Biography
Sir William Turner Walton was an English composer. Born on 29 March 1902 in Oldham, Lancashire, he studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and became known for orchestral and choral works before composing extensively for film during the Second World War.
Walton wrote the scores for Laurence Olivier’s Shakespeare adaptations Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955). He also composed music for Went the Day Well? (1942) and The First of the Few (1942). He was knighted in 1951 and appointed to the Order of Merit in 1968. Walton died on 8 March 1983 in Ischia, Italy.
