Marcel Stellman

Marcel Leopold Stellman (born February 15, 1925) is a Belgian record producer and lyricist. Among the many artists who recorded Stellman’s songs: Cilla Black, Petula Clark, Charles Aznavour, The Shadows and Tony Bennett. [1][2] In the UK he is best known as the man who brought the French show Des chiffres et des lettres to the UK as Countdown.[3] His pseudonyms as a lyricist include Gene Martyn and Leo Johns.[4]

Stellman's long association with the BBC began in the 1940s and 50s when he presented schools and children's radio programming. In the 1960s worked on a television series for children featuring Pinky and Perky, two singing puppet pigs. In the 1980s he stood in for Alan Dell, presenting 'Sounds Easy' on BBC Radio 2.[5]

References
  1. Trevor Hill Over the Airwaves: My Life in Broadcasting 2005 - Page 230 "It was Marcel Stellman, one of the managers of Decca records, who put 'Pinky and Perky' on the road to television acclaim"
  2. John Coldstream Dirk Bogarde: The authorised biography 1780221746- 2011 Just reach for Dirk Bogarde's Lyrics for Lovers, on which the actor inhales audibly on his cigarette before reciting Ira Gershwin's “A Foggy Day” amid a swathe of violins. Then there are the good records.'45 All 499 of them. The origins of this felony against musical taste lay in an approach by Marcel Stellman, who was in charge of the international division at Decca. 'I used to go to the cinema and watch his terrible Rank movies,' he recalls. 'I thought, “This is a man that the women like ...
  3. "Countdown WILL go on ... insists Channel 4". Evening Standard. "Earlier Marcel Stellman, the Belgian record executive who first brought the programme to Britain from France, ... said: 'I control the format and without the format there is no show. 'I am upset for Carol, more than that. This is a person I have known for 26 years who started Countdown. 'If I am Mr Countdown, she is Mrs Countdown."
  4. "Artist: Marcel Stellman - SecondHandSongs". secondhandsongs.com.
  5. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/95ad61d414a541778cb354fdac55f975
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