WELCOME TO DD DAY 2023!
Welcome to our feast of online content prepared for you for Delia Derbyshire Day 2023.
DD Day is on 23 NOVEMBER because this is the date Delia’s revolutionary realisation of Ron Grainer’s Doctor Who theme first beamed into British living rooms (in 1963).
The theme for our 2023 programme of activities has been the 60th anniversary of BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who.
We have new art, a short film made by school children and news of other activities relating to Delia, Doctor Who and Delia Derbyshire Day which is also celebrating 10 years of surviving and thriving!
Our DD Day 2023 activities have been gratefully awarded funding support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
We are a growing organisation with no core funding so if you are able to, you can support our work via our donations page and get your own Delia-n merchandise from our shop.
‘DOCTOR WHO AT 60: THE ORIGIN STORY’
A SHORT FILM BY 300 SCHOOL CHILDREN
As part of 10 Inspirational Days in primary schools in Manchester, 300 schoolchildren aged 9-11 learned about the diverse original Doctor Who production team and how Delia produced the original Doctor Who theme in 1963. They interacted with the Delia Derbyshire Archive to learn more about Delia’s work on the Doctor Who theme. They also learned how the Doctor Who theme was produced including making and playing their own ‘wobbulator’ (the nickname for a piece of engineering test equipment the BBC Radiophonic Workshop turned into a basic synthesiser) and they created this film.
Created by children from:
St Edmund’s School, Monsall
St Patrick’s School, Collyhurst
St Margaret’s School, Whalley Range
St Clement’s School, Openshaw
Park View School, Miles Platting
Produced by Belle Vue Productions
Original music by Zolatec, featuring wobbulator and white noise sounds made by the school children and the voice of Delia Derbyshire with kind permission from John Cavanagh
PREMIERES OF 2 X NEW AUDIO VISUAL ARTWORKS
On DD Day 2023 we present the new audio-visual artworks created by our commissioned artists for 2023. The new works will be on our Delia Derbyshire Day Youtube channel as online works. An in-person premiere will take place at our Manchester event, produced by our wonderful team of younger volunteers (click here to visit DD Day event page for more info about this).
Two pairs of artists are responding to the work and archive of Delia Derbyshire as well as the theme of the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who. They have all put so much work and love into creating these works so do support them by showing up and sharing if you can.
One of the commissions – ‘Human’ by Alexis Maxwell (visual) and Joel Foster (music) – has been comissioned in partnership with fellow MCR arts organisation Brighter Sound.
The other new work is called ‘Cantus Terram’ and is made by Laura Spark (visual) and Joy Ingle (music).
‘Cantus Terrram’ is an exercise in world building by Laura Spark and Joy Ingle. An alien landscape unfolds where vegetal and mineral lifeforms come to life – their daily existence culminating in the creation of an un-human song celebrating the very biosphere they create. A ritualistic cycle of organic synergy.
‘Human’ by Alexis Maxwell and Joel Foster, is a cross-disciplinary exploration of the Delia Derbyshire Archive and the original composition of the Doctor Who theme. Experimental sound and animation create a sci-fi short that draws from Derbyshire’s notes, Classic Who imagery and people’s perception of what it means to be human.
DD DAY ARCHIVE LAUNCH
We are excited to announce there is now a Delia Derbyshire Day archive at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library (JRRIL) in Manchester, England. We were invited by JRRIL to set up a collection that will sit alongside Delia’s. The initial collection includes promotional material and press since we had our first DD Day in 2013, commissioned artists’ audio and visual works with some working notes, work by school children and workshop participants we have worked with, administrative documents and other items including a DVD of the Delian Mode by Kara Blake. The living heritage will be added to as we hopefully continue to inspire and empower via the archive and work of Delia Derbyshire. You can access the DD Day archive via The John Rylands website, online cataloguing system or call them to book an appointment.
DD Day Archive at John Rylands – Caro C and Imogen Durant
Photo: Shirlaine Forrest
NEW ORAL HISTORIES COLLECTED BY SCHOOL CHILDREN
We facilitated the collection of new trans-generational oral histories as school children developed new skills by interviewing some people involved in the production of the early episodes of Doctor Who. Year 5 & 6 pupils learned about oral histories, watched the first episode of Doctor Who and then composed questions for Dick Mills (Delia’s tape assistant producing the original theme), Brian Hodgson (Doctor Who sound effects creator and inventor of TARDIS take off sounds and the Dalek voices) and Carole Ann Ford (actor who played the first Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan). The children were excited that their new heritage will be added to the DD Day archive which lives at the enchanting John Rylands Library which inspired Harry Potter film makers.
Dick Mills, Delia’s tape assistant in 1963 and Doctor Who “special sound” sound effects producer 1972-1989:
“What a great idea, letting ‘the past’ speak directly to ‘the present’ who, in their turn will soon become ‘the future.’ How clever to get pioneers to personally explain to young inquisitive folk how things were done and provide practicable tips on how to do the same.”
HAPPY DELIA DERBYSHIRE DAY 2023!
Do peruse our website for more info about our work and what we have been up to this year.
We are a growing organisation with no core funding so if you are able to, you can support our work via our donations page and get your own Delia-n merchandise from our shop.