Maddalena Fagandini

She had an important role to play in the coverage of the 1960 Olympics in Rome, due to her bilingual fluency in English and Italian. In 1962 Fagandini collaborated with Parlophone record producer George Martin to create two electronic singles, "Time Beat" and "Waltz in Orbit", which were released as recordings by the pseudonymous Ray Cathode. The recordings were made a few weeks before Martin met The Beatles. She left the Workshop in 1966, following the introduction of synthesisers, to become a television producer and director, working particularly in the field of language teaching. The first such series, Parliamo Italiano in 1963, was very successful. It was followed by further series, often combining both radio and television programmes, teaching Italian (Conversazioni in 1977 and Buongiorno Italia in 1982/3), Spanish (Dígame in 1978) and German (Kontakte in 1971 and Deutsch Direkt in 1985). Maddalena also produced two television series of The Devil's Music, a historical exploration of black American Blues music, in 1976 and 1979, and one television series of Mediterranean Cookery in 1987. She was also the film director for the BBC Schools Look and Read story "The Boy from Space" in 1971 (re-shown in 1980 in colour).

• Name — Maddalena Fagandini • Birth Name — Madeleine Margaret Anne Fagandini • Born — 30 August 1929 • Birthplace — Hendon, London, United Kingdom • Died — 29 November 2012 (aged 83) • Place of death — New Malden, London, United Kingdom • Instrument — Musique concrète • Genre — Electronic music • Occupation — Composer, electronic musician, television producer • Years Active — 1953–1987