Paul Wigmore Lyrics

Paul Wigmore

I was born in London in 1925. School life was brief. I began working in mechanical engineering and blacksmithing. This I left hurriedly and joined the Kodak company as a darkroom boy. The RAF called on me to be a photographer for four years and when that was over I re-joined Kodak as a medical radiographer and haematology lab technician. I became one of their technical authors, then advertising copywriter and finally editor and art director.

Words and pictures have always been my chief love. Since the 1980s I have taken to writing words for composers of choral and congregational music. Publishers include Oxford University Press, Harper/Collins, Canterbury Press (Hymns A&M), RSCM and Novello. I have worked with composers Malcolm Archer, John Barnard, Tom Cunningham, Sir John Dankworth, Paul Edwards, David Iliff, Dr Bryan Kelly, Dr Alan Ridout, Herbert Sumsion and Cyril Taylor.

I welcome commissions to write anything from cantata libretti to nonsense verse, via lyrics for hymns, anthems and celebratory songs.