1994—and I can hardly believe that it is almost forty years since, in a delirium of excitement and panic, I embarked on composing my first film score, The Quatermass Xperiment (alias The Creeping Unknown). Little did I guess, as I sat before my empty manuscript paper, that I was to become a small twig of a whole great tree which would soon spread its branches round the world. The entire Hammer team of thoseearly days, with their down-to-earth unpretentious approach, would, I am sure, have been equally surprised by the future.
So now, as a lively twig, I express my great admiration and gratitude to Deborah Del Vecchio and Tom Johnson for this comprehensive and expert history, and affectionate critique, of the Hammer tree.
James Bernard