Abuse

From WikiDelia
Jump to navigationJump to search

Delia was mistreated by many people during her career.

  • At the Radiophonic Workshop various men would come and ogle her while she was working, forcing her to work at night to have some peace. “Delia [...] is reported to have worked only after the “suits” had gone home to avoid having to deal with the wonder they faced at the prospect of an “attractive” woman doing a job traditionally identified as masculine.”[1]
  • While Desmond Briscoe puffed her work in public, he scorned her in private: I remember bounding into the canteen and saying to my boss 'This producer's just listened to my music and he's going to use it!' His reply was 'You call that stuff music?!'[2]
  • She frequented and worked for a long series of exploitative people, mostly men, who responded to her good will and generosity by using her to create things that they themselves were unable to do, then took the credit and then moved on.
  • Even her closest collaborator and "best friend", Brian Hodgson, betrayed her in the end, secretly taking a copy of the nearly-finished I.E.E.100 without her knowledge.

Delia's music was used without her knowledge in other BBC programmes:

  • The seven-part Doctor Who TV story Inferno uses The Delian Mode in every episode and two other themes which sound like they are hers.
  • The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series used the opening of Tutankhamun's Egypt as a fanfare for Slartibartfast's initial recorded greeting from 6:15 into Fit the Third. Delia herself also recognised her own music, originally composed for a series about the Aztec and Maya civilizations, being used as a background for Peter Jones' voice in the same series.[3]
  • Quest - fast was used as the theme for a BBC Programme for Schools, Physical Science[4]

References

  1. Special Sound, p.71.
  2. Delia in the Soundhouse interview
  3. Soundhouse interview
  4. BBC for Schools] on youtube.com at 2:58.