Who Wants To Be A Millionaire composer Matthew Strachan left £1.5 million in his will after his death at age 50
- Composer Matthew Strachan died in August last year at age 50
- He was known for writing the theme and music of the TV quiz show with his father
- The pair wrote 95 music clips to cover every event in the show
Composer Matthew Strachan, who co-wrote the theme song for Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, left more than £1.5 million in his will.
Strachan died last August at the age of 50. He was famous for writing the theme of the TV quiz show and dramatic incidental music with his father Keith for eight days in 1998.
The pair wrote 95 music snippets to cover every event in the show. They increased the music cues by a semitone each time a participant was asked a more difficult question to increase the tension and excitement.
The musical background became an integral part of the show and was known all over the world thanks to the many international versions of the program.
Composer Matthew Strachan, who co-wrote the theme song for Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, left more than £1.5 million in his will
It won Strachan and his father an American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers’ award for ten years in a row as the most broadcast piece of music on American television.
Probate records reveal that Strachan, of Twickenham, South West London, left an estate of £1,588,109 to his wife Bernadette after legal and funeral expenses.
Strachan of Twickenham, South West London, teamed up with his wife, the chicklit’s wife, to co-write musicals and two novels.
He has also composed music for numerous radio and television programs including Question Time, Winning Lines, The National Lottery, EastEnders and Radio 4’s World Ware One drama series Home Front, which ran from 2014 to 2018.
Strachan died just weeks after being convicted at Kingston Crown Court for setting fire to his house in a drunken suicide attempt in March 2020, after struggling with the breakdown of his marriage.
The court heard he set fires in his kitchen and piles of bedding before calling 999, saying he would likely be dead before rescuers arrived.
The call handler heard him as he jumped out of a first-floor window.
He was sentenced to ten months in prison with a two-year suspension and ordered to undergo treatment for alcohol and psychological problems.