 It is in Palestine while music entertaining that he met his first wife Magda, who was a Hungarian refugee working for the British in translating intercepted wireless signals.Magda later became a "Brutalist" artist, and along with Cordell was a participant in the This Is Tomorrow Exhibit, and both were founder members of the Independent Group at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.Cordell returned to Britain in 1947, resided on Higher Drive in Banstead, and joined the BBC as a composer, arranger, and orchestra conductor.