Eric Coates: The Dambusters

Synonymous with the film, Dambusters can now barely be thought of without immediately conjuring Eric Coates' famous melody.

Still a firm favourite military band number at flypasts, Eric Coates' popular theme to the classic British war movie from 1955 is a great example of a piece of music that has become just as famous as the film it comes from. Despite the piece's success, Eric Coates had a profound disliking of composing for film, and in fact his son Austin claimed in a radio interview that the Dambusters March was not actually written for the film and had in fact been completed a few days before he was contacted by the producers.