Brian Michael Fahey was one of Britain's foremost arrangers and composers of big-band music. He died peacefully at Worthing Hospital, Essex, following a short illness.

Fahey, who was 87, worked with many of the country's leading showbusiness stars, including Dame Shirley Bassey. He was, in fact, Miss Bassey's musical director from 1967 to 1972. He was also a close friend of Ella Fitzgerald, with whom he shared the same birthday.

At the time of his death 54 titles in the Brian Fahey Big Band Collection are available. His most famous and commercially successful work is the iconic At The Sign Of The Swingin' Cymbal - adopted by the late Alan Freeman as the theme tune for his Pick of The Pops programme. Fahey claimed he had penned the tune - originally intended as a B-side - in just 15 minutes. Almost 50 years on this instantly recognisable work is in popular use world-wide.

He also wrote the international hit, The Creep, for the Ken Mackintosh Band, and his Fanfare Boogie - written for the Eric Winstone Band - was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in 1955.

Born in Margate, Kent, Fahey, the son of a musician, was educated at Colfe's Grammar School, where he learned piano and cello. As a teenager he became interested in arranging and composing big-band music and jazz.

On leaving school, Fahey worked as a clerk with a leather company in east London. A territorial soldier, Fahey was drafted into the regular army during the Second World War, serving on the front line at Dunkirk with the Royal Artillery. Lance-Bombardier Fahey was captured by German troops while helping cover the mass evacuation of the expeditionary forces.

Fahey, who had sustained a leg wound, was herded into a barn near the village of Wormhoudt along with 120 soldiers from various units. German troops encircled the building and proceeded to toss hand grenades in among the bewildered captives before beginning the systematic slaughter of their British counterparts, lining them up in groups of five and shooting each man in turn.

Fahey recalled that his mind was filled with half-remembered sights and sounds of the cricket nets at Colfe's and the smells of his uncle's Marine Store at Margate in the second immediately before a bullet tore into his chest, rendering him unconscious.

When he regained consciousness four hours later, at four in the afternoon, Fahey was immediately aware of pains in his chest and leg. He remembered: "The thought gradually came to me that I was not dead. It was raining heavily and I somehow managed to crawl 20 yards to find shelter, an excruciatingly painful journey that took three hours to complete."

He had broken ribs, a perforated lung and any movement of his right shoulder brought intense pain. He was also unable to move his left leg.

Having abandoned their method of shooting their captives in groups of five as too slow, the Germans had advanced on the barn firing machine guns until there was no movement, then left. But 15 had survived the massacre.

However, a number succumbed to their terrible wounds and, 48-hours later, just six of the captives remained alive. The arrival of German soldiers to investigate the presence of enemy troops in the area did not bode well for the survivors. But the commanding officer, shocked by the sight that greeted him, provided medical care. It was explained to Fahey that the unfortunate group had originally been captured by a unit of SS troops of the 1st Liebdenstarte Adolf Hitler Regiment under the Command of the notorious General Wilhelm Mohnke.

Following five years' captivity in various German PoW camps, during which time he perfected his musical skills, Fahey was demobbed in 1946, whereupon he joined the Musicians' Union and became a member of the Rudy Starita Band as pianist for an ENSA Tour of Egypt and Palestine.

It was while on tour that Fahey fell in love with band singer Audrey Watkins, whom he married in the same year.

Following the ENSA Tour, Fahey played in various bands, but his passion was for arranging and he worked for music publishers Chappells and Cinephonic Music from 1949-1959, specialising in arrangements for singers, bands and orchestras, mainly for radio.

On leaving the music publishers, Fahey worked as a freelance, forming lasting associations with several major recording companies and the BBC. He wrote a number of film scores and also ventured into the world of the theatre.

At the same time, the famed American arrangers - Billy May and Nelson Riddle, close friends of the composer - tried to persuade Fahey to emigrate to the US, but he turned down several lucrative contracts rather than disrupt family life.

Following his spell as Shirley Bassey's musical director, Fahey was invited to become principal conductor of the BBC Scottish Radio Orchestra in 1972, a position he held for nine years, during which time the family moved home from Purley, Surrey, to the Ayrshire village of Skelmorlie.

Fahey, who won numerous awards, including, in 1997, the MU/BBC Arranging Award, continued to work for the BBC following the disbandment of the SRO in 1981 and was a guest conductor with orchestras throughout the world.

Awarded a Gold Card by the Musicians Union in 1988 and a Basca gold badge of merit three years later, Fahey continued to pursue his love of composing in retirement. He was also an avid cricket and football fan and a staunch follower of Arsenal.

Following the loss of his wife of 60 years last November, just one month after their diamond wedding, Fahey went to live with his eldest son, Michael, in Worthing.

Brian Fahey is survived by his six children, 13 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

His funeral service will take place at St Mary's Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church, Largs, Ayrshire, on Tuesday at 10am, followed by interment at Largs Cemetery.