Dr. Who Composer Dead

Composer of Dr. Who theme song dead at 82. Before you laugh too hard know that, "without him, we wouldn't have techno, hip-hop or any kind of music which is sustained by technology."

Wha? Here's his obit.

THE father of electronic music wore tweed jackets, had a refined English accent and smoked a pipe.

Tristram Cary, who has died in Adelaide, aged 82, came up with the idea of electronic and tape music while a naval radar officer during World War II.

Mr Cary is renowned for composing episodic music for the television sci-fi series Dr Who and co-designing a synthesiser used by rock artists including Pink Floyd, The Who and Roxy Music.

He founded the electronic music studio at London's Royal College of Music in 1967 and, seven years later, migrated to Australia to establish a similar studio at the University of Adelaide's Elder Conservatorium of Music.

The conservatorium's head of music technology studies, Stephen Whittington, said Mr Cary's contribution to music was "impossible to quantify".

"He laid the foundations," Mr Whittington said today.

"Without him, we wouldn't have techno, hip-hop or any kind of music which is sustained by technology."

The original tune - all electronic

Mr Cary's father was prominent Irish-born novelist Joyce Cary.

"He had a really unusual childhood, his father was an author and TS Eliot and James Joyce were always coming around for tea," Mr Whittington said.

Mr Cary's interest in technology was heightened during his service in World War II where he developed the idea of what would become tape music.

"After the war, the Americans, British and Germans had a huge amount of electronic gear which came onto the market and was incredibly cheap," Mr Whittington said.

"That is when he began fiddling with things."

Mr Cary was "a very English person" - in name, in a resonant English clip in his voice, and in his clothes. He wore tweed jackets and smoked a pipe, Mr Whittington said.