__NOTOC__ Malcolm John Batt (1 May 1929 - 26 August 2017) was a British solicitor, who under the pen name John Malcolm was also a writer and composer of library music. He composed ''Non Stop'', a short orchestral piece that was used as the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

News theme tune from its inception in 1955 and for over thirty years. Born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, he was a chorister at

Salisbury Cathedral Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England. The cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese of Salisbury and is the seat of the Bishop of Salisbury. The buildi ...

and won a scholarship to

King's College King's College or The King's College refers to two higher education institutions in the United Kingdom: *King's College, Cambridge, a constituent of the University of Cambridge *King's College London, a constituent of the University of London It ca ...

, Taunton.Philip Lane
Biography at Naxos Records
/ref>

Legal career

John Batt was articled with the Salisbury firm Whitehead, Vizard, Venn and Lush (now Whitehead Vizard). After national service, in which he acted as a court martial prosecutor for 18 months, he set up a firm of solicitors in

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

- Batt Holden - staying there for 50 years. In 1964 he was also instrumental in establishing the solicitors Batt, Broadbent and Beecroft in his home town of Salisbury, to which he returned as a consultant in 2007. Using the name John Malcolm, Batt wrote his first book ''Let's Make it Legal'' in 1966, one of a careers series about life as a solicitor. In 2000 he represented

Sally Clark Sally Clark (August 1964 – 15 March 2007) was an English solicitor who, in November 1999, became the victim of a miscarriage of justice when she was found guilty of the murder of her two infant sons. Clark's first son died in December 1996 wit ...

, another solicitor who was wrongly convicted of murdering her two sons. Batt was part of the appeal team during a re-trial which ended in her acquittal. He wrote the book ''Stolen Innocence'' about the case in 2005, this time under the name John Batt. Batt continued to take cases and act as a legal consultant well into his 80s. He died suddenly in

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp Br ...

, Surrey at the age of 88, having survived his wife Jane. There were three children - Gina, Charles and Joanna.

Writer and composer

According to Philip Lane ''Non Stop'' was written in 1946 as a piano piece while Batt was aged 17 years old and still at school in Taunton, "to spite his music master who despised popular music". In 1951 the publishers and music library

Francis Day & Hunter Francis, Day & Hunter is a British music publishing company, one of the leading publishers of music hall songs and popular music in the late 19th and 20th centuries. It was established in London in 1877 as W. & J. Francis and Day, later Francis B ...

took it on and had it recorded in Belgium in an orchestral arrangement by

Ivor Slaney Ivor Ernst Slaney (born 27 May 1921 in West Bromwich, United Kingdom, d. 20 March 1998, Southampton, United Kingdom) was a prolific musical composer and conductor, notable for his work in film, television and radio. Slaney was educated at the R ...

. The

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based television production company. It is made up of two divisions: Broadcast News and ITN Productions. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, N ...

editor chose it as a theme tune in 1955 after advice from conductor John Barbirolli who suggested it during a visit. It remained in use for over thirty years. ''Non Stop'' was attributed to John Malcolm, as was his subsequent work in television drama scripts and music. In 1969 he used ''Let's Make it Legal'' as the basis for the Yorkshire Television series ''

The Main Chance ''The Main Chance'' is a British television series first aired on ITV in four series between 1969 and 1975. It is a drama series that depicts the sudden transformation in the life of a solicitor, David Main (played by John Stride), after he mo ...

'' (1969-1975), sharing the script writing with Edmund Ward and others. He also wrote the theme music. Batt was also part of the team at Yorkshire that created ''

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

'' (1971–73), another legal show, and wrote scripts for the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

Series ''Trial'' (1971). He also wrote the music for other series, including ''Mischief'' (1969), and for commercials.
The Music of John Malcolm
', Francis Day & Hunter recorded music library, FDH LP 1016

External links

John Wilson conducts 'Non Stop' by John Malcolm

Theme tune from ''The Main Chance''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Batt, John 1929 births 2017 deaths British solicitors British composers British writers