshire's Creative Process" (MA dissertation, University of Manchester, 2013), describes some of her sound-construction techniques and contains the most complete catalogue of her known works.
* Teresa Winter's 2015 PhD thesis, "[https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/11590/ Delia Derbyshire: Sound and Music for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, 1962-1973]", focuses primarily on Derbyshire's creative output at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
* David Butler's 2019 article, "[http://britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/issue-index/issue-12/whatever-happened-delia-derbyshire Whatever Happened to Delia Derbyshire?]", addresses several of the myths and assumptions about Derbyshire's life and work, including her creative activity after leaving the BBC in 1973.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Delia Derbyshire}}
{{External links|date=December 2018}}
* {{Official website|http://www.delia-derbyshire.org/}}
* {{IMDb name|220262}}
* {{Discogs artist|Delia Derbyshire}}
* [http://delia-derbyshire.net/ Delia Derbyshire: An Audiological Chronology], including [http://delia-derbyshire.net/papers Delia Derbyshire's papers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009044534/http://delia-derbyshire.net/papers/ |date=9 October 2012 }} and links to [http://wikidelia.net/ The WikiDelia]
* [https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/special-collections/a-to-z/detail/?mms_id=992983876612101631 Delia Derbyshire Archive]; the University of Manchester Library
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060517133312/http://www.sonicartsnetwork.org/ARTICLES/ARTICLE2000JoHutton.html |date=17 May 2006 |title="Radiophonic Ladies" by Jo Hutton, sonicartsnetwork.org |website=www.sonicartsnetwork.org}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080821133241/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article4352673.ece Times article on new work of Derbyshire's recently found]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rl2ky ''Sculptress of Sound: The Lost Works of Delia Derbyshire''] (BBC Radio 4, 2010)
*[http://www.digitaldebris.org.uk/archives/2013/11/02/4-numbers-for-delia/ Podcast ''4: numbers (for delia)'' featuring Derbyshire's work] (digitaldebris.org.uk, 2013)
* [https://www.concertzender.nl/programma/sensenta_387577/ Hour long broadcast of Derbyshire's music] (Concertzender radio, 2017)
* [https://deliaderbyshireday.com Delia Derbyshire Day], music education charity established to further understanding and awareness of Delia Derbyshire's life and work

{{Radiophonic Workshop}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Derbyshire, Delia}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:BBC Radiophonic Workshop members]]
[[Category:English women engineers]]
[[Category:Deaths from kidney failure in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Engineers from the West Midlands (county)]]
[[Category:English composers]]
[[Category:English electronic musicians]]
[[Category:English experimental musicians]]
[[Category:English television composers]]
[[Category:English women in electronic music]]
[[Category:Musicians from Coventry]]
[[Category:People educated at Barr's Hill School]]
[[Category:BBC radio producers]]