Goon but not forgotten - a blue plaque for Leeds musician Angela Morley

THEME and incidental music by Wally Stott: the spoken credit at the end of Hancock's Half Hour and The Goon Show is recognisable instantly to a generation of radio listeners.
Prof 
Joe Wilson with BBC presenters Johnny I'Anson, and Nick Ahad unveil a blue plaque in memory of musician Angela Morley,Prof 
Joe Wilson with BBC presenters Johnny I'Anson, and Nick Ahad unveil a blue plaque in memory of musician Angela Morley,
Prof Joe Wilson with BBC presenters Johnny I'Anson, and Nick Ahad unveil a blue plaque in memory of musician Angela Morley,

But when they unveiled a plaque yesterday above Stott’s birthplace in Leeds, it bore a different name.

The composer and conductor Angela Morley had moved to the US and undergone sex reassignment therapy in the 1970s. She was the first openly transgender person to have been nominated for an Oscar, for her work on The Little Prince and The Slipper and The Rose.

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She also worked, uncredited, with John Williams on Star Wars, ET and Schindler’s List.

Mick 'Woody' Woodmansey unveils a blue plaque  at Hull Paragon StationMick 'Woody' Woodmansey unveils a blue plaque  at Hull Paragon Station
Mick 'Woody' Woodmansey unveils a blue plaque at Hull Paragon Station

But her origins in 1920s Leeds, on Kirkstall Road, across from where the Vue cinema now stands and where a pet shop used to be, were largely forgotten - until a listener nominated her to receive one of 47 blue plaques being unveiled as part of BBC Radio’s World Music Day.

Professor Joe Wilson, of Leeds College of Music, who helped select the recipients, said: “I can imagine that the world was quite an intimidating place for her at that time. But the remarkable life and career she had can now be linked to a place and time, and Yorkshire can be proud of that.”

After leaving Leeds, Morley was a dance band saxo­phonist and later played with Geraldo and arranged music for the pop star Scott Walker. She died eight years ago, at 84.

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In Hull, David Bowie’s former drummer, Mick ‘Woody’ Wood­man­sey, unveiled a blue plaque to mark the spot, at Para­gon Station, where he and his late Spiders From Mars bandmates Mick Ronson and Trevor Bolder had set off for London.

Mick 'Woody' Woodmansey unveils a blue plaque  at Hull Paragon StationMick 'Woody' Woodmansey unveils a blue plaque  at Hull Paragon Station
Mick 'Woody' Woodmansey unveils a blue plaque at Hull Paragon Station

A plaque was also unveiled at Trident Studios in the capital, where Bowie and his band recorded their best-known albums.

At Sheffield’s Acorn Centre, the home of the Grimethorpe Colliery Brass Band was similarly honoured.

Meanwhile, 800 children gathered in Bradford’s City Park to attempt a world record for bamboo tamboo, a Caribbean-inspired music created by hitting bamboo stick on the ground.

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