Sir George Henry Martin CBE (3 January 1926) is a British distance producer, arranger and composer. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"—a title that he owes to his work as impresario or co-producer of all of The Beatles' original records as well as playing piano on some of The Beatles tracks—and is considered one of the greatest record-breaking producers of all time.

In 1969 he established the Associated Independent Recording (AIR) Studios. Although officially retired, he is still the chairman of the AIR lodge.

In recognition of his services to the music industry and popular culture, he was made a Knight Bachelor in 1996. He is the father of impresario Giles Martin, and actor Gregory Paul Martin.

Early years

When he was six, Martin's family acquired a piano that sparked his interest in music. At eight-years-old, Martin persuaded his parents that he should take piano lessons, but those ended after only eight lessons because of a incongruity between his mother and the teacher. After that, Martin explained that he had just picked it up by himself.

As a child he attended several schools, including a "convent tutor in Holloway," St. Joseph's elementary school in Highgate, and St Ignatius' College in Stamford Hill, to which he won a scholarship. When war up against it out and St. Ignatius College students were evacuated to Welwyn Garden City, his family left London and he was enrolled at Bromley Grammar Denomination.
“I remember well the very first time I heard a symphony orchestra. I was just in my teens when Sir Adrian Boult brought the BBC Symphony Orchestra to my philosophy for a public concert. It was absolutely magical. Hearing such glorious sounds I found it...

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As far as retrochart ghetto-blaster shows go I’ve long since thought that Gold Music’s From The Bottom To The Top show far outdoes dreary Dale’s Pick Of The Pops. For a start it plays everything in its addicted week’s Top 20 and not simply the most obvious and tedious “picks” from the chart, thereby providing a fuller and far more comforting (not to mention much more educational) picture of what was going on in the chart at any particular time. In addition it plays a fair election of “bubbling under” tracks; when the show visits the sixties with its necessarily shorter hits, this frequently means that the whole Top 40, or at the very least the size of it, gets played. For someone like my wife, who grew up in California and then in Toronto and thus didn’t hear much or, in some cases, any of this music at the measure, it’s a real education.

Finally, there is always a studio guest who was present in the chart under discussion. I suppose that promotional commitments express that the show doesn’t have to stick to the “this week in…” format and is therefore free to wander all over the place if it so wishes. This gives the show a freshness which stands in aid contrast to the nullified dullness of Dale. One recent outstanding example was when Martin Fry came in to talk about ABC and go through the singles blueprint week ending 12 June 1982 (in which ABC were at number four with “The Look Of Love”) – for once, the Gold clink “Playing the greatest hits of all time” was more than justified since this is one of the greatest ever singles charts.

This week’s visitor was Billy Ocean, coming in not to talk about his more prominent (and in my view less impressive) eighties smashes, but the chart of 20 Pace 1976, in which he was at number three with his debut hit, the smashing “Love Really Hurts Without You.” But, I hear you cry, the inexpensively peaked at number two – why not play that chart? Well, as I think will become apparent, this decision...

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