Building named after Doctor Who music pioneer opens

Delia Derbyshire edits a musical note on tape at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1965

"Sculptress of sound" Delia Derbyshire is being honoured in her home city with the official opening of a building named after her.

The electronic music pioneer, born in Coventry in 1937, lends her name to Coventry University's new College of the Arts and Society building.

Derbyshire is best known for her innovative work with the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop, and while not the composer of the Doctor Who theme tune, using her talents to realise its signature sound.

The university's Dean Shaun Hides said staff hoped to find "the next Delia Derbyshire and 100 others who are doing things we can’t even envisage yet".

The building bearing her name

The building houses metal and woodworking spaces as well as cutting-edge digital technology suites and post-production studios.

Students were encouraged to push the boundaries by melding traditional and modern ways of working, Mr Hides said.

"That idea of experimentation between generations of technology is a really creative force that these students are brilliant at mobilising."

Thursday's launch has been planned by Deliaphonic, a team of enthusiasts who have been staging events in the music icon's memory since 2017.

Member Martin Leape said they wanted to raise the local profile of Derbyshire's work.

"Delia was so entwined in the city story being influenced by the air raid sirens that she heard as a child living in Coundon," he explained.

BBC Radio 6 DJ Stuart Maconie will host a panel event and there will also be DJ sets, sound masterclasses and talks.

The building, home to the university’s College of the Arts and Society, features cutting-edge technology

Derbyshire, who died in 2001, is revered as a pioneer of electronic and experimental sound.

She studied maths and music at Cambridge and joined the BBC as a trainee studio manager in 1960, later requesting a transfer to the corporation's Radiophonic Workshop.

Within months she had created the Doctor Who sound and was called on to produce music for scores of dramas and documentaries.

She received very little acclaim during her lifetime but her reputation has grown since her death and music lovers celebrate Delia Derbyshire day every year on 23 November.