MIKE Batt is one of the country's most successful composers and record producers, having written hits for the likes of Cliff Richard, Art Garfunkel, The Hollies and Katie Melua.

He's probably best known for creating The Wombles pop combo - but he has also conducted many orchestras and classical recordings, since his concert debut with the London Symphony Orchestra 30 years ago, and has five Ivor Novello Awards.

His new album, A Classical Tale, comprises classical pieces that are particularly special to him.

Bradford-born Mike finds changing music genres "exhilarating".

"I’d be thrilled writing songs for artists like Katie Melua, knowing they’d be sung by a superb artist who'd do them justice, yet if someone asked me to write a classical piece, or to write for military marches, I wouldn’t have to gear myself up or change the fuel," he says.

"My wife says I never go on holiday, but when you do lots of things a change is as good as a holiday.

"You move from one thing which is perhaps proving problematic, to something victorious, to something middling, then maybe you have something contractual to do, while also finding time to do the creative stuff."

Mike's interest in music began at St Barnabas School, Heaton. "My dad bought an old piano from a junk shop and I taught myself to play it," he says.

Aged 18, he landed a record deal and made six albums in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Initial success came in 1974 with the Wombles, inspired by the children's TV series, which Mike wrote the theme for. Wearing a costume made by his mother, Mike appeared on TV as lead singer Orinoco.

The Wombles, he says, came along by accident.

"Somebody asked if I’d like to write the music and I’d always had that sense of fun. I was 22 or so and having success. I couldn’t knock it because it was my first hit and I was becoming financially secure after struggling, but having been on Blue Peter and Top of the Pops as a Womble as many times as I had, I was now seen solely as a Womble.

"I’d already discovered classical music but I wanted to be many different things. I wanted to be a Stone, a Beatle or a famous conductor. I suppose that’s why eventually I became a lot of different things.

"I almost went into denial about the Wombles. It used to irritate me being seen in that light, not as a musician.

"Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to have more successes and I’m now of an age where I can look back and think, 'what fun'. Even now, when I put my Womble costume on - which isn't often! - it’s great. Thelast time was at Glastonbury four years ago, it was the most fun."

Mike's new album is a collection of his favourite classical compositions.

"Classical music is all around us," he says. "I wouldn’t look down on anybody who says, ‘Oh, that’s the Hovis theme’ when they hear New World Symphony by Dvorak. It’s great, because we experience it everywhere.

"Choosing the tracks was like selecting a playlist on a streaming service. It's a collection of the more accessible, melodic and romantic classical."

* Mike Batt’s A Classical Tale, released by Dramatico, is out now.