Background
Binge was born in a working-class neighbourhood in Derby in the English Midlands.
Binge was born in a working-class neighbourhood in Derby in the English Midlands.
He arranged many of Mantovani"s most famous pieces before composing his own music that included Elizabethan Serenade and Sailing By. Early in his career he was a cinema organist and later started working in summer orchestras in British seaside resorts (including Blackpool and Great Yarmouth), for which he learned to play the piano accordion. Binge"s skill as a cinema organist was put to good use, and he played the organ in Mantovani"s first band, the Tipica Orchestra.
During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Air Force, during which time he was much in demand organising camp entertainment.
After the end of the war, Mantovani offered Binge the job of arranging and composing for his new orchestra. In 1951, his arrangement of "Charmaine" gave him and Mantovani worldwide success and recognition.
However, he later tired of writing arrangements and turned to composing original works and film scores. He died in Ringwood, Hampshire, of liver cancer in 1979, aged 69.
In early 2013 Derby City Council and Derby Civic Society announced they would put a blue plaque on one of his two early homes in Derby (83 Darby Street, Normanton, or 29 Wiltshire Road, Chaddesden).