David Wood met the late Sir Denis Forman in 1986 after David had established ‘St Aubyns Sound Recordings’. They met by chance – when David was placed next to Sir Dennis at a dinner – and David found Sir Denis to be charming, charismatic, highly intelligent, and incredibly knowledgeable about classical music and opera.
David shared with Sir Denis that he was planning to take a London College of Music theory diploma in the near future and they spent the evening talking about the world of music. “Denis had the most amazing ability of being able to talk to anyone, from someone like me, to high level dignitaries. He made people feel calm, comfortable, special, and like he had all the time in the World for them”, David said. “He had a distinguished World War II military career, reaching the rank of Major before losing his lower left leg in the battle of Monte Cassino in Italy”.
After World War II, Sir Denis joined the film department of the ‘Central Office of Information’ and then the ‘British Film Institute’, where he later became a director and went on to be the Chair of Governors.
For most of his career, Sir Denis worked at Granada TV after joining them in 1955. He was there through the success of the likes of Coronation Street, Jewel in the Crown, Brideshead Revisited, World in Action, Disappearing World, University Challenge, and Family at War, to name but a few.
By the time David met Sir Denis in 1986, David says, “He was an absolute legend at Granada. Although nearly 70 years old, he had been the Chairman of Granada TV since 1974 and had recently [1984] become the Deputy Chairman of the Granada Group which was close to a billion pound a year turnover company that included everything from Granada TV broadcast and production company, to a host of operations that included: 650 rental and retail shops in the UK, another 200 shops internationally, over 50 bingo halls, 7 cinemas, 13 motorway service stations, a computer sales and services division, mobile telephone division, property development, and the Novello music publishing business”.
Sir Denis was a music lover, with an absolute passion and incredible knowledgeable of classical music and encyclopedic knowledge of opera. He wrote several books that have been published, including: ‘Mozart’s Concerto Form’ [1971], ‘The Good Opera Guide’ [1994], and ‘A Night at the Opera’ [1995]. He had a long association with some wonderful music organisations; and served at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden as their deputy chairman from 1983 to 1991, and at the Royal Northern College of Music (aka RNCM) music conservatoire in Manchester on the RNCM council from 1977 to 1984. Following his death in 2013, the RNCM renamed a lecture theatre the ‘Forman Lecture Theatre’ in 2014.
Although Sir Denis continued as Deputy chair of the Granada Group until 1990, in 1987, his life changed dramatically. He relinquished the chairmanship of Granada TV and his wonderful personal assistant [Kathy Arundale] moved on to oversee The Granada Foundation; he moved his office to London; and his wife [Helen] of nearly 40 years, who was the mother of his boys Adam and Charlie sadly passed away.
Sir Denis was very kind to David and introduced him to many people in music and entertainment. It was amazing for David how their acquaintances morphed. Sir Denis’ friend Sir John Manuell, the founding principal of the RNCM became a friend of David’s; Baron Moser, who served as Chairman of the Royal Opera House when Sir Denis was deputy chairman is the father of David’s friend Pete Moser who was the CEO of the More Music music and eductaion charity that David was a trustee of; Sir Denis’ employee Tony Wilson – aka in the TV industry as Anthony H. Wilson – was another of David’s friends and mentors.
“Denis was a wonderful gentleman and I loved visiting him and Moni [Sir Denis married his 2nd wife Moneesha in 1990] at their Lyndhurst Gardens flat in Hampstead from the mid 1990’s… we had many happy hours and evenings there. Although Denis was a driving force behind the success of commercial television in the UK, he also had deep-rooted passion for his other interests that included classical music, opera, film, military tactics, fishing, his boys, Scotland and more recently, Goa”.
Sir John Denis Forman Kt OBE, 1917-2013