Coates, Eric (1886-1957)

English composer. He is remembered for the orchestral suites London (1933), including the ‘Knightsbridge’ march; By the Sleepy Lagoon (1939); The Dam Busters March (1942); and the songs ‘Bird Songs at Eventide’ and ‘The Green Hills of Somerset’. He is best known as the composer of the signature tune for BBC Radio's Desert Island Discs (By the Sleepy Lagoon).

Coates was born at Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and became a viola player in a quartet and in the Queen's Hall Orchestra, but later devoted himself to the composition of light and popular music. His autobiography, Suite in Four Movements, was published in 1953.