June Whitfield

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 ninety, and the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Presenter0:28

My castaway this week is an actress. If you've listened to or watched British comedy over the past forty years, you're bound to have seen or heard her. Perhaps it was as Eth who had the misfortune to fall for a member of the Glum family in the early fifties, or as June, who, for better but mostly for worse, found herself wedded to Terry in the early seventies. She's worked often as the loyal little woman, alongside such names as Arthur Askey, Benny Hill, Dick Emery, Bob Monkhouse, and she's even played Cinderella to Wilfrid Pickles Buttons. She is a consummate professional, without whom no comedy cast seems quite complete. She is June Whitfield. June, it does seem to have been your professional role in life to be the loyal wife or fiancée putting up with rather troublesome attachments. You're absolutely right. I think one does fall into a niche and people say don't you ever get fed up, you know, and I say no, keep em rolling.

June Whitfield1:22

Thank you.

Presenter1:23

I'm a bit past that now. Perhaps I go to be the eternal mother. But in a sense, of course, it it always makes you the straight guy in the comedy duo, really, doesn't it? Yes. Well, I've always enjoyed doing that. You know, saying the line before the funny line. It's um But that always means the other person gets the laugh. Yes, but they also take the responsibility. So maybe, maybe it's a sort of shirking type thing, you know, that you think, well, that wasn't my fault. I mean, the laugh didn't come. But of course it can be. But have you never minded, have you never wanted to be the star, as it were, the one who gets all the laughs, the one whom the programme is built around? I don't think I really have. If anyone had...

June Whitfield1:51

Uh

June Whitfield1:57

Do

Presenter2:01

pressured me into it, I probably would have had a go. But nobody ever has, and I've been quite happy to sail along as number two, you know? It's an impressive list of partners you've had, um, and there are many more than I've just mentioned, I think. Who has been it's a difficult question who's been the funniest? Who's the one with whom you've corpsed the most while you're doing it? Well, I d I did uh I once worked with um

June Whitfield2:17

Yeah.

June Whitfield2:21

Yeah.

Presenter2:26

Eric and Ernie and Eric Morecombe uh just finished me. I mean

Presenter2:31

No, he is a a real corpse. So Dick Emery was another one. And dear old Arthur Askey, he made me giggle a lot. Well, it's very much a a a one man show on the island. Is is that your scene, do you think, or would you be terribly lonely?

Presenter2:47

I think I might enjoy it for a little while, but uh don't think I'd like it as a permanent fixture. What will you do? Will you sort of lounge about idly, or will you be very busy and um make home?

Presenter2:58

I think one would have to try to make home, because uh apart from anything else you need a bit of protection. So uh you'd have to to be a little bit practical about things and uh perhaps try to make the the cover first and then wander about. And then put a record on the gramophone. What's what's the first one you'd put on? I think probably the first one I would put on would be Frank Sinatra, because I'm a tremendous fan, and possibly an appropriate song might be Luck be a lady tonight. It might mean the boat was coming by.

June Whitfield3:32

The lady

Speaker 43:38

But be a lady.

Speaker 43:44

Lucky a lady

Presenter3:59

Frank Sinatra and Luck Be a Lady Tonight. Music to sing along to on the island. Can can you sing, June? Have you been in musicals?

Presenter4:05

Well, I that's a matter of opinion, but I yes, I have been in musicals and revues and things like that.

Presenter4:12

And probably in the fifties was my what you might call my peak. Particularly, I remember being in Ace of Clubs, which was written by Noel Cowd, and he directed it. And that really was a milestone in my theatrical career because he liked to work with me he was occasionally a bit saucy. Pat Kirkwood was the leading lady, and it was a lovely story. Sylvia Cecil.

June Whitfield4:30

What was he like?

Presenter4:42

Was singing a song, and Pat was on the stage.

Presenter4:47

And

Presenter4:48

She said to Noel Cowd at rehearsal, she said, Noel, what do I do when when Sylvia's singing this song? What do I do?

Presenter4:56

And he said, Well, you don't do anything, dear, you know, you really you just sort of um

Presenter5:00

stand there and she said, Well, I I must do something and he said Well, we'll bring on a wheelbarrow for you, and you can wheel it up and down.

Presenter5:07

And about three months later he came back, and Pat was still standing in the background, but

Presenter5:14

She was making

Presenter5:16

encouraging gestures to Sylvia, you see, while she was singing a song. And Noel Coward said to her, What are you doing, dear? He said, What are you doing while Sylvia's singing that song? And she said, Well, you never did bring on the bloody wheel back

Presenter5:31

Well, now, you were you were born and bred in Streatham in South London. That's right. Were you always set on going on the stage?

June Whitfield5:35

That's right.

Presenter5:38

I think I grew up with a conviction that I would, mainly because my mother was a very keen amateur actress and her father wouldn't let her go on the stage and I think she was determined that I would. So you did dancing classes this year.

June Whitfield5:56

Oh yeah

Presenter5:58

Rarely remember.

Presenter6:00

Missing things at school because there was a dancing class. But, you see, I was slanted towards comedy then. I was never allowed to do the pretty ballet. I was always the one who did it wrong, you know. You say that wistfully. Are you are you? Well, I think I I've just been directed towards it. I'm not complaining, but um.

Presenter6:20

Obviously in other people's minds I was not suitable for anything more serious. Why do you think that was even such at such an early age? Was it the way you looked at it? Because I was I should think because I was very self conscious and inclined to send everything up.

June Whitfield6:29

Yeah.

Presenter6:35

And I didn't have the right looks for uh the glamorous leading lady type for that parts. You you must have shown a lot of talent anyway because you got into Rada, didn't you? Um which must have been, you know.

June Whitfield6:45

Well then with any short

June Whitfield6:47

Uh

Presenter6:49

Because I think they welcomed anybody with open arms. Did life go on there as usual during the war? Absolutely. Yes, it was.

June Whitfield6:54

Doing

Presenter6:57

Forty two to forty four I was there and it was a very jolly time. Did you get any good parts?

Presenter7:05

I'm trying to th oh, yes, of course. We did um Midsummer Night's Dream. We did for Schools, and we toured around, you know, at sort of ten o'clock in the morning or whatever.

Presenter7:17

And I was dying to play Puck, because I'd done it before.

Presenter7:21

And I played the um Peter Quince.

Presenter7:25

I wasn't overjoyed and had to put one of those bald bladders on every morning, and I was saying, Oh, here we all are and that kind of thing, which was fine, until I got a nodule on my vocal cords.

June Whitfield7:26

I was

Presenter7:39

Had to shut up for about two months. June Whitfield, the rude mechanical. Yeah. Shall we have another record there? Oh, well, yes, I think I would have to have um Noah Coward because it takes me back to those great days when there was the Café de Parry and all the marvellous artists who appeared there and many games of Canasta that uh we all used to play. And I think I'd have him singing Alice is at it again.

Speaker 28:05

Alice was out in the lane.

Speaker 48:08

Yeah.

Speaker 28:09

Whom she met there every day there was a question answered by none, but she'd get there.

Speaker 28:18

And she'd stay there till whatever she did was undoubtedly done Over the field and along the lane

Speaker 48:26

Yeah.

Speaker 28:26

Boo.

Speaker 48:26

Both her parents would call in vain.

Speaker 48:30

Sadly, sorrowfully they'd complain

Speaker 48:34

Alice is at it again.

Presenter8:36

Yeah.

Presenter8:37

No a coward, and Alice is at it again. What was your first professional engagement, June? Can you recall?

Presenter8:44

Yes, indeed. My first was at the Duke of York's Theatre as assistant stage manager.

Presenter8:52

The play was Pinkstring and Sealing Wax, and in it was an actor called David Horne, who was also teaching at Rada.

Presenter9:00

And he was

Presenter9:03

a very good actor. He was always working, but as soon as he'd done a play or a film or something and made some money, he formed his own little company with his wife, Anne Farrar, and a a lot of students, and would go and

Presenter9:17

Lose my style.

Presenter9:20

But he wanted me to play Margaret in Dear Brutus, which was a straight part. And uh so that's how I became a a fully fledged actress, which is so difficult now for them to do. But tell me about those uh audiences during the war. I mean, were they appreciative? They were very appreciative, and there was one particular evening there was a scene in the play where David Horne was a Victorian father.

Presenter9:44

And he used to say Grace after.

Presenter9:46

the meal and and before, and he'd always he'd stand up, belch, and bang the table with a spoon, and say for what we'd received, you see. So on this particular night it was um I think it was doodlebug time.

Presenter9:58

and the one came over that hit Saint Martin the Fields.

Presenter10:03

And there was a

Presenter10:05

You know that awful well, you probably don't, but that moment when it

Presenter10:08

Sort of cuts out, and you're not quite sure where it's going. Is it you or is it anybody? And it landed.

Presenter10:16

And it was at the precise moment when he banged the table and said, For what we have received, may the Lord make us truly thankful.

Presenter10:23

And there was a

Presenter10:24

A moment of limbo and then the biggest laugh I've ever heard in the theatre anywhere. Just erupted. It erupted. Amazing. Difficult to continue. Now, wasn't it shortly after that that you went off on tour with Wil Wilfrid Pickles?

Presenter10:39

Yes, um I did. I did a very long tour of The Cure for Love. We did sixteen months, I think, on tour, and played every theatre. He was at the height of his success with Have a Go.

Presenter10:53

And if the boxes weren't full on a Monday night, we we thought, you know, business was bad. Was Mabel around at the time? Oh, Mabel was around, yes, certainly, rather. Still is. When was it then that you played Cinderella to his buttons?

June Whitfield10:59

Don't

Presenter11:06

That was after The Cure for Love. And it it ran for something like twenty six weeks. I mean, it was the longest pantomime in the country. I think it was uh shortly after all of that that you made your first radio appearance, if one can call it an appearance. Um but this was pre Glum days, wasn't it? What did you do?

June Whitfield11:22

Future two

Presenter11:24

Well, the very first one was uh it was in nineteen forty seven, and it was called Focus on Nursing.

Presenter11:30

And I think I had one line as a nurse, and I was also baby crying. That was the featured role. Big star. Crying baby, yes. Record number three. What's that? It's somebody I always really wanted to be. I mean, if I hadn't been me, I would have liked not her personal life, but her career. I would love to have been Judy Garland when I was young, so I have to have her singing the trolley song. Also, because it was written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine, and I afterwards worked for a musical that Hugh wrote. So that's the next one.

June Whitfield12:06

Clang, clang, clang went the trolley. Ding, ding, ding went the bell. Zing, zing, zing went my heartstrings. From the moment I saw him, I fell.

June Whitfield12:22

Chug, chug, chug went the motor Bump, bump, bump went the brake. Thump, thump, thump went my heartstrings. When he smiled, I could feel the car shake.

Presenter12:35

Judy Garland and the trolley song. I can just see you, June, you know, whizzing along the beach on that trolley, just like she did in the. Oh, golly, if only one could.

Presenter12:43

Tell me about the Glums, and how that came about, then.

Presenter12:46

The glums came about when I was in Love from Judy, which came about going back to Hugh Martin.

Presenter12:56

whom I had first met.

Presenter12:58

When he wrote something for Penny Plain, a review with Joyce Grenfell that I was in.

Presenter13:03

And while I was in love from Judy, I was

Presenter13:07

suggested for the great list of of people to replace Joy Nichols in Take It From Here.

Presenter13:13

And one day I had a a phone call at home.

Presenter13:17

Saying uh

Presenter13:19

Mura Norton here.

Presenter13:21

And I said, Oh, yes, and I'm the Queen of Sheba, you know, I'm thinking it was a friend and they said, No, it is us and uh we'd like you to come along and and do an audition for Take It From Here and I said

Presenter13:33

Great. Now, being in a musical, I really didn't listen to the radio that much. I hadn't heard.

Presenter13:40

I didn't realise what a really

Presenter13:43

popular and magnificent show, take it from here, was, you see. So I went along and Alma Cogan went along as well.

Presenter13:50

And we both did singing and talking.

Presenter13:53

And in the end they wisely decided to take her for the singing and um me for the talking. This was in front of Frank Muir and Dennis Norgan. Oh, yes, and Charles Maxwell, who was the um director. And you were chosen to play Eth, who was engaged to. Well, Eth was just a sketch that that

June Whitfield13:57

This one has to be.

June Whitfield14:07

Well as

Presenter14:10

came in one time. It was just this family that they'd they'd written about.

Presenter14:15

And it somehow took off. Who were the glums? I mean, there must be quite a few people listening who don't remember. I haven't seen there was Par Glum, which was Jimmy Edwards, who was always interrupting Ron and F on the sofa just as Ron was about to get saucy. And he used to come in and say, Hallo, hello, hello. Have you s have you seen the biro or something? Mother wants it to do her eyebrows, you know, it was that sort of.

June Whitfield14:21

Yes, I do.

Presenter14:39

interruption from him. And Alma, the only thing Alma did was Mar Glum, which was rather like the Giles character at the top of the stairs, you know, she was always saying, you know, you never you never heard a word she said. And Ron was the

Presenter14:59

pretty idiotic son played magnificently by Dick Bentley, and EF was his ever loving, and they just sort of took off.

Presenter15:09

And they were both pretty stupid. They were. Well, I I mean one sort of vague reminder, if I can get my voice up there now, is that the sort of thing I used to say was uh

June Whitfield15:09

And they were both

Presenter15:20

Eth would say Oh, Rhone My heart's really beginning to pound. Only another fortnight, and we two shall be one.

Presenter15:32

Don't you feel all shivery, beloved?

Presenter15:36

Now wait.

Presenter15:37

Why not, dearest?

Presenter15:40

Dad says I've been one all me life.

Presenter15:43

I mean, it's that sort of writing, which was magnificent. Those kinds of radio shows don't exist really today, do they? I mean, I suppose it was followed by Round the Hall. Yes, that's right. But do you think.

Presenter15:55

That it's sad. I mean, do you think those kinds of shows could still survive today?

Presenter16:02

I mean, the the uh the writing of Take It From Here was.

Presenter16:07

witty and

Presenter16:09

Pani.

Presenter16:10

and silly.

Presenter16:12

And I love that sort of uh of humor. And you know, one has to say, I mean, it was never filthy. They didn't have to use four letter words the whole time. They make people laugh without doing that, which I think is

Presenter16:26

Cleverer, really.

Presenter16:28

Well, it undoubtedly established you. I mean, it was your first big break, wasn't it? Let let's leave you there as a radio star and have your next record.

Presenter16:36

Oh, my next record, this is one for love, this is Nat King Curl singing Stardust.

June Whitfield16:41

Do I

Speaker 416:42

I dream in vain

Speaker 416:48

In my heart it will remain

Speaker 416:54

My stadus

June Whitfield16:56

Melody

Speaker 416:59

The Mammo Wee.

Speaker 417:02

Of loves.

Speaker 417:05

Refrain

Presenter17:12

Natkin Co and Stardust.

Presenter17:15

When did you make the the break into Telly then, June? What was the first leap?

Presenter17:20

The very first was in nineteen fifty one in something called The Passing Show.

Presenter17:26

But the first r comedy break really was with Bob Muncas in um and Dennis Goodwin in Fast and Loose. And how soon after that then did you team up with Terry Scott?

Presenter17:37

I first worked with Terry in'Sixty Nine. That was when he was doing Scot On.

Presenter17:42

And we were introduced by

Presenter17:44

um a director, Kenneth Carter.

Presenter17:47

who th had worked with both of us and thought that

Presenter17:51

It might be a good idea. They were looking for somebody to work with Terry. And uh that's how it happened. And I can remember meeting Terry in Ken's house.

Presenter18:01

And I thought you know, he was very sort of pleasant, and uh I thought, well, no, he's rather established, he's been doing his own shows or something. I must watch my P's and Q's a bit. And I learned afterwards, he said, I was absolutely terrified of you.

Presenter18:16

So that I thought that was a good start. So you got married, as it were, in the early seventies, didn't you? I think people think you are married, don't they? Well, people have thought that that we are married, yes. I remember one chap picked me up.

Presenter18:28

early in the morning, half past five or something, to do some filming.

Presenter18:32

And Tim, my husband Tim, was at the door. About sort of a hundred yards down the road, this chap said, You know.

Presenter18:40

Quite expected Terry Scott to open the door, you know. I said, Oh, I'm sorry about that.

Speaker 418:43

Pass it on.

Presenter18:45

Does does the series, um, Terry and June, does it does it m mirror images in your marriage at all? I mean, have you suffered similar humiliating experiences with your own husband? Not really, but I I think

June Whitfield18:52

Yeah.

Presenter18:56

Part of its success was that people could I mean, so many people come up to you and say, you know, our house is just like that, or my dad's just like that, or you know, that happened to us only the other day. And I do remember one recent incident when we were going to the theatre at Chichester and we were a bit early.

Presenter19:18

And I think it was a first night, so, you know, one was

Presenter19:21

reasonably sort of dressed. And Tim said, I've just got time to wash the car with one of those um the ones you do it yourself, you know, jet spray.

June Whitfield19:31

It was just a matter of time.

Presenter19:33

And so I said, Okay, fine.

Presenter19:35

And we made sure all the windows were shut and all the usual stuff. So, you know, they're very strong, those uh those jets. And after a minute he was directing it on my

Presenter19:46

Window.

Presenter19:48

And I realized that I was getting very wet, and so I tapped on the window and started sort of shouting, and then I realized that he couldn't hear me because of the noise of the jet. And

Presenter20:03

Normally one would have got absolutely furious and I must admit I suddenly thought this is Terry and June and I the tears ran down my face and he he s eventually he said what on earth are you laughing at? you know, and I explained the situation. But are you like that then? Are you I mean, just as June is in Terry and I mean are you long suffering, good humoured when disaster strikes? Is that you?

June Whitfield20:09

No.

Presenter20:24

I don't know about good humoured, and I suppose it depends on the disaster. But I think um there are an awful lot of disasters that can be laughed at.

Presenter20:33

Your next record. Well, my next record takes me back again to uh Penny Plain, where I said, you know, I I first met Hugh Martin, which led to all kinds of things. And so this is a a reminder of an absolutely brilliant lady, Joyce Grenfell.

Speaker 420:53

Stately as a gullion, I sail across the floor. Doing the military two-step, as in the days of yore. I dance with Mrs. Teventon, she's light on her feet in spite of turning the scale at 14 stone, and being a medium height.

Presenter21:14

Joyce Grenfell singing Old Time Dancing. Whom do you admire then, June, among today's well, comediennes or comedy actresses? Oh, I admire Victoria Wood.

Presenter21:25

And French and Saunders, I think they are

Presenter21:28

Brilliant. I mean, not only do they perform, they write their own material. Maybe sometimes they go a little too far for some, but but as there's an awful lot of very, very funny stuff that they do. Of course you have a a daughter of your own. Yes, Susie. Whom you you did allow on the stage. Have you acted together?

Presenter21:47

Yes, uh once. It's very funny because people always said, you know, what's it like? And this was in the Rivals when I played Mrs. Maliprop and uh Susie played Lucy, the maid, and I think we met once, you know, during the show. So we have yet to actually do a mother-daughter bit. You were of course earlier this year cast us as Britain's answer to Jane Fonder, weren't you? In a television show.

June Whitfield22:11

Duh?

Presenter22:13

Do you keep fit? Do you feel the burn? No, I no, you see, the great thing is that the the programme was called It Doesn't Have to Hurt.

June Whitfield22:14

Feel the

Presenter22:22

And when I was asked if I would front it, I said, Well, as long as you're not saying

Presenter22:28

You two can look like me, you know. Um it's more sort of you'll look like me if you don't watch out type uh programme. But I always said I presented it, I'm telling you what the experts say we should do. But the good thing about it was that they were saying you can be healthy without being fit, without going for the burn. You never have to look at a track suit. What's the next record?

Presenter22:52

Oh, it's takes me back to my youth, I think. Probably reminds me of my father. He used to sing funny songs and uh th this man did an awful lot of them. It's a chap called Frank Crummit, and he is singing them.

Presenter23:07

The word prune was sounded.

Speaker 423:10

Maybe is always full of wrinkles Beauty treatments always fail They've tried all to no avail Other fruits are envious Because they know real well

Presenter23:23

Real world

June Whitfield23:23

Yeah.

Presenter23:24

Yeah.

Speaker 423:24

But no matter how young a prune may be, hot water makes them swell.

Presenter23:31

Frank Crummit singing the Prune song. We've mentioned um many of your fictional marriages and engagements. Let's talk about your your real one, your real marriage, which has so far lasted for thirty five years.

Presenter23:42

Knocking it.

Presenter23:44

To Tim Achison, a chartered surveyor, now retired. Right. And you live in Wimbledon? Yes, and uh Tim now um deals in antiques, which keeps him very busy.

Presenter23:54

Is um Mrs. Acheson a well known local figure who gets properly involved in in local events, or does she prefer to keep herself to herself?

Presenter24:03

Depends what you mean by local events. I mean, obviously one does get asked to do

Presenter24:08

various things, you know, opening things and uh but I think after a while we've lived there for so long now, I think people get fed up and they want a new face, you know. Are you constantly asked in the supermarket and the chemist where Terry is and all that? A bit of that goes on, yes. And no, the worst one that happened to me in a in a supermarket is that I'm rather short-sighted, have been for a very long time. So if I'm trying to see either the price of something or what the label says, there's a terrible sort of squinting, frowning face that goes on. You see, uh somebody came up to me in the supermarket not too long ago and said, That's not the face we're used to seeing and you feel like giving them a slap round the chops, you know.

Presenter24:49

And how has mister Agison coped all these years being married to somebody else's wife as well? Oh, dear Tim. Well, he's been used to it all his life, you see, because take it from here

Presenter25:01

I was Ron's uh fiancee. Yes, but you weren't recognizable then, that was radio. Ah, but the papers were all when when we got married, they were all Oh, Ron, look what's happened to F. So it's been with him a long time.

Presenter25:15

And uh it's part of the course, I think. Record number seven.

Presenter25:19

Record number seven. Now this is one because in the sixties I did many series of Variety Playhouse, which was mainly music. It was Vic Oliver and an enormous BBC orchestra. And in it there was a little comedy spot, and which fell to Leslie Crowther, Ronnie Barker, and myself. And of course, during all those weeks you heard any number of opera singers. Sadly not this one, because I think perhaps he was he was too young then. But I would have on my island Pavarotti singing Neson Dorma.

Speaker 425:57

But every obstacle in

Speaker 426:04

When only their songs of love to love us.

June Whitfield26:04

Yeah.

Speaker 226:06

Uh

June Whitfield26:06

Souls are not

Speaker 426:20

Uh

Speaker 426:21

One love child's glory.

June Whitfield26:46

Uh

Presenter26:56

Luciano Pavarotti singing Nessundorma from Puccini's Turundot with the London Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta. Absolutely wonderful. You could hear that on any part of the island, couldn't you? Terrific. You are, June, if I may say so, and this is meant to be a compliment. You're very normal. I mean, do you think of yourself as a show business personality, or are you a Wimbledon housewife who goes out to work? I think I consider myself to be an actress, really.

June Whitfield27:20

Ah.

Presenter27:24

and uh certainly a comedy.

Presenter27:27

actress or with a

Presenter27:29

Vague understanding of comedy. I could never talk about it because I haven't the faintest idea. I just, you know, read the lines and say them. But it's instinctive. Well, I suppose it is. That that it's something that is within you. Frank Muir always said that about you, didn't he? He always said that about Eth, that you brought more to Eth than he wrote. He's always been, and and Dennis, they they've always been so.

June Whitfield27:49

Yeah.

Presenter27:54

Very complimentary and uh marvellous, but I I just return it by saying it I mean, they wrote the wonderful things to say. But have you any rules, June, that have have guided your career and kept you on a successful course, as it were?

Presenter28:09

I think

Presenter28:10

To start with, certainly um over the past decades, I think the only advice I'd ever give anybody is take what comes. Don't hang on for the big moment, because it may never come. So take what comes and and see what you can what you can do with it.

Presenter28:32

I don't know. I think I think a little lack of ambition has something to do with it. I've never been.

Presenter28:38

madly ambitious. I mean, since the days when I discovered that I wasn't going to be Judy Garland, I haven't really been ambitious. I just wanted to keep on working. Well, you've certainly done that. You haven't retired and you're not con contemplating it.

Presenter28:50

One always thinks one's retired after every job, you know, and then something, uh something comes along, and so you think, Well, why not have a go at that? You've given us uh hundreds of of good laughs, I mean a million smiles. How would you sum up what uh what your professional life has given you?

Presenter29:07

Oh,

Presenter29:08

a tremendous satisfaction from hearing people laugh.

Presenter29:12

Um I mean, that gives me more than anything. But people say, don't you want to play some grand um tragedian or a part?

Presenter29:22

Not really. I think life is quite hard enough, and I think it's marvellous to have been able to have been part of of making people laugh.

Presenter29:32

Let's have your last record.

Presenter29:34

My Last Record is another favourite singer.

Presenter29:40

Maybe this is the one that I would play as I left the island.

Presenter29:45

Ella Fitzgerald singing Every time we say goodbye.

Speaker 429:50

Every time we say goodbye, I doubt

Speaker 430:04

Every time we say goodbye.

Speaker 430:11

I wonder why a little

Presenter30:15

Ella FitzGerald singing Every Time We Say Goodbye

Presenter30:19

June, one of those records you have to choose, which one is the most special for you?

Presenter30:24

Maybe because there are so many.

Presenter30:27

associations that spring from it. I'd have Judy Garland singing the trolley song.

Presenter30:33

And a book you have to choose. You've got the complete works of Shakespeare, and you've got the Bible.

Presenter30:39

What else would you like to take? I think I'd take a do it yourself manual with a section on edible fungus. Very practical. Oh, very practical. Well, Shakespeare and the Bible'll see me through.

Presenter30:51

And a luxury.

Presenter30:53

Well, would I be allowed a fax machine, battery fed?

Presenter30:58

I suspect not if it could receive anything, but you can send it. I could only send well, that my alternative would be uh an endless supply of cocoa butter to keep the sun off.

Presenter31:10

That's much more permissible. You shall have that.

June Whitfield31:12

And the large

Presenter31:14

All right. Cocoa butter and a hat and no fax machine. Right. June Whitfield, thank you very much indeed. Thank you. Great fun.

June Whitfield31:17

Right.

June Whitfield31:20

Fine

Speaker 231:20

Thank you.

June Whitfield31:21

Yeah.

Speaker 231:28

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