In Memoriam staff sergeant in the Army Air Corps stationed in England, Germany and France. Ivan was an arranger and pianist with the Guy Lombardo, Sammy Kaye, Blue Barron and Freddy Martin orchestras. He went on to compose and arrange music for numerous international productions, film, ice shows and Las Vegas Strip productions.
Daphne Newington (d. 2012) We are sad to report that Daphne Newington, the Guildhall School’s first ever Costume Mistress, has died after a short period of illness. Daphne died peacefully with her family around her at Patcham Nursing Home, Brighton.
Away from production, Jim taught at the NFTS for a number of years, and later became Head of Direction at the Metropolitan Film School. He also played an active role in the Directors’ Guild of Great Britain.
Roy Ratnage (1942 – 2012) James O’Brien (1947 – 2012)
During the 1960s and ‘70s, Lane was the orchestra leader at two LA nightspots, Ben Blue’s and the Top of the Hillcrest. He was then named entertainment director at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix. His popular-song compositions include Long May We Love and Qu’est que c’est l’amour.
Jean Morton (1921-2012) Former television presenter Jean Morton, known as Auntie Jean to fans of the popular 1960s ITV children’s programme Tingha and Tucker, has died aged 91. Jean Morton trained as an actress at the Guildhall School, graduating just after the outbreak of the Second World War. She appeared in rep across Britain and entertained British troops with ENSA. After the war, she joined the Welsh Home Service as a continuity announcer, moving to ATV (the ITV franchise holder for the Midlands) in 1956. She was particularly associated with Tingha and Tucker, the ATV programme for children, which ran from 1962 to 1970. She hosted the show as Auntie Jean. The show’s fan club was so successful that ATV couldn’t cope with the volume of mail and it had to be closed down. She later took on an executive role before retiring to Ibiza in 1985. She was married to the late Bobbie Daniel.
26
GUILDHALL SCHOOL NEWS
•AUTUMN / WINTER 2012
Film and television director Jim O’Brien has died, aged 64. Jim O’Brien won universal acclaim for the fourteen-part television series The Jewel in the Crown which he co-directed with Charles Morahan. The series won numerous awards and made stars of Geraldine James, Charles Dance and (fellow Guildhall alumnus) Art Malik. Born in Dundee in 1947, the family moved to south London when he was two and he left school without any qualifications. At the age of seventeen, Jim enrolled at the Guildhall School to train as an actor after which he went to Nottingham Playhouse, where his performance in Barry Reckord’s Skivers earned him a Critics’ Nomination for Most Promising Newcomer to the English Stage. Jim went on to train further as a director at the newly-founded National Film and Television School (NFTS) and began a successful career as a television director with the documentary Black Future (1977) for BBC Films. His last major work was a two-part television version adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca (1996) starring Charles Dance, Emilia Fox and Diana Rigg.
Roy Ratnage was born in 1942 in Woodford, Essex. On leaving school he became a gardener like his father, before moving on to Fleet Street. He worked as a proof-reader for the Stratford Express, Daily Mail, Daily Express and Evening Standard. After leaving Fleet Street, he worked as a hallkeeper – first for a solicitors’ office and then for the Guildhall School from 1988. After retiring to Grays, Essex, in 2004, he helped out at the Grays Athletic and Goodmayes Medics Football Clubs and was a member of Maylands Golf Club. Sadly, Roy was ill for the last three years of his life and lost a leg in November 2011. I’m sure those of you who knew him will have fond memories of his time here at the School. v Nicholas Hirst Facilities Assistant