the media lunch club was established in 1994, by producer Martin Cahill, as a non-profit making, and politically neutral, networking society and has grown to become the film, tv and media industry's premiere café du commerce.
Monthly lunches are held in London's West End (and a Brighton away-day lunch during the summer), with an invited guest speaker. Some of our previous speakers include:
Producers: Tim Bevan, Stephen Evans, Rebecca O'Brien, Nick Manzi, Richard Holmes, Jeremy Thomas, Duncan Kenworthy, Michael Kuhn, Nik Powell, Marc Samuelson, Richard Holmes, Michael Deeley, Simon Channing-Williams, Simon Oakes (Hammer films), Paul Brett, Anne Beresford and Jeremy Bolt.
Directors: Sir Alan Parker, Dame Beeban Kidron, Stuart Baird, Waris Hussein, Roy Ward Baker, Vic Armstrong, Robert Young, Jack Cardiff, Ronnie Neame, Lewis Gilbert, John Glen, Guy Hamilton and Ray Harryhausen and John Irvin.
Executives: Daniel Battsek (former Film4 and Miramax), Duncan Reid (Ingenious), Greg Dyke (TV), Ian Hutchinson (Silver Reel), Lord Michael Grade, Amanda Nevill (BFI), Stewart Till (former UK Film Council Chairman), Lenny Crooks (formerly of New Cinema Fund, UK Film Council), David Thompson (formerly BBC Films), Steve Christian (Pinewood Films), Peter Bennett-Jones (Tiger Aspect), Dave Bishop (Protagonist), John Woodward (former CEO, UK Film Council), Jane Lighting (former CEO Channel 5), Simon George (Ealing Studios Productions), Lorraine Heggesey (ITV/BBC), Dr Kim Howells MP & Shaun Woodward MP (former Film Ministers), Sara Geater (all 3 media) and Robert Duval, David Cooke & David Austin (directors of BBFC), Mia Bays (BFI), Anna Higgs (Facebook) and Elliot Grove (Raindance).
Sales agents: Hilary Davis (Bankside), Mike Goodridge (Protagonist), Martin Myers (Miracle Communications), Andrew Loveday (Carnaby), Maura Ford (7 & 7), Alex Hamilton (former E One, now Pathe), David Grumbach (Juliette Films, Luxembourg), Michael Ryan (formerly J&M, now independent).
Actors: Sir Roger Moore, Britt Ekland, Honor Blackman, Judy Cornwell, Jenny Hanley, Sally Geeson, Virginia McKenna, Ray Brooks, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Bruce Montagu, Brian Capron, Victor Spinetti, Richard Kiel, Madeline Smith and Dame Virginia McKenna.
Writers: Dick Clement, Sir Ronald Harwood, Rob Sprackling, Jimmy Perry, Brian Clemens, Raymond Allen, Jimmy Sangster, Allan Scott, Laurence Marks & Maurice Gran and Dominic Minghella.
And others including: lyricist Don Black CBE, broadcasters Tony Blackburn OBE and Dame Joan Bakewell, director of photography Phil Méheux BSC, Ossie Morris OBE and composer David Arnold. …. to name but a few!
The media lunch club also hosts occasional evening networking events, from 2009 additional and occasional 'Briefing Lunches', (to focus on a more specialised subject in an intimate board-room setting) and during the Coronavirus pandemic switched to online podcasts, with guests in discussion with committee member and broadcaster Olly Smith.
Membership is inexpensive and open to all in the media business.
On April 19th 2013 Sir Alan Parker joined us for our 200th lunch, and cut the special birthday cake!
Denis King first achieved fame as a member of a family ensemble, The King Brothers, with a string of successful singles, In 1956, they became the youngest variety act to play the London Palladium.
With the disbanding of the group in 1970 Denis studied orchestration at the Guildhall School of Music in London and got his first break in television writing the music for The Adventures of Black Beauty ( the ever popular "Galloping Home"),which won him an Ivor Novello Award.
Other film and tv scores swiftly followed (over 200 in fact) including themes and incidental music for series including the massively popular BBC drama series Lovejoy, hit children’s tv drama Worzel Gummidge, 31 episodes of LWT’s Saturday night highwayman adventure series Dick Turpin, 3 series of comedy The Fenn Street Gang, along with the Elaine Stritch-starring comedy Two's Company, second world war tv drama series We'll Meet Again and The 39 Steps film spin-off Hannay.
Denis’ film scores include Simon, Simon (1970), Not Tonight, Darling (1971), Hammer films’ Holiday on the Buses (1973), Peter Sellers’ final film Ghost in the Noonday Sun (1973), Sweeney! (1977), If You Go Down in the Woods Today (1981) and Privates on Parade (1982) amongst others.
His 1977 Royal Shakespeare Theatre production of Privates On Parade (book and lyrics by Peter Nichols) won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Musical. Other theatre productions include A Saint She Ain't and The Un-American Songbook; Stepping Out - The Musical; Wind In The Willows and Treasure Island (with Willis Hall); West Five Story (with Richard Harris) and more, all demonstrating Denis’ versatility as a composer.
