Maurice Winnick was an English musician and dance band leader. Born in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, Winnick studied violin at the Manchester College of Music

Royal Manchester College of Music

The Royal Manchester College of Music was founded in 1893 by Sir Charles Hallé who assumed the role as Principal. For a long period of time Hallé had argued for Manchester's need for a conservatoire to properly train the local talent. The Ducie Street building, just off Oxford Road, was purchased...

, where he proved to be a "child prodigy". He took a job in a cinema orchestra, playing the accompaniment for silent films, and while still in his teens he became leader of a dance band on a transatlantic liner. Winnick formed his own small band in 1928, before moving to Nottingham

Nottingham

Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

 to take over the city's Palais band from Jan Ralfini. He based his style of music on that of fellow band leader Guy Lombardo

Guy Lombardo

Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo was a Canadian-American bandleader and violinist.Forming "The Royal Canadians" in 1924 with his brothers Carmen, Lebert, and Victor and other musicians from his hometown, Lombardo led the group to international success, billing themselves as creating "The Sweetest...

, and by the 1930s Winnick was performing regularly in several prestigious London venues including the Hammersmith Palais de Danse, the Carlton Hotel, and the San Marco Restaurant, with singer Sam Costa

Sam Costa

Samuel Gabriel 'Sam' Costa was a singer and a voice actor on the show Much Binding In The Marsh. He was also a Radio Luxembourg and BBC disc jockey.-Life:...

. Winnick and Costa had a popular recording success with "A Little Bit Independent", and the band produced several recordings of dance band music with labels such as Regal

Regal Recordings

Regal Recordings is a British record label functioning as an imprint of Parlophone.-Background:Regal Records was a British record label founded in 1914 as a subsidiary of the UK branch of Columbia Records known as Columbia Graphophone Company...

, Panachord, and Edison Bell Winner. They also appeared in films of the '30s, including Gay Love in 1934; their theme tune during this period was "The Sweetest Music This Side Of Heaven".

In 1939 Winnick took over from Harry Roy

Harry Roy

Harry Roy was a British dance band leader and clarinet player from the 1920s until the 1960s.-Life and career:...

 at London's Dorchester Hotel

Dorchester Hotel

The Dorchester is a luxury hotel in London, opened on 18 April 1931. It is situated on Park Lane in Mayfair, overlooking Hyde Park.The Dorchester was created by the famous builder Sir Robert McAlpine and the managing director of Gordon Hotels Ltd, Sir Frances Towle, who shared a vision of creating...

, but he was obliged to reduce his band to only 11 members. Nevertheless, he employed some of the best musicians of the period, including trombone player and future bandleader Ted Heath

Ted Heath (bandleader)

Ted Heath, musician and big band leader, led Britain's greatest post-war big band recording more than 100 albums and selling over 20 million records...

, trumpeter Bill Shakespeare and saxophonist Don Barrigo. He also hired top-class singers for his radio broadcasts, such as Al Bowlly

Al Bowlly

Albert Allick Bowlly was a Southern-African singer, songwriter, composer and band leader, who became a popular Jazz crooner during the 1930s in the United Kingdom and later, in the United States of America. He recorded more than 1,000 records between 1927 and 1941...

 and Dorothy Carless. Winnick toured Europe and the Middle East with ENSA

ENSA

ENSA may refer to:* ENSA, the Entertainments National Service Association* ENSA * École Nationale des Sciences Appliquées d'Oujda, an engineering school in Morocco* EC-Council Network Security Administrator...

 during the Second World War, but by the 1950s he realised that the popularity of big bands was in decline and turned his attention to promoting radio and television game shows for the rest of his life. Among his imports from America were the popular BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 shows Twenty Questions

Twenty Questions

Twenty Questions is a spoken parlor game which encourages deductive reasoning and creativity. It originated in the United States and escalated in popularity during the late 1940s when it became the format for a successful weekly radio quiz program....

and What's My Line?

What's My Line?

What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....