Daily Mirror

Thursday August 12th 1999

The 50 special needs youngsters are belting out My Ding-a-Ling as if their lives depended on it.

'Come on, Louder' shouts Big George as one child screws up her eyes to let rip.
Teachers look on in wonder. This one man and his guitar has brought laughter and the joy of music and singing to their pupils - some of whom cannot even speak.
Big George has written hundreds of TV jingles including the theme for HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU, but says nothing is as rewarding as his current recording project - The Children's Symphony.

The CD, which will go on nationwide release with proceeds going to the NSPCC - has won the backing of Cherie Blair, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, Richard Branson, Jim Marshall and Frank Skinner.

Extracts have already been aired on national TV - Granada used it on their documentary Diana's Children last year.

HAPPY
The idea for The Children's Symphony came to the 42 year old composer three years ago after he had a major heart attack. He says: "I was just lying on the slab and I thought that I didn't want to die and be remembered only as the man who wrote the theme tune to HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU. I wanted to do something that mattered and I wanted it to involve all the children of my home town Milton Keynes, irrespective of their background or ability".

George wrote his symphony in 1997 and has been going into schools ever since, working with the children and recording their voices.

"You get a different kind of response from each school you go into" he says."From children with learning difficulties, you get a very happy and rowdy sound, which I can use these for instrumental bits. But I've been into some Catholic schools and the children there are very disciplined. If you get the choir to sing some of the more complicated parts, it sounds incredible."'

George's connection with Slated Row school in Milton Keynes goes back nine years when he started helping with their annual musical production. John O'Donnell says: "These are individual kids with individual needs but when George gets them singing, they are like any other bunch of youngsters - every single child gets enthusiastic. Many have problems expressing themselves and communicating but they can hold a note and pick up a tune.

It's very therapeutic." George says: "I feel every child is special - they just don't know yet in which way they're special. And I feel music helps them to find this out. I think it's a cultural necessity, not a middle-class privilege." His desire to pass on a love of music stems from his own experience as a child when Donald Swann came to his school. "I want to give back what somebody gave me as a child. It's all about entertaining the children while they are learning. I have been entertaining people all my life and if you stick me on stage, I'll perform."

OVERDUE
George, who has worked as a musical director of The Derek Jameson Show and notched up more than 400 hours of live TV, says the project is already a year overdue. But he's not bothered: "I freaked out at first but then remembered Mozart was four years overdue with one of his symphonies and I stopped panicking."But the symphony has taken a lot more effort and money than George ever imagined. "I've spent thousands of pounds and even more hours on doing this. The project was also held back when my wife Sheila was diagnosed with cancer. "Luckily, when I do work, I get paid very well, so I have time to record the symphony."