Herbert Kretzmer

Herbert Kretzmer (5 October 1925 – 14 October 2020) was a South African-born British lyricist, journalist, and critic, renowned for his English-language adaptation of the lyrics to the musical Les Misérables, which became one of the longest-running and most successful stage productions in history.

Born in Kroonstad, South Africa, to Lithuanian Jewish immigrant parents William and Tilly Kretzmer, who operated a furniture store, Kretzmer was one of four sons and began his career in journalism by writing commentary for a weekly cinema newsreel. He relocated to London in 1954, where he contributed to newspapers such as the Daily Sketch and Sunday Dispatch before joining the Daily Express in 1962 as a feature writer and theatre critic, a role he held until 1978; he later served as television critic for the Daily Mail from 1979 to 1987, earning two national press awards for his work.

Kretzmer's transition to lyric writing began in the 1960s as a sideline to his journalism, with early successes including contributions to the BBC satire program That Was the Week That Was and the novelty hit "Goodness Gracious Me," for which he won an Ivor Novello Award. He gained international prominence through collaborations with French singer Charles Aznavour, penning English lyrics for enduring songs such as "She" (1964) and "Yesterday, When I Was Young" (1969), the former famously used as the theme for the BBC series Seven Faces of Woman.

His most celebrated achievement came in 1985 with the English lyrics for Les Misérables, adapted from the original French libretto by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg based on Victor Hugo's novel; the production's songs, including "I Dreamed a Dream," "Do You Hear the People Sing?," and "One Day More," propelled it to global acclaim, with over 120 million tickets sold worldwide and royalties exceeding $20 million for Kretzmer personally. Earlier, he contributed lyrics to the 1964 musical Our Man Crichton, which ran for eight months in the West End, as well as Marguerite (2008) with Boublil and Schönberg, and the English adaptation of Kristina från Duvemåla (2009–2010) with ABBA's Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.

Kretzmer received the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2011 for services to music and was appointed Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by France in recognition of his contributions to musical theatre. He was married twice: first to Elisabeth Wilson from 1961 to 1973, with whom he had two children, Danielle and Matthew; and second to Sybil Sever from 1988 until his death. Kretzmer died in London at age 95 after a period of illness, leaving a legacy as a bridge between journalism and the performing arts. In 2025, on the centenary of his birth, his personal archive was donated to Cambridge University Library, shedding new light on his creative process.