Researching Norman Kay

Kay, who was born in Bolton, was educated at Bolton School, the Royal Manchester College of Music and the Royal College of Music. Kay composed the incidental music for three serials in the first season of Doctor Who, including the very first, An Unearthly Child, as well as The Keys of Marinus and The Sensorites.

After leaving Doctor Who following its first season, Kay provided the incidental music for many of the Out of the Unknown stories during the rest of the 1960s, as well as composing the atmospheric theme tune of its first three seasons. Kay also provided music on productions such as Late Night Horror in 1968, as well as many other television productions. He also scored the 1968 comedy heist film Diamonds for Breakfast. Kay also worked as a music critic for The Daily Telegraph. He was the first British musician to write a study on Dmitri Shostakovich, a work that was well received.

In 1969 Kay married Janice Willett, a former producer with ABC Television, and the couple had a daughter. Kay died in 2001 of motor neuron disease aged 72.

In 1955, Kay won the McKenney Trophy (now the Barry Crane Top 500) for earning the greatest number of masterpoints in American Contract Bridge League-sanctioned play during the year. Kay won 13 major North American Bridge Championships (NABC) in the period of 1957–1977, when he was named ACBL's top performance player. He was runner-up in the Bermuda Bowl twice (1961 and 1967), and was second (1968) and third (1960) in the World Team Olympiad. He was a World Bridge Federation World Life Master and an ACBL Grand Life Master. Kay was arguably the greatest bridge player who never became a world champion. He was known for both the remarkable accuracy of his card play and for his even temperament at the table. Away from the table, he was widely respected as an exceptionally kind and humble gentleman.According to Alan Truscott, Kay "bent over backward to avoid criticizing his partner, or his opponents, blaming himself for any misfortune if he possibly could." He also played slowly: "Kay believed in a thorough analysis at the table, and never played a card until he had examined every angle. This leisurely approach occasionally caused problems."

Kay was an account executive for Merrill Lynch for 38 years, retiring as a vice president in 1987. He helped his wife who operated a sports memorabilia business from 1980 to 1997. He and his wife, Judy, also owned a stable of standardbreds (trotters and pacers) from 1970 or 1980 to 1986 or 1987. Kay died from a pulmonary embolism on January 17, 2002. Judy Kay subsequently married Bobby Wolff in late 2003.

Kay was Inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 1996.