Steve Race

Stephen Russell RaceOBE (1 April 1921 – 22 June 2009) was a British composer, pianist and radio and television presenter.

Biography

Born in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, the son of a lawyer, Race learned the piano from the age of five. He was educated (1932–37) at Lincoln School, where he formed his first jazz band, which included a young Neville Marriner, later a major figure in the world of classical music. At sixteen, he attended the Royal Academy of Music, studying composition under Harry Farjeon and William Alwyn.

Early career

He joined the Royal Air Force in 1941, and formed a jazz/dance band quintet. After World War II he began a long and productive career with the BBC, where his ready wit, musicianship and broad musical knowledge made him much sought after as a musical accompanist for panel games and magazine shows, such as Whirligig and Many a Slip. In 1949 his jazz group recorded the first British bebop records.

Presenter

From the 1950s to the 1980s he presented countless music programmes on radio and television. Additionally, in 1955, he was appointed the first Light Music Advisor to the early independent television company Associated-Rediffusion. He is probably best known as the chairman of the long-running light-hearted radio and TV panel game My Music from 1967 to 1994. He presented and wrote most of the questions for all 520 episodes broadcast. Away from music, for two years from 1970 Race co-presented (with William Hardcastle) the BBC Radio 4 "drive-time" news magazine PM.