Sidney Torch

Sidney Torch MBE (born Sidney Torchinsky; 5 June 1908 – 16 July 1990) was a British pianist, cinema organist, conductor, orchestral arranger and a composer of light music.

Torch was born of Russian Jewish origin to a Ukrainian father, Morris Torchinsky, and an Estonian mother, Annie, at 27 Tottenham Court Road in St Pancras, London. He learned the rudiments of music quickly from his father, an orchestral trombonist, who used to sit next to fellow trombonist Gustav Holst in such places as the old Holborn Empire.

Torch studied piano at the Blackheath Conservatoire in south east London. His gift for memory came to his rescue when he entered an examination room and realised that he had left the compulsory music back at his home in Maida Vale. He thus had no choice but to play from memory; he passed with distinction. Following his studies, his first professional job was as accompanist to the violinist Albert Sandler. He worked as an accompanist before getting a job playing the piano with the Orchestra of the Regal Cinema, Marble Arch, London.

When the cinema's Christie Theatre Organ was installed in 1928, Torch became the Assistant Organist to the Chief Organist, Quentin Maclean. Torch took over as Chief Organist at the Cinema in 1932. Maclean had left in 1930 to become Chief Organist of the Trocadero Cinema, Elephant and Castle and was followed at the Regal until 1932 by Reginald Foort. Torch's tenure at the Regal lasted until 1934. His signature tune became "I've Got To Sing a Torch Song" (from the film Gold Diggers of 1933), which had his own special lyrics added.

Torch then played the organ in a number of London cinemas (amongst others, the Regal, Edmonton) and in 1937 he became the Chief Organist of the new Gaumont State Cinema, Kilburn. He continued to play the Wurlitzer there up until 1940, when he was drafted into the RAF and stationed near Blackpool. Torch would play and make recordings on the numerous cinema organs in the Blackpool area during his spare time. While in the RAF, he became the Conductor of the RAF Concert Orchestra, where he learned to arrange music and to conduct.

Following the end of the Second World War, Torch concluded that the heyday of the cinema organ was over. He thus made a new career in light orchestral music as a composer, conductor and arranger. It has been suggested that his wife Elizabeth Tyson, whom he married in 1949, may have influenced this decision, as she reportedly did not like the organ.

Starting in 1946, Torch composed and conducted a number of instrumentals with the Queen's Hall Light Orchestra for the Chappell catalogue, using his own name and the pseudonym 'Denis Rycoth' (an anagram of Sidney Torch). He was enlisted by the publishers Francis, Day & Hunter to conduct the New Century Orchestra in 1947, when their library was established, remaining with them until 1949, when a Musicians' Union ban stopped all work of this kind in Britain.

Torch conducted many orchestras and bands, particularly those of the BBC. Torch was the man who created the BBC Light Programme show Friday Night is Music Night, which began in 1953, and continues to be broadcast to this day (currently as 'Sunday Night is Music Night'). Torch also conducted the BBC Concert Orchestra for nearly every Friday Night show until his retirement in 1972. This came after a disagreement with the BBC: Torch snapped his baton in half at the end of his last concert.