CELEBRATED film and TV composer Geoffrey Burgon, who lived in Lypiatt near Stroud, has died at the age of 69 following a short illness.

The accomplished jazz trumpeter and fast car enthusiast passed away at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital last Tuesday night, September 21, surrounded by close family.

Among his most renowned work were instantly recognisable themes for The Chronicles of Narnia, Dr Who, Monty Python’s Life of Brian and Brideshead Revisited, which sold over 100,000 copies and earned Geoffrey his second Ivor Novello Award in 1981.

His first came in 1979 for his Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy score and more recently he won BAFTAs for his themes for Granada TV’s remake of The Forsyte Saga in 2002 and Channel 4’s Longitude in 2000.

Having worked briefly as a freelance trumpeter after studying at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Geoffrey also headed up popular jazz band ‘Bizley Dilleskie’, who played fortnightly gigs at The Falcon Inn in Painswick and several other pubs in the Five Valleys.

Named after jazz legend ‘Dizzy’ Gillespie, the group enjoyed riotous applause in October 2004 when they staged a fundraising concert at All Saints Church in Bisley, which included a talk from Geoffrey about his career and renditions of some of his best known scores.

Appropriately for a Stroud-based composer, Geoffrey wrote the theme for the 1998 TV production of Cider With Rosie, as well as dozens of choral, piano, brass band, orchestral and vocal scores.

In 1997 he premiered his concerto City Adventures for the percussionist Evelyn Glennie at the BBC Proms, while a viola concerto he wrote in 2008 had its first play at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in April last year.

Chief among his stage play scores were those for Joan of Arc, Macbeth, Nicholas Nickleby and The Fall of Lucifer, and he also contributed to several ballets, including The Golden Fish at the aged of 23.

Known to drink regularly at The Bear of Rodborough pub, Geoffrey was a distinctive tall, silver-haired local figure who could often be seen manoeuvring country lanes in one of his impressive collection of sports cars, including a Chrysler V8, a Ferrari Dino and a Porsche 911. James Rushton, managing director of Geoffrey’s publisher Chester Music said: "He was one of very few composers in recent times whose music has truly touched the hearts of the public.

"The music and unforgettable melodies that Geoff wrote for the great classic BBC and ITV series over the past forty years have established themselves as standards, both within their genre and as pure music."

He is survived by his wife Jacqueline Kroft, a Canadian pianist and singer, son Daniel and another son and daughter from his first marriage to Janice Garwood.

His funeral will take place at All Saints Church in Bisley on Saturday, October 2.