- His 1960s song "The Riviera Affair" was used for many years as the theme to "The 4 O'Clock Movie" on New York station WOR-TV (Channel 9) from 1975 to 1982.
- Aged eight, he went to become a chorister at Westminster Abbey.[2] After leaving the Abbey school, he became a music scholar at Lancing College, Sussex, and continued his musical studies at the Royal College of Music, studying clarinet, piano and composition with professor William Lloyd Webber.
- The real tragedy is that much of Neil's work is owned and controlled by music libraries, including the BBC. The BBC must possess thousands of recordings of its Radio Orchestra, many of which feature Neil Richardson. During the 70s, he was a central part of so many shows: String Sound, a half hour show devoted to the BBC Radio Strings; the Radio Orchestra show, a weekly fest of good music, presented by Steve Race; and numerous gala concerts and other l broadcasts.
- During his National Service, he played solo clarinet with the band of the Royal Air Force at Cranwell. After completing his national service, he began a career as an arranger, writing and conducting for the BBC, particularly the then-numerous BBC Radio and concert orchestras.
- He was instrumental in creating the BBC Northern Radio Orchestra in 1975 and was its conductor for many years.
- As far back as 1959, university concert bands in America were playing his music. In the sixties and seventies, his work was presented to American audiences by the Longines Symphonette Society and Readers Digest.
- He was a prolific composer of library music for companies such as KPM, and his music has been used in numerous TV, film and radio productions.
- He also orchestrated and conducted some of Richard Rodney Bennett's film music, such as for the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral and Enchanted April.
- His library theme "Another Happening" was used for the 2012 BBC Scotland series Britain on Film, which featured footage from the Rank Organisation's 1960s Look at Life newsreels.
- He has had much success writing for choirs and the world's leading vocal groups. These include: The Baylor University Choir, The King Singers, The Swingle Singers (for whom he wrote masses of material and the arrangements for their American tour in 1979) and his own group, the Neil Richardson singers, who have produced a large amount of material for American radio networks.
- In the late 80s, Neil got together with his old friend Mike Redway to produce the BBC Radio 2 show, "Those Beautiful Ballad Years", the songs from which Mike's own label, Redrock Records, later released on CD.
- He also appeared as conductor in the 1980 album A Sure Thing, featuring Bennett's arrangements of Jerome Kern songs, alongside Bennett as piano soloist and French horn player Barry Tuckwell.
- Another of his library music compositions, "The Riviera Affair" (aka "Prestige Production," from the 1970 KPM album Impact and Action, Vol. II), is best known to New Yorkers as the opening theme music for WOR-TV's late-afternoon movie program, The 4 O'Clock Movie, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The song was also used as part of an homage of The 4 O'Clock Movie in the opening logo sequence for the 2007 heist film, Ocean's Thirteen.
- NFL Films also used some of his compositions in its American football highlight films.
- He created much of the BBC Radio Orchestra's output during the 70s and 80s, and has worked with many of the leading orchestras in the world, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
- He was also an arranger for numerous television productions including Agatha Christie's Poirot and The Charmer.
- He was an English composer and conductor. As a composer, he is perhaps best known for "Approaching Menace" (the Mastermind theme tune) and "The Riviera Affair".
- Neil has composed and arranged for just about every style of music, from jazz trio to symphony orchestra. He worked with numerous leading musicians, including the following: Johnny Mathis, Neil Diamond, Vic Damone and George Shearing.
- As a composer, Richardson was best known for his library music - incidental music for use in films and television. In the 1960s he often composed under the pseudonym "Oscar Brandenburg", a name he shared with Johnny Pearson and Alan Moorhouse, also well known in this area. For example, he co-composed the test card piece "Scotch Broth".
- During the 1960s-1990s, he was an arranger and conductor of various BBC Radio Orchestras, working on programmes such as String Sound and The Radio Orchestra Show.
- The son of a Worcestershire clergyman, Neil Richardson was born in Stourport-on-Severn, and grew up in the village of Hartlebury.
- He conducted Richard Rodney Bennett's music for the award winning film Enchanted April. He worked again with Richard Rodney Bennett in the film Swan.
- He was music director for the BBC film Virtuoso about the life of pianist John Ogden.
- In 1992, he prepared all the music for Robert Palmers concerts at the Royal Albert Hall.
- Neil was twice invited by Lord Mountbatten to conduct charity gala concerts and was musical director of Sir Laurence Olivier's 80th birthday concert at the National Theatre.
- He also wrote many of the arrangements for the 40th anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne at Earl's Court.
- He has conducted many concerts in Canada and the USA, and has conducted many orchestras in Europe such as: Belgian State Radio Orchestra, Metropole Orchestra in Holland, Bavarian State Radio Orchestra and RTE Concert Orchestra in Dublin.
- He arranged a series of popular songs by Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern etc. for opera star Maria Ewing with Richard Rodney Bennett and the BBC Concert Orchestra which formed the second half of a Promenade Concert. This was later recorded with the same artists and the Royal Philharmonic and presented at the Royal Festival Hall.
- He has been musical director for numerous other prestigious television events, including the Circus World Championship.
- In 1980, Neil was the musical director for Britain's first ever Telethon.
- In the 1980s, he worked as conductor for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performing in three concerts and presenting a programme of English music ranging from Vaughan-Williams, Gilbert and Sullivan through Noel Coward to the Beatles. As well as conducting, he played solo piano and saxophone. Three concerts were repeated very successfully in London Ontario, Hamilton, Calgary and Edmonton,.
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