ornadel was born in london, england, into a middle-class jewish family, and studied at the royal college of music. during the 1950s, he was famous for conducting the orchestra for the hit tv show "sunday night at the london palladium". this followed as a musical director for a number of major west end shows, including the first london production of "my fair lady", and at the london palladium the hit shows "the sound of music" and "the king and i" starring yul brynner. he composed several musicals of his own, including "pickwick" (1963, lyrics by leslie bricusse), starring harry secombe, from which came the hit song "if i ruled the world", which won an ivor novello award; "great expectations" (1975) starring john mills, both adapted from charles dickens; and "treasure island " (1973) adapted from robert louis stevenson and starring bernard miles and spike milligan. "great expectations" and "treasure island" (both with lyrics by hal shaper) were designated best british musical at the ivor novello awards.