Biography

Ronald Charles Douglas Hanmer (2 February 1917 – 23 May 1994) was a British conductor, composer and arranger of light music, who spent his latter years in Australia. He was best known for his themes to the Adventures of P.C. 49 and Blue Hills, and is also noted for his large oeuvre of light orchestral and brass band compositions, as well as his arrangements of popular stage musicals. During the 1950s and 1960s he directed his own Latin-American percussion ensemble called "The Marimberos" on BBC radio and was, for a while, conductor of the Sydney Thompson Old-Time Orchestra for the programme "Take Your Partners". Ronald Charles Douglas Hanmer was born in Reigate, Surrey and studied at Blackheath Conservatory. Between 1935 and 1948 he was a theatre organist and dance band arranger. After emigrating to Australia in 1975, he was an arranger and conductor for the St Lucia Orchestra in Brisbane.Hanmer was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1992 for "service to music and musical education".Hanmer died in Brisbane on 23 May 1994.