Twiggy

Speaker 20:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

Speaker 20:08

The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen eighty nine.

Speaker 20:11

And the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Presenter0:31

My castaway this week is the girl from Neesden who became a founding member of the swinging sixties. With her fragile frame and wide eyes, she was promoted as the model of her age and propelled into the glamorous world of fashion and photography. Later she found success as a singer and dancer and starred in Ken Russell's film The Boyfriend.

Presenter0:52

These days the teenage looks that had the cameras popping twenty years ago have matured into those of a successful actress who is also a wife and a mother. She is Leslie Hornby, better known as Twiggy.

Presenter1:06

A name, Twiggy, which you don't much care for any more. Well, I mean, it's such a silly name, isn't it?

Presenter1:11

I think I'm st I mean, you know, I've been through all the thing of I'm gonna change it and you know, you do it you do a show and you say to the producer, Right, can I use my ruler? and they kind of look at you like you well, nobody'll know who Leslie well, now I'm Leslie Lawson, but

Presenter1:25

So I think I'm Twiggy. Maybe Twiggy Lawson. At least that sounds like a human being. Leslie Lawson, actually. It's a great name, isn't it? Yes, but I think I'll be Twiggy forever. I think you might be. I think I'm stuck with it. Wh where did it come from? My manager

Twiggy1:29

Let's

Twiggy1:30

It's a great name, isn't it?

Twiggy1:36

Where

Twiggy1:37

And I

Presenter1:39

way back in those early days, um, Justin De Vilneru, he had a brother, and he was my boyfriend, Justin, at as also also at the time. Um and his brother Tony used to tease me because I was sixteen, I was very young, and I was really skinny.

Presenter1:54

And Tony used to call me Styx because of my legs. And I used to get furious, and Styx turned into Twiggy, and and Twiggy stuck. I'm lucky Sticks didn't stick, didn't they?

Presenter2:06

Justin de Villeneuve is also quite a name to cunning.

Twiggy2:07

There's also

Twiggy2:08

Well that was

Presenter2:10

He changed that. What was his name? Uh Nigel Davis. But he he was Justin when I met him. I think he decided that he wanted a French name.

Presenter2:20

Well, you need never hear the name Twiggy again, because we're going to cast you away, so there'll be nobody else on the island to say it. Now, um you have your music and you have your memories, but I presume you're going to hate every minute of it. Oh yeah, I can't bear being on my own. Can't I take

Twiggy2:24

There can be no

Presenter2:34

My husband and my daughter

Twiggy2:35

Yeah.

Speaker 22:35

Simple.

Presenter2:38

But you take your music. Now, let's have the first one. What have you chosen? Well,.

Presenter2:43

The Laughing Policeman by Charles Penrose, because it's the first song I remember being madly in love with. I must have been all of, what, five or six years old, so I'd have to have that to remind me of my childhood.

Speaker 32:54

I know a fat old policeman, he's always on our street. A fat and jolly red-faced man, he really is a green. He's too fine for a policeman, he's never known to frown. And everybody says he is the happiest man in town.

Speaker 33:13

Yeah.

Speaker 33:20

Yeah.

Presenter3:25

The Laughing Policeman, sung by Charles Penrose. It is the most terrible it does make you hysterical. But that I was just I I that would cheer you up. I mean, if you're feeling really down, you'd put that on it and make it. Well, any of those. Do you remember there was the runaway train went down the train? She blew and

Twiggy3:27

It does.

Twiggy3:33

Well idea of f

Presenter3:39

I love to go wandering. Foldery, that one does. Remember the happy wanderer? And the undread up there once was an ugly duckling. And my other favourite, which I nearly picked, was the Swedish rhapsody. Dun da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da.

Twiggy3:43

Remember the happy wanderer. And the auntie down there once was an ugly.

Twiggy3:53

Uh

Presenter3:54

They're all lovely.

Presenter3:56

So you were born and bred in Neisden, and what did you have in mind for yourself then as a future?

Twiggy3:58

And that's it.

Twiggy4:00

That's it.

Presenter4:02

Well, when I was very little I think I probably wanted to be something like a ballet dancer like all it. Not that I ever did ballet but

Presenter4:08

But except I was terribly shy and and my mum tried to take me to dancing class and I ran out screaming. She tried to take me to Brownies and I ran so I mean that was the end of that. So how I ever ended up doing what I do is quite amazing because I was so shy. But who were your heroes and heroines? Well as I got into my teenage years, Jean Shrimpton was my female idol. I had her all over my walls and I think the secret dream, although I never spoke of it to anyone because I hated what I looked like. I was so insecure. I was teased at school for being so thin.

Speaker 24:21

But

Presenter4:40

And um I think the dream was, Oh God, to be a model like that would be amazing. Never dreaming that I could even

Presenter4:47

Attempt it. Then along came Justin Deville. That's right. Where did he come from?

Twiggy4:49

I think that's right.

Presenter4:52

How did you meet him? Uh my s I had a Saturday job at my sister's um hairdressing where my sister worked in in um Bayswater.

Presenter5:01

Which was great because I got a pound a day. It was fabulous. I'd go up on with her on Saturday. What, to do the shampoo? Yeah, shampooing, sweeping up the hairpins. It was wonderful. I loved it.

Twiggy5:07

Yeah.

Presenter5:11

And um Justin's brother worked downstairs in the men's barbers.

Presenter5:15

And he used to come in.

Presenter5:17

And I was about fifteen and a half when I met first met him.

Presenter5:21

And he was ever so funny and and charming and and

Presenter5:26

Anyway, I went out with him a few times. So at what point did he turn to you and say, you know something, I'm going to make you a song? Well, he didn't. It it didn't happen like that. I mean, he was very influential in clothes and and and he took me to Bieber's, which I I didn't know about and I discovered that. And then uh he had a friend who worked on a magazine and she said to me, Why don't you come in and meet my editress? And I went along to meet them and the woman said, Well, you know, I'd like to do some headshots, but you'll never make a model'cause you're too small and too thin, which I was. If I'd have gone to an agency, you see, they wouldn't have taken me'cause I was under minimum height.

Twiggy5:32

Wait.

Presenter6:03

and much thinner than than the minimum meas measurements.

Presenter6:07

So they took the pictures.

Presenter6:10

And to do the pictures I had to have my hair done.

Presenter6:13

And they sent me to Leonard, and that's how it all clicked, because Leonard, unbeknownst to me, went downstairs and called Barry Lattigan, who took that famous head shot with the the short hair.

Presenter6:22

And uh Deirdre McSharry in the Daily Express saw it and.

Presenter6:27

Asked to meet me and I didn't even know what an interview was at that time. I just met this very nice lady. We had tea and she talked to me about my life and what I wanted to do and said I'm going to write a little thing in the paper about you. And two weeks later there was the double page in the in the express saying I named this girl the face of sixty-six. So that was that. So I had to ask my dad if I could leave school.

Presenter6:48

And he being very wise,'cause I was only sixteen, you see.

Presenter6:52

And bless his heart, he he he let me and he drew out all his savings out of the bank, which was a hundred pounds, to give me so I could get some new clothes, which was terribly sweet. Gave us his car

Presenter7:02

So I could get to jobs. I mean, he was wonderful and went to work on the train. He was amazing.

Presenter7:07

So sweet and said, But Justin's got to go with you everywhere.

Presenter7:11

'Cause he was a a carpenter in the film business, so I think he kn you know, he knew about photo you know, these bloody photographers, you know, my daughter he's from Lancashire, my dad. Sorry about the accent, Dad. And um so he said Justin's got to go along and look after you, which is why he became my manager.

Presenter7:28

Let's pause there and have another record.

Presenter7:31

Well, I had I had to have a Beatles record, obviously, and uh I think my favourite one of all is Paul McCartney's Yesterday.

Speaker 27:39

Yesterday.

Speaker 27:42

All my troubles seem so far away

Speaker 27:47

God looks as though they're here to stay, oh I believe

Speaker 27:54

Yesterday, suddenly

Speaker 27:59

I'm not half the man I used to be

Speaker 28:04

Does the shadow hang in old?

Presenter8:07

Yeah.

Speaker 28:08

Yeah.

Presenter8:08

Paul McCartney singing yesterday. He has got the best voice, hasn't he? It's a great song. It makes you cry. Oh, God, it just.

Speaker 28:09

McCartney singing yesterday.

Twiggy8:15

Yeah.

Presenter8:17

I'd be in floods of tears, wouldn't I? On this island. I'd have to take lots of lots of handkerchiefs.

Twiggy8:20

On this island.

Presenter8:23

Did you cry much in those heady days of the sixties, or was it all one big high?

Presenter8:29

It was quite hard work, actually. I mean, you know,'cause I was with all the press and the, you know, ta-da, you know, that was going on with me.

Presenter8:38

Which I didn't arrange, that just happened. I was also a day-to-day working model, and m models work very hard. You know, you're up at seven and you've got to look good, it's no late night. I mean, people think it's all parties and but real professional working models don't live that life, or if they do, it doesn't last very long. You have to be in bed, you have to have eight to ten hours, you work all day, you're absolutely exhausted by the end. The last thing you want to do is well, I I certainly didn't w was go out partying. But Justin took care of everything. He took care of all the arrangements, the negotiations, the money. And, you know, obviously we had our differences eventually, as one would. You know, I was we I was very young when I met him.

Presenter9:18

And uh but I will always thank him for protecting me, because there's a lot of sharks out there.

Presenter9:24

Do you ever see him now? We hadn't seen each other for about ten years and that when I was in New York doing my one and only, which was a musical I did on on Broadway.

Presenter9:34

Uh, he called me and I heard this very nervous voice at the at the other end and I knew who it was and and I said, Oh, that's ni I th I think he wasn't sure how I'd react. And we had tea together. So it was nice. We you know, we kind of

Presenter9:46

So the overwhelming impression one has though, Triggy, is that that you are a survivor. I mean, unlike so many people in the sixties, you didn't

Twiggy9:50

So the overwhelming

Presenter9:58

In the end, fall foul of anything of drugs? No, I didn't actually. I think I'm probably the only person that I know from that era that didn't, actually. I don't know. I was always I mean, it was always around and other people did, but I don't know, it always frightened me. It's like when I was pre-that era, when I was like a teen a young teenager at school, it was the mods and the rockers, and I was a mod, and we used to go to the dance halls, and you know, and then that was the era of purple hearts and all those sort of things. And I never touched that. I wouldn't have dreamt about, I don't know, it used to frighten the living daylights out of me. Let's have another record. Right. Well, this one is so beautiful. It's Albinoni's adagio in G minor for strings and organ. And it's absolutely lovely. And I'll burst into tears again, probably.

Presenter11:42

Tommaso Albinoni's Adaggio in G minor for strings and organ, played by the chamber orchestra of Jean-François Payard.

Presenter11:51

Triggy, um, you don't look it, but are you heavier today than you were?

Presenter11:57

Yes.

Presenter12:00

How much?

Presenter12:02

Uh oh, I don't know. I'm probably about

Presenter12:06

Just over it. Eight stone's a good weight for me now. I'm a bit over that actually. I'm about eight stone three or four. And what were you then? In the early days I was six and a half.

Twiggy12:13

Yeah.

Presenter12:16

Stone. Too thin. But you know that I was just young and underdeveloped. I used to eat like a horse. Terrible things. I mean, I'm mu I eat much h healthier things now.

Presenter12:26

Do you have to worry have you ever had to worry about diets and weights?

Twiggy12:29

Yeah.

Speaker 212:29

Absolutely.

Presenter12:30

I don't think I'd ever get enormously fat, or maybe I would, I don't know. But I do notice if if I if I eat too many puddings, which I love, and chocolate.

Presenter12:41

Only I I I only have a pizza chocolate about once every two months now.

Presenter12:45

But it kinda goes, you know, to the places you don't want it to go, like your stomach or your thighs. What about fashion? Are you still as obsessed with fashion as you're? I love clothes and I've got favorite designers and, you know, if I'm going anywhere, you know, I go along to the Emmanuels or something and

Speaker 212:51

It was still

Speaker 212:53

I love clubs.

Presenter13:01

If we've got to get very dressed up. Which is a fun occasion. It's fun playing the buttons. It has remained an obsession.

Twiggy13:04

Which is f

Twiggy13:06

But it hasn't remained.

Presenter13:08

No, I think once uh once you have a a a child that becomes the obsession, doesn't it? Well now a big change occurred in your life, didn't it, in nineteen seventy when you were still twenty. Some people are still waiting for the first thing to happen but you'd already hit it big. You met Ken Russell. Tell me what happened. Well I I I met him a few years before. He was a friend. And we hadn't actually seen each other for

Twiggy13:24

Tell me what happened.

Presenter13:31

I don't know, six, eight months. And we had um we had a dinner.

Presenter13:35

And the night before, Justin and myself had been to see the revival of the boyfriend on stage in London.

Presenter13:42

So over dinner we were telling Ken all about it, and through the dinner we were all chatting, and Ken.

Presenter13:48

Towards the end of the evening, after we'd all had quite a lot of champagne, we said, Oh, great, I'd love to direct a musical. Why don't I do the film of it and you can play Polly Brown and be the star? And we all said, Oh, what a great idea, laughing, ha ha ha, went home, didn't really think about it anymore. And he rang me the next day and said, You know, I've been thinking, that's not a bad idea. What do you think?

Presenter14:07

I said, Well, you must be mad, you know. I'm a model, I I I can't act, I can't sing or dance

Presenter14:14

But what do you think? If I can get it together, would you do it?

Presenter14:18

I said, but nobody's going to put the money up for me, which proved very true. I mean, he went, MGM owned it.

Presenter14:24

And they were thrilled that he wanted to do it. You know, he was quite a hot director. He was quite new and hot and

Presenter14:31

He'd done women in love and things like that, and so they wanted him. When he mentioned me, they said, you know, no way.

Presenter14:37

Quite understandably. But God bless his heart and I love him for it forever. He fought for me for six months.

Presenter14:43

And after six months they said, All right, you know, just to keep you quiet, go ahead and be on your head if she's bad. So he came back to me and said, Right, we've got the deal.

Presenter14:53

We're gonna do it and and I said, But you know, I can't sing or dance, Ken, you must be mad So he said, Right, you've got nine months, I'm doing The Devils, which was another film he did. Go off to class So I went off to class. And you learnt? I learnt and it was absolutely petrifying, but it was wonderful, I mean, and it changed my life.

Presenter15:12

So Twiggy the actress, the musical star, was born. Yeah. Kind of. And you've done more and more of that since. But now you look for less of the

Speaker 215:16

Uh

Speaker 315:16

Uh

Twiggy15:18

For

Presenter15:22

all singing, all dancing stuff, and for the um what one might describe as meteor rules. I do get offered lots of things that I I I just don't want to do that are either too similar to things I've done before or or

Presenter15:33

just not right. So I what I've tried to do i is to build up a a kind of log of work. And the more dramatic things I can get offered, the better. And you've just been playing Charlie Chaplin's Mother as well. Yeah, that was wonderful. And I was absolutely thrilled to be offered that because it

Twiggy15:43

Yeah, that's

Presenter15:47

I think in it's three hours and in uh probably in the first fifteen minutes I look okay, and the rest of it I look absolutely dreadful because they were so poor and she and the children had malnutrition, went to the workhouse, she ended up in an asylum. It's terribly sad. Let's have the fourth record.

Presenter16:03

It's uh from Bellini's opera called Norma and it's the piece is Mira or Norma.

Speaker 316:16

Christ with Lord's a whole

Speaker 316:35

Yeah.

Twiggy16:35

Yeah.

Speaker 316:37

We walk where's the

Twiggy16:49

Yeah.

Twiggy16:50

Oh freak.

Presenter17:10

Mira O'Norma from Bellini's Norma, sung by Joan Sutherland and Montserrat Caballer.

Presenter17:17

Did all that uh success bring you immediate happiness? Or were there times when you were really very depressed and brought down by a traveler? I don't get very depressed really. I mean I've hamm I've had

Presenter17:28

times of tragedy in my life, as everybody has.

Presenter17:32

when you feel very low. But I d I don't think I don't think I'm a moody person. I always tend to kind of carry on and and and the early times were wonderful. I was as I say, I was working very hard, travelling a lot. I sometimes got quite tired, as one does. So the boyfriend was a great success. What happened immediately after that?

Presenter17:51

I got offered various things. I went along with I did a series for the BBC.

Presenter17:56

Uh just a uh variety thing.

Presenter17:59

I used to sing and dance and have guests on. But it was very good for me'cause it was the hardest thing for me is I had to t to kind of train in front of the public. You know, I couldn't go off somewhere and do it quietly. That's the hardest thing about being well known. It'd be quite nice to be able to go off and join a rep and do it secretly so that if you do fall on your face nobody knows. But d do you suffer from nerves or do you really just press the button mark twiggy and just go out there and be yourself? Is that how you succeed?

Twiggy18:16

But do you

Presenter18:25

Two minutes before you go out, you think, What am I doing here? I must be mad. I hope the theatre burns down. I wish everyone would go away and I can go home But you don't, the curtain goes up, you go out, you do it. And I grew to love it actually. I mean, you're always a little bit nervous, but the adrenaline gets you out there and you learn the different audiences and how to work them.

Twiggy18:34

Mm.

Presenter18:42

And what to do when you fall over or when a piece of scenery doesn't come out. I mean, you know, all those things that you learn that you couldn't go anywhere to learn but by being out there and doing it. Your fifth record.

Presenter18:53

Well this is a lady called Ruth Etting, singing Ten Cents a Dance.

Twiggy18:58

That's what they pay me, gosh, how they weigh me down.

Twiggy19:06

Hands and satan, Pansies and rough eyes, Top dies who tear my gall.

Twiggy19:15

Seven to midnight I hear drums

Speaker 219:17

I hear

Twiggy19:20

Loudly the saxophone blows Trumpets are

Presenter19:27

Ruthetting singing Ten Cents a Dance. It's very much your ear at that, isn't it?

Presenter19:31

She's amazing, isn't she? She's actually one of my favorite singers. Because a lot of the ladies from that period.

Presenter19:37

it's all very shrill and high and soprano all up there, which is, you know, sweet. But I she somehow had such soul and she always makes your heart pound. She's oh, her songs were so sad and

Presenter19:51

And that's a great song, Ten Cents a Dance. Now, you lived and worked in the States for eight years, in New York and in Los Angeles. How how did it compare with London for living?

Twiggy19:56

New York

Presenter20:01

Well, London's my favourite'cause it's my home. But I think

Presenter20:05

When you go into this business, whether it be planned or not planned the way I went into it, you have to be open to working all around the world because our business is that, and certainly in America, because that's especially for films and much television. Yes, but it's coming out of California. It's quite a brave thing to do for somebody who is essentially very English and quite a homeless.

Speaker 220:21

Yes, but it's

Twiggy20:21

Comes out of California.

Twiggy20:26

Yeah, I'm amazed I can

Presenter20:30

They often think I'm Australian, which always makes me laugh. But did you get bored with being treated as a novelty by them?

Presenter20:37

Certainly since uh doing the the Broadway show, it suddenly when I did that and proved that I could go on eight times a week and put bottoms on seats, to put it politely.

Presenter20:48

It suddenly changes your you know, that kind of twiggy thing from the sixties.

Presenter20:54

became further in the distance and

Presenter20:57

The the fact that I could probably do other things become i it became accepted. Did you did you impress yourself with what you turned out to be capable of doing? No, what what was nice for me,'cause my huge fear, which is why I said no at first, was going out in front of an audience. I'd done a little bit here, I'd done a pantomime.

Presenter21:14

You know, but that's much smaller. I mean, Broadway's Broadway. That's

Presenter21:18

I had to kind of in my mind pretend that I was like on a stage in, I dunno, in Streatham or something. I c I couldn't tell myself it was New York, you know,'cause that s frightens you to death.

Presenter21:29

Well now you married an American, Michael Whitney, and you had a daughter, Carly.

Twiggy21:32

Yeah, and you

Twiggy21:33

Car

Presenter21:34

Named after Carly Simon. Does she prefer England,'cause you live back here now? She does, yeah. At the moment. But I think, you know, children are very adaptable. She can't really remember that much about America. She was very little when we were there. Although she remembers New York and and my doing the show. She's ten now. She's ten. There's quite a a mother hen side to you, isn't it? Oh, yeah.

Presenter21:56

I think as, you know, as soon as you have a child, everything in your life changes. You get all your perspectives right, everything else, you know, bec I mean, my career is important. Obviously, I like to work and I need to work. You know, we all got to live and

Presenter22:09

And one kind of gets used to living in a certain way, so one has to earn enough to keep

Presenter22:15

in that, you know, mold. But um

Presenter22:18

Number one, whenever a script comes through, it's my first thought is, Oh, where where is it taking place? Will I will I will I have to leave Carly? You know, that's the first thought is Carly. Of course, you know, I'm a mum. Well, now th the the big four O beckons in September. Um, do you think you might have another baby before you run out of time? Might, don't know. Be nice, wouldn't it?

Twiggy22:32

Yeah.

Speaker 222:32

Yeah.

Presenter22:40

Right. Another record. It's number six now.

Presenter22:42

This one is beautiful, it's uh Rodrigo's guitar concerto, the adagio from that piece.

Presenter23:50

The adagio from Rodrigo's guitar concerto played by John Williams with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Louis Fremoux.

Presenter23:58

We ought to hear Twiggy just a bit about Lee Lawson, who's rather run through this programme with us. Your new husband. I understand you met by accident.

Twiggy24:04

Release your n

Presenter24:08

Well Lee always says that Jesus brought us together.

Presenter24:11

And you kind of see everyone's eyes, think, Oh gosh, another religious nut.

Presenter24:18

But it was um in the form of Robert Powell, who's a dear mate of both of ours. And uh I'd just come back from living and and working in New York. The the the show is over.

Presenter24:31

And many things in my life had changed. I lost my husband when I was doing the show in New York, which was very sad, but one lives through things like that. So Carly and I were alone and came back here.

Presenter24:41

wanting to come home, but feeling very strange because when you've been

Presenter24:46

A, through that in your personal life, and B.

Presenter24:49

Working in a show eight times a week, your whole life evolves around that show. But I chose to come back because I wanted to come back and see my parents.

Presenter24:56

And it was lovely to be back and I was doing some recording.

Presenter24:59

And I'd been to see a show and um went to a restaurant and

Presenter25:05

An an actor friend who I'd worked with, Jonathan Price, was at another table with a group of friends, including Lee.

Presenter25:11

and I'd met Lee once ten years before.

Presenter25:14

And we got up and said hello and and and I remember thinking at the time, Oh God, you know, he's so lovely and I'd seen Tess, you know, the film he did with Roman Polanski.

Presenter25:22

A week later I got a call from Robert Powell and Babs, his wife, saying come to dinner. And when I got there, Lee was there and I thought, Oh, God, they're matching you know, it was like and we had a lovely dinner.

Presenter25:33

and talked and talked and talked. And about three days later I was driving back from the new school I'd gotten Carly into.

Presenter25:41

And we hadn't even discussed where we were living. We were living two streets away from each other. And he was walking down the street with a newspaper. He'd just been in the newspaper shop.

Presenter25:49

So I slowed the car down, wound down the window and said, Hello, do you want a cup of tea? and he looked up.

Presenter25:54

So I actually did pick him off the streets, which is

Presenter25:58

But what was nice about it is we were both completely

Presenter26:01

Free. He was on his own. He'd been s uh split from his relationship for two years. I was totally on my own.

Presenter26:07

I was in my mid thirties, he was in his late thirties, and that's that's very unusual. I think, you know, I do think somebody up there had something to do with it. Although I joke about Jesus, maybe I shouldn't joke about it.

Presenter26:20

And then he took you by surprise some months ago and whisked you off to the United States and married you.

Presenter26:26

It was great. It was terribly romantic and wonderful. You're a very lucky lady. I am, aren't I? Let's have another record.

Twiggy26:31

I ain't gonna be able to do it.

Twiggy26:34

Anyhow.

Presenter26:35

Ah Francis Raffael on my own from Les Miserable.

Twiggy26:42

Be nervous that I have never

Twiggy26:54

I love him.

Twiggy26:58

I love it.

Twiggy27:01

But only.

Twiggy27:03

On my own.

Presenter27:10

Francis Ruffelle singing On My Own from Les Miserables. Well, Twiggy, we we've nearly come to uh the end, and I haven't asked you any of those island questions about building shelters and being practical and killing things.

Speaker 227:18

Uh

Twiggy27:18

Building ship

Speaker 227:19

Eltas

Twiggy27:20

Yeah.

Twiggy27:21

Yeah.

Speaker 227:21

Really?

Twiggy27:22

There

Presenter27:23

Can you do any of it? Oh god, killing things. I'd find that but I suppose if you're starving you'd well there there'd be berries, wouldn't there?

Twiggy27:23

Can we do any of it?

Presenter27:30

I mean, I'm I'm not a vegetarian, that's not fair to say, but I I we eat f fish and chicken and

Presenter27:38

So I don't know about killing oh, that'd be so hard. And could you build a shelter or build a raft? Yeah, I probably I think I might. I'm quite practical actually. I'm a g I mean I make I do make clothes. That's one thing that's kind of left over from wanting to be a designer. So I can sew and I can I always thought if I ever got put in jail for anything, please God I don't but if I did, as long as they give me material and a sewing machine and some cotton I'll be fine. Mail bags for twenty

Twiggy28:03

It's not

Presenter28:05

But you'd be praying for escape.

Presenter28:07

Oh, yes. Not from the prison, from the island. No, I know. Oh, absolutely.

Twiggy28:10

No?

Presenter28:12

No, Lee would come and find me. He'd come in a

Presenter28:15

A yacht or a

Twiggy28:16

A white line below.

Presenter28:20

He'd be my Knight in Shining Armour. He is my Knight in Shining Armour. If you had to define the secret of your success, what would you say? Would you say that it was a lot of talent and a dollop of luck?

Presenter28:33

Or is it sheer hard work, or is it that you were simply the right person in the right place at the right time? I think it's a mixture of all those. I think initially.

Twiggy28:38

I think it

Presenter28:41

The timing was right on the nose. You know, if it had been two years before, it wouldn't have happened. Two years later, it wouldn't. So luck and fate in that degree then.

Presenter28:51

I think the fact that I've hung in this long, hopefully there is some talent there. And also a lot of hard work. It's hard work. I think a lot of people who aren't in this business don't realize

Presenter29:02

What hard work it is.

Presenter29:04

And I think actors and actresses and performers, or anybody in this bit, work very hard. You have to.

Presenter29:10

And it's great. It's very good for you. Hard work never killed any anybody, my mum always said.

Presenter29:16

Your last record.

Presenter29:17

Ah, this is lovely. This is by the Furies. I will love you every time. It's so romantic. This is for Lee.

Twiggy29:25

I will love you.

Presenter29:29

I will love you.

Speaker 229:35

The other gone

Presenter29:36

Yeah.

Speaker 229:36

Uh

Presenter29:39

I will love you.

Presenter29:43

I will love you.

Speaker 329:49

When we are gone.

Presenter29:55

I will love you every time by the Furies.

Presenter29:59

Now you have to choose one of those which you would like to have more than any of the others.

Presenter30:04

I think it's gotta be yesterday by Paul McCartney,'cause it's it's so romantic and it

Presenter30:11

Just conjures up so many things, and he's such a wonderful writer and such a lovely man. It's got to be that. And a book. Have you chosen a book? Yes.

Presenter30:20

Tess of the Derbervilles by Thomas Hardy. Mind you one

Presenter30:24

Uh it's just my favourite book.

Presenter30:26

I read quite avidly. I'm a very slow reader, so I probably could have read many more books had I read faster, but I don't. And I I can't I don't know, I just think it's one of the most beautiful books ever written. It always makes me cry. I'm gonna be in flood I'm gonna have to have loads of handkerchiefs on this eye. I'm gonna be in floods of tears. Perhaps for your luxury you should have an endless supply of

Presenter30:48

What shall it be, it's gotta be a huge I mean, the biggest pot of cold cream we can find'cause I've got really dry skin and I'll shrivel up without it.

Presenter30:58

Then when Lee comes to rescue me I'll be like a prune, a shrivelled twiggy.

Speaker 231:01

Shama

Twiggy31:01

Uh

Presenter31:04

That was great fun. Twiggy, thank you very much indeed for letting us see what this is. I enjoyed it. It was smashing.

Twiggy31:05

It's basically

Twiggy31:07

But I think it's really what there's a technology too.

Speaker 231:25

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Islandists archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio form.