website article_title background birth_date origin name
http://www.strachan.org/ keith strachan
 non_vocal_instrumentalist 21 january 1944 consett , county durham keith strachan
keith strachan

keith strachan -lrb- born 21 january 1944 , consett , county durham -rrb- is a british composer and theatre director .
he co-wrote the song `` mistletoe and wine '' , which got cliff richard the 1988 christmas number one .
his tv work includes the theme music for `` who wants to be a millionaire ? '' .
strachan attended blaydon grammar school and after reading maths and science at queen elizabeth college , london university he became a maths teacher .
he left teaching and became a musical director of theatre productions in london .
in 1976 he co-wrote his first musical , `` shoot up at elbow creek '' .
he also wrote `` the little match girl '' , based on hans christian andersen 's short story , for the orange tree , which contained the song `` mistletoe and wine . ''
htv produced the play for television in 1986 .
two years later , he received an ivor novello award for the song , which cliff richard released it as a single .
throughout the eighties and nineties he directed a series of pop and rock compilation musicals for bill kenwright .
in 1998 , television production company celador , for whom he had written the themes for `` the detectives '' and `` talking telephone numbers '' , called upon him to supply some music at short notice for a quiz show called `` who wants to be a millionaire ? '' .
they needed someone to rearrange the pop song that pete waterman had written for it .
celador 's brief required `` something dramatic and full of tension '' , so strachan set upon composing a new piece altogether .
working with his son matthew , he based the piece on `` mars '' from holst 's `` the planets '' suite .
the show 's huge domestic and international success means that the composition has made them millionaires .
in 2002 , keith and matthew strachan were given an award by ascap -lrb- american society of composers , authors and publishers -rrb- for the `` who wants to be a millionaire ? ''
theme .
he also created the west end hit `` dancing in the streets '' .
