Lionel Bart

Lyricist and composer Lionel Bart created the delightful '60s hit musical Oliver! and wrote the theme song for the 1963 James Bond movie From Russia With Love. Bart is credited with helping to revive the English musical. Born Lionel Beglieter in 1932, the son of a Jewish tailor in London's East End, Bart had no formal musical education. Becoming a successful songwriter, he wrote hit songs for Tommy Steele and Anthony Newley. Bart's first musical, Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be, premiered in 1959 and ran for two years in London. Another musical, Lock up Your Daughters, opened...