Bill McGuffie

William McGuffie (11 December 1927 – 22 March 1987) was a British pianist, who went on to become a film composer and conductor. He also made several television appearances, most notably in Softly, Softly as a pub pianist.

Biography Bill McGuffie was born in Carmyle near Glasgow, Scotland. Despite the accident, he started playing again and modified his technique to cope with the handicap. Aged 11, he was awarded the Victoria Medal for his piano proficiency by the Victoria College, Glasgow.

Additional work with other top bands followed until, in October 1952, he got his big break when the BBC formed their own 'Show Band' run by Cyril Stapleton.

As well as conducting many film scores, McGuffie also wrote several of his own, and is most remembered for his music for the movie Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966), based on the television series Doctor Who and starring Peter Cushing. He provided the music for The Challenge (1960), The Leather Boys (1964), The Comedy Man (1964), Corruption (1968), the cult horror film The Asphyx (1973), and The Cherry Picker (1974). He went on to record a large number of 'middle of the road' LPs in the 1970s, and performed on many occasions with Benny Goodman outfits when Goodman toured in Europe. McGuffie can be heard playing with the Benny Goodman Sextet, recorded live in Copenhagen in 1972. He won an Ivor Novello Award in 1960 for his composition "Sweet September",