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b. 26 March 1916, Johannesburg, South Africa. Trained as a classical pianist, Rabinowitz was educated at Athlone High School and Witwatersrand University and made his first radio broadcast in 1933. After service with the South African Army, he studied composition and conducting, and moved to London in 1946 to continue his studies at the Guildhall School of Music. He played the piano on several popular BBC radio programmes, including Variety Bandbox, and spent some time as house pianist at EMI Records. His first conducting jobs were with the show Golden City (1950), followed by four ice spectaculars at London’s Empress Hall, and as musical director for Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s 1953 hit, Paint Your Wagon. In the same year he joined the BBC staff and was conductor of the BBC Revue Orchestra until 1960, working on programmes such as Take It From Here, Henry Hall’s Guest Night, Variety Playhouse and Just Fancy. He also featured as a pianist on Piano Playtime, Rendezvous and Mi...