Dick Mills(I)

Nothing in Dick Mills's background initially suggested a career in the entertainment industry. His father was a shipwright in the Royal Navy, his mother worked in a chemical firm. His first job, albeit briefly, was with a London-based insurance firm. Then along came national service and a two-year long stint as a wireless ground mechanic with the Royal Air Force. In 1958, Dick Mills joined the BBC as a recording engineer, eventually taking up a position at the Radiophonic Workshop in Maida Vale. The first productions he worked on were the TV miniseries Quatermass and the Pit (1958) and the radio program Song of a Quiet Street. From 1963, he was primarily involved in creating special sound effects for the iconic Doctor Who (1963) television series. He was part of the team which created the original theme music, alongside Ron Grainer who wrote it and Delia Derbyshire who did the electronic arrangement. In 1973, Mills replaced Brian Hodgson as chief sound effects creator for the series, a position he held until 1989. One of his best known effects was the so-called 'cloister bell' sound, usually heard when the TARDIS or its occupants were in peril. Others included Styre's Scouting Machine from The Destructors, the Sutekh Time Tunnel from Pyramids of Mars and the Dodecahedron Energy Beams from Meglos.

Mills retired in 1993. He later toured with a band called The Radiophonic Workshop, performing music from Doctor Who at British festivals and concerts. Also an avid collector and authority on tropical aquarium fish, he is a member of the Federation of British Aquatic Societies Council and has authored or co-authored numerous books on the subject.

In 2009, Mills was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science at Bradford University.