Ronald Charles Douglas Hanmer AM (2 February 1917 – 23 May 1994) was a British conductor, composer and arranger of light music, who spent his latter years in Australia.
During the 1950s and 1960s he directed his own Latin-American percussion ensemble called "The Marimberos" on BBC radio and was, for a while, conductor of the Sydney Thompson Old-Time Orchestra for the programme "Take Your Partners".
[4] Hanmer's original works included pieces such as Bouquet de Paris, Capstan and Windlass, The Heather and the Thistle, Heritage of England, The Holly and the Mistletoe, The Oak and the Rose and Memories of Hungary, and original genre pieces in orchestral or piano versions such as On a Windy Day, Limelight Lady, Dot and Carry One, Mosquito, City Desk, and Fashion Parade.
He later re-worked the piece into a longer orchestral work named Blue Hills Rhapsody, a recording of which was made with the composer conducting the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
His arrangements of musicals include Calamity Jane, Blossom Time, The Merry Widow, Viva Mexico!, Die Fledermaus, The Chocolate Soldier and La Périchole and his orchestrations of shows for amateur companies remain in demand world wide.