Herbert Kretzmer (5 October 192514 October 2020) was a South African-born English journalist and lyricist. He was best known as the lyricist for the English-language musical adaptation of Les Misérables and for his long-time collaboration writing the English-language lyrics to the songs of French songwriter Charles Aznavour. Early life Kretzmer was born in Kroonstad, South Africa in 1925. He was one of four sons of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants William and Tilly Kretzmer, who fled the pogroms of Tsarist Russia to settle in small-town South Africa early in the 20th century. His parents ran a furniture store. Elliot, the oldest of the brothers, flew as part of a bomber crew in the South African Air Force during the Second World War, eventually becoming the Mayor of Johannesburg in 1991. He matriculated at Kroonstad High School and then attended Rhodes University. Journalist Kretzmer began his professional career writing documentary films and the commentary for a weekly cinema newsreel. However, he soon moved on to print journalism, initially as a reporter and feature writer for the Johannesburg Sunday Express. He subsequently relocated to London in 1954, and pursued twin careers as journalist and lyric writer. After several years as a feature writer on the Daily Sketch, Kretzmer became a profile writer on the Sunday Dispatch in 1959 and the Daily Express, interviewing John Steinbeck, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Sugar Ray Robinson, Louis Armstrong, Henry Miller, Cary Grant, and Duke Ellington. He became senior drama critic of the Daily Express in 1962. He held this post for 16 years, covering approximately 2,500 first nights during this time. From 1979 to 1987, he wrote television criticism for the Daily Mail, winning two national press awards, including TV Critic Of The Year in 1980. Lyricist Kretzmer wrote lyrics for the BBC's 1960s televised satire That Was the Week That Was, including the racial satire "Song of Nostalgia for an All-American State" and the much-recorded tribute to John F. Kennedy, "In the Summer of His Years", co-written by Kretzmer and performed by Millicent Martin within hours of his assassination. Kretzmer won an Ivor Novello Award for the Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren comedy hit "Goodness Gracious Me", co-composed with David Lee. Other award-winning Kretzmer lyrics include the English translation of "Hier Encore" into "Yesterday When I Was Young" (which was a major hit in North America for Roy Clark), and the chart-topping “She”, both written with and