Edward Williams

Edward Aneurin Williams (20 August 1921 – 8 December 2013) was a British composer and electronic music pioneer, best known for his work on the BBC Television series Life on Earth, and as the creator of Soundbeam. Two of the documentaries he composed scores for were Academy Award winners, including Dylan Thomas (1961), which won an Oscar in 1963, and Wild Wings (1965), which won an Oscar in 1967. Early life and education Although of Welsh descent, Edward Williams was born in Hindhead, Surrey. His father Iolo Aneurin Williams was a poet, journalist, folk song collector and politician, and his American mother Francion Elinor Dixon was the musical daughter of a Colorado cattle rancher. He was the grandson of Liberal politician Aneurin Williams, the nephew of politician Ursula Williams, and a distant relative of the Welsh poet Iolo Morganwg. Williams was initially educated at Rugby School, and later went on to read Languages at Trinity College, Cambridge. He then served in the Royal Navy during World War II, working on minesweeping vessels. In 1946 Williams studied under (and worked as an assistant for) conductor and director of film music Muir Mathieson, and later with Vaughan Williams. He was also a friend and protégé of Alan Rawsthorne. Career His career as British documentary composer began in 1948, and his many scores included 24 shorts for British Transport Films alone, including Open House (1951 - promoting the use of London Transport bus services to country houses), and one of the most famous of them, 1957's Journey into Spring, directed by Ralph Keene and portraying the arrival of spring in Selborne. Another was Wild Wings (1965), a look at the conservation work carried out by The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust at its headquarters in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire. It won an Oscar for Best Short Subject at the 39th Academy Awards.