Biography
Educated University College School, Aiglon College, Switzerland and Edinburgh University (MA Edin). Worked with Granada TV and the Drama Department of BBC TV. His early films included the BBC TV Man Alive from Belfast, The Kids Are United; Covent Garden for the ITV network and national cinema release; Enter The Adventure for ITV (a double winner of BISFA awards)
His television dramas have included the controversial BBC profile of John Lennon, A Journey In The Life, starring Bernard Hill which was introduced by Yoko Ono on US network television, and A Penny For Your Dreams, the story of movie pioneer William Haggar, the first co-production between BBC/S4C and the independent sector, which won the Festival Award at the Celtic Film Festival. He also co-wrote the script and composed the musical score. For BBC's Bookmark he wrote, directed and composed the Christmas special drama Sunny Stories - an evocation of the life of Enid Blyton, starring Maureen Lipman and Anna Massey
His documentaries include BBC’s, The Miracle Of Intervale Avenue, shot in New York's South Bronx and nominated for the Grierson Award for Best Documentary. For Channel 4 Dispatches he made No Exit on the Jewish refuseniks in Russia and The Russians Are Coming highlighted the extraordinary exodus of Russian Jews to Israel. Will Apples Grow On Mars? for Central TV followed the creation of Biosphere II in Arizona which has been called "the most exciting scientific experiment of our time".
Among his arts documentaries, Living on One Buttock, a study of Boston-based conductor Benjamin Zander, was transmitted on BBC TV's The Works and networked world-wide by NVC. Sky Arts’ The Magic Mountain, documented the birth of The UBS Verbier Festival Youth Orchestra under James Levine and featured performance by Kennedy, Martha Argerich, Zubin Mehta, Gil Shaham, Yuri Temirkanov, Mischa Maisky, Vadim Repin, among many others. Resurrecting St Luke's followed the transformation of Nicholas Hawksmoor's derelict London church into a new centre for the London Symphony Orchestra. Mister Abbott's Broadway for BBC's Omnibus was a tribute to the legendary 106 year-old Producer/Director/Writer/Actor. Presented by Mark Steyn, with musical contributions from Liza Minnelli, Comden and Green, Kander and Ebb, Jule Styne, Harold Prince, and many others.
His many programmes for LWT’s South Bank Show include From The New World - a study of conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and Miami’s New World Symphony Orchestra, A Very Voluntary Trumpeter, on Håkan Hardenberger, a study of the American singer, Johnnie Ray and Nobody's Fool, the first profile of the legendary entertainer Danny Kaye. Just 48 hours after the death of Frank Sinatra in May 1998, the ITV network transmitted his SBS Special, Death of A Legend. Living the Dream followed violin maestro Maxim Vengerov at 30 on his sabbatical year - a voyage of self-discovery that took him back to Siberia in midwinter, to Vienna, Paris, Moscow, and Istanbul and finally to dance tango on stage in Hanover as the culmination of Benjamin Yusupov's explosive new Viola Concerto.
His award-winning children's films for BBC TV, Braveheart and Today I am A Man, were followed by Listen To Me, a study of deaf children, and You've Got A Friend with Alan Ayckbourn, which looked at children's imaginary friends and Children of the Mothership, a finalist in the Aspen Film Festival. He also wrote and directed the BBC drama, Open Mind with Anna Massey, about child psychotherapy.
His eight-part rock history of London, Routes of Rock was transmitted for Carlton ITV, and he devised and was Executive Producer for the six- part series for BBC Court In The Act. Both returned for second series.
Ken Howard was Associate Producer for the CD-Rom of the international bestseller Sophie's World and creator of its highly successful boardgame. He is also amongst the most successful of British popular composers with many million-selling discs for artists from The Honeycombs, to Dave Dee and Elvis Presley, several West End musicals and award-winning film and television scores including Miss Marple, The Flame Trees of Thika and Shadowlands. His novel, The Young Chieftain, was recently published by Random House.
