His scores have taken us on espionage missions, to darkest Africa and back in time to medieval England. John Barry, composer of scores for films such as Born Free, Out of Africa and the James Bond films, has died in New York of a heart attack aged 77.

His fellow Bond composer David Arnold wrote on his Twitter feed: "It was with a heavy heart that I tell you John Barry passed away this morning".

"I think James Bond would have been far less cool without John Barry holding his hand," Arnold added.

He won five Oscars in a career that spanned many years. As well as his work on eleven Bond films, he won Academy Awards in best music for Dances With Wolves, Out of Africa and Born Free.

Barry is without doubt one of the greatest ever composers of incidental and film music ever.

He is responsible for some classic scores such as:

• From Russia With Love
• Goldfinger
• Zulu
• Born Free
• You Only Live Twice
• The Lion in Winter
• Midnight Cowboy
• Diamonds are Forever
• Somewhere in Time
• Out of Africa
• Dances with Wolves
• Chaplin

In a full life he married four times, including a brief union with British actress/singer Jane Birkin, and has four children.

From a popular music standpoint, he was responsible for numerous hits, mostly from the Bond movies:

• A View to a Kill (Duran Duran)
• All Time High (Rita Coolidge)
• Born Free (Andy Williams, Roger Williams)
• Diamonds Are Forever (Shirley Bassey)
• From Russia With Love (Matt Munro)
• Goldfinger (Shirley Bassey)
• License to Kill (Gladys Knight)
• The Living Daylights (a-ha)
• The Man With the Golden Gun (Lulu)
• Midnight Cowboy (Ferrante & Teicher)
• Moonraker (Shirley Bassey)
• Thunderball (Tom Jones)
• We Have All the Time in the World (Louis Armstrong)
• You Only Live Twice (Nancy Sinatra)