Imran Khan

Speaker 30:00

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 30:08

The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen ninety one.

Speaker 30:11

And the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Presenter0:31

My castaway this week is a cricketer. Born in Pakistan thirty eight years ago and educated at Oxford University, he is to day considered one of the game's great all rounders. His fame, however, extends well beyond the cricket field. His aristocratic good looks and effortless charm have made him the idol of women the world over.

Presenter0:50

However, he purports to be disdainful of such admiration. He remains a devout Moslem he doesn't drink, he doesn't smoke, and he said that his marriage, if it ever comes, will be arranged. He is Imran Khan

Presenter1:02

Iman, I can't believe that in all those years of playing English cricket that you haven't come under enormous pressure to sink a pint at some point or another.

Imran Khan1:10

Well, you know, when I first came to England I was only eighteen.

Imran Khan1:14

And I joined Worcestershire and I was told by all the cricketers there that look, if you have to be a fast bowler, you must drink beer, because that's what Freddie Truman drank.

Imran Khan1:26

And yes, and there was a lot of pressure also because they thought I was antisocial because I didn't drink.

Imran Khan1:31

And you know, sadly, a lot of cricketers from Pakistan who came and played cricket in England, they started drinking because they felt, you know, they were being antisocial.

Presenter1:40

They got teased into it.

Imran Khan1:41

And then developed an awful alcohol habit.

Presenter1:44

Uh

Presenter1:45

But joking and drinking and womanizing apart, your faith is obviously extremely important to you, isn't it?

Imran Khan1:51

Yes, it was always important because I came from a a home where both my parents were were religious and the family generally cousins, everyone, it was a religious family. But I think it was over a period of time that I I was drawn closer to it.

Presenter2:07

So will it, your faith, be your salvation, as it were, on on a desert island? Would you turn even more to it alone?

Imran Khan2:14

Well, I put it this way, that uh I would first of all justify being on a desert island because it was meant to be. You know, when I was younger I found it so hard to accept defeat. In a way it was good because you know I hated losing so I tried even harder the next time. But in a in in another way, it created a lot of um turmoil, you know, I couldn't accept defeat. And as time passed, I mean I realized that what I wanted to do was really give my best. And then whatever happened, it was meant to be. So it was easy to accept a lot of things in life with this policy or philosophy.

Presenter2:50

So there you are, alone on the beach with only your music. Now what would be the first piece of music that you'd play?

Imran Khan2:56

What

Imran Khan2:58

There is a man called Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Imran Khan3:01

Now Nusrat has become you know, I have become obsessed with his music, and this has only been a year and a half. The reason I like it is because it's about uh Kawali started, let me just explain why his music is Kawali, which is called Sufi music. And Sufi music started

Imran Khan3:20

When uh on the tombs of great saints in the subcontinent, even in Iran, every year at the death anniversary, there's a huge festival and this is the music that is played there. But this version is a westernized version which uh I think Peter Gabriel helped uh uh compose this uh this with a guitar and and and maybe even a drum. So it's got a sort of jazz type sound to it.

Speaker 23:59

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 24:04

We're all columnar must, must.

Speaker 24:08

Uh

Presenter4:16

Musrat Fatih Ali Khan, singing Must Must. You divide your life, Imran Khan, between living here in England, in London, and in your native Pakistan, in Lahore. Can you describe the essential differences between the two? Climate, obviously.

Imran Khan4:32

Well, let me explain. It is a completely different life. You know, I mean, I when I when I first came to England,

Imran Khan4:40

I found I was missing Lahore. And when I went back to Loho after four years, I found I was missing aspects of England. So then it was, you know, this turmoil lasted for two or three years. I couldn't work out. I mean, I was in one place missing the other, and so on. Then I discovered what aspects of each country I missed. You see, London, for someone like me who comes from Pakistan, is a fascinating place in that it is the ultimate city life. What happens in London is you meet different people. You can go out five nights a week.

Speaker 25:09

D

Imran Khan5:12

Different dinners and you will meet different people.

Presenter5:14

But the social life in Lahore simply doesn't compare.

Imran Khan5:17

Well, social life in Lahore means.

Imran Khan5:20

Uh for me it's been that I have about four friends who I see more or less uh every night. You know, there's either one's got a dinner at his place or the other. And so forget about, I mean, going out, that's it. That

Presenter5:36

Well what about where you live, how you live? I mean, uh here in London you've got a flat in Kensington, which by all accounts is sort of draped and low slung and Eastern carpets and jewelled daggers. I mean what is it like in Lahore?

Imran Khan5:41

Mm-hmm.

Imran Khan5:50

Well, uh Lahore, I've got I live with my father. But you see, the point of Pakistan, which I discovered eventually, was that we have some of the greatest wilderness in the world. Pakistan is uh outdoors, our wilderness is untouched. All the tourism goes to India, and Pakistan is in a way preserved.

Presenter6:10

But which for you ultimately is home?

Imran Khan6:13

always has been Pakistan. I mean that there hasn't been a doubt. I mean I already now I find the older I'm getting, I'm spending more time there. Now I I used to spend six months here and six months in Pakistan. Now I find I'm spending eight to nine months in Pakistan.

Presenter6:29

Shall we have your second record there?

Imran Khan6:31

Yes, the second one is from Johnny Nash, and it's I can see clearly now. And the reason is because.

Imran Khan6:39

This song The First Time I Heard was in May 1972.

Imran Khan6:45

It was my first winter I'd spent in England.

Imran Khan6:48

And I can't tell you the shock I went through.

Imran Khan6:52

It was so cold.

Imran Khan6:54

It was dark.

Imran Khan6:56

The food and this boarding uh I was in was so terrible because I was used to eating Pakistani food, you know, three cooked meals a day. It was such a shock to my system being and then I was away from home and I I'm so close to my family that uh being away from them for such a uh long space of time, I was so homesick. It took all my willpower not to run away back to Pakistan and leave my studies.

Imran Khan7:20

And so when May came.

Imran Khan7:23

and sunshine came and then the cricket weather came because I also miss cricket in the winter.

Imran Khan7:28

This was so refreshing and the song just captured my mood.

Speaker 27:32

I can see clearly now the rain is gone

Speaker 27:40

I can see all obstacles in my way.

Speaker 27:48

Gone on the dark clouds that had me blind.

Speaker 27:53

It's gonna be a bright, bright, bright, bright, sunshiny day.

Presenter7:59

I can see clearly now, sung by Johnny Nash and memories for Imran Khan of nineteen seventy two and his first English winter. You were over here playing for Pakistan, but then you ended up doing your A levels at Worcester Grammar here. Was that always the intention?

Imran Khan8:13

No, I arrived in 1971 with the Pakistan team. I was only 18.

Imran Khan8:19

The only way my parents let me go on tour was that they said, You've got to finish your studies. I said, Okay, after the tour finishes, I'll finish my A level exams and that's what I that's why I stayed back and did my A levels.

Presenter8:31

And then you went up to uh to Oxford, to Keeble College, to read politics and economics. What was the attraction? I mean, was it the education? Was it the cricket here? Was it the lifestyle? What what hooked you?

Imran Khan8:42

Well, definitely Oxford. I mean my two of my first cousins three of my first cousins uh went to Oxford and Cambridge, and two of them went on to Captain Pakistan, and both were my heroes.

Presenter8:55

And what were you like then? Were you shy and rather overwhelmed by all of this new life style, or were you a rather confident young man?

Imran Khan9:02

I was shy and I was shy also because until I came to England, or until I got selected in the Pakistan team, I had only been in two environments. One was the college I went to, which was Aiterson College.

Imran Khan9:17

where I spend all all my school days.

Presenter9:20

In Lahore.

Imran Khan9:21

in Lojo, and the other w w was Zaman Park, where I grew up with my family. So I never knew other people. You know, I never had uh to make other friends. I didn't know anyone else.

Presenter9:31

Did you find yourself generally accepted, or was there any did you come up against any kind of racism, or did cricket and Oxford get you past all of that?

Imran Khan9:40

At Oxford I didn't find any racism. But I did outside Oxford. I mean I when I was playing for Worcester, there were always these undertones of racism. I played at various uh

Imran Khan9:52

grounds where there would be occasional racist remark. Most of all, I never forget I played against a Yorkshire team who were blatantly racist. I was then captaining Oxford and I was sitting about to go into bat and there were a group of uh sort of elderly gentlemen sitting in front of me. And they were, you know,

Imran Khan10:11

I was I could listen to it and they were saying, isn't it nice to see a team where there are no colored players? So it was quite a shock to me at that time because I didn't expect such open racism.

Presenter10:23

How did you react to it?

Imran Khan10:26

Well, I came to terms with it because I was fortunate in having been instilled with a lot of pride in my background. So I didn't react like I developed hang-ups about my color or anything. Instead, I just realized that there are people who need their race identity to hide behind, who probably don't have enough confidence in themselves, you know, to be that it didn't matter what race they came from. And yet there were also enough people at university who were so anti-racism.

Presenter10:58

Record number three.

Imran Khan10:59

Well, this is again from Nusrat Fatih Li Khan. Now, this is my one of my great favourites. It's a little difficult for the listeners here to understand because it depends much more on the lyrics, although the beat is quite fascinating for people who can who understand music. The song basically is Osna Yoana. It's a Punjabi song, which is something like where a friend is trying to tell another friend who's suffering from the pain of love.

Imran Khan11:30

of a lover that has gone away.

Imran Khan11:32

And this friend is trying to console the lover and also trying to make him come out of this uh dream world the person is in, and trying to tell him that listen, the person is not coming back. It happens all the time when you're trying to advise a friend who's sort of really love sick. And it's such a great song because the words are so brilliant and the music is excellent.

Presenter11:51

Or perhaps you've taken its advice yourself, eh?

Imran Khan11:55

Well, I've had to give a lot of advice.

Presenter12:26

Nosrat Fateh Ali Khan, singing Os Nayu Orna, or The Persons Not Coming Back. Tell me, Imlan Khan, about the first time you held a cricket bat in your hands. Can you remember that moment?

Imran Khan12:38

Um no. Uh I can't remember that particular moment, because I was quite young. I must have been about six or seven years old. My parents got me and my older sister a cricket bat each and some stumps, and a cricket ball.

Presenter12:53

And was it in the family this? You say your mother presented you with a cricket bat and ball. I mean, was it something that was expected of you? Was it a tradition?

Imran Khan13:00

No, no, no, it wasn't a tradition, but the thing is that my I came my mother's family I mean, in history there have never been three sisters who whose three sons went on to captain their country. Plus their brother was a national player in hockey as well as cricket. And both his sons were first class cricketers. So I grew up with these older cousins, all very good at cricket.

Presenter13:23

What about your father? Was he as interested in it all?

Imran Khan13:26

My father knew nothing about cricket, he wasn't interested, he only heard on television

Imran Khan13:33

When I got selected for Pakistan, he asked my sisters, he says, Is this Ay Imran?

Presenter13:37

And did he recognize your fame? Did he realize that you'd actually become, as the years went by, a great hero?

Imran Khan13:43

The time when I became a hero in my own country was when we first defeated India and I had a major hand in it. And you know, India-Pakistan matches are just I mean, people who know nothing about cricket follow it just because it's against India. So at the time my leg was broken and you know he'd always ask me to come to see we have some land and he said you you never go and see your land so come along. So while we were driving,

Imran Khan14:09

You know, I would always stop we'd stop on our way for some refreshments. It was about six hours' drive and it was summer.

Imran Khan14:16

So whenever we'd stop, I'd make sure that I stop uh where there were not too many people, and he'd always look at me and say, What's the matter with you?

Imran Khan14:24

He said, Why wh who the hell do you think you are? You know, so I said, I don't want to be in front of other people. You know, they'll recognize me. Anyway, we ended up where we where Allah was and there was a little village there. And he wanted to go to his uh re the restaurant where he normally ate, and I chose one where there was no one there. And he again he was so disgusted with me. As we were going to sleep in this rest house, he gave me another lecture that, you know, uh in Quran it clearly states that a man shouldn't show off.

Imran Khan14:54

It's gone to your head, so he gave me a terrible lecture.

Imran Khan14:58

And in the morning we were woken up.

Imran Khan15:01

You know, there was something like uh three, four thousand children outside and grown up and they were breaking the doors down because they were it was a village. So I looked at his face and he was so shocked by this. It was the first time it hit him that, you know, cricket is a mass sport in Pakistan, everyone follows it and it's like a religion to children.

Presenter15:22

Some more music.

Imran Khan15:24

Well, the fourth one is from the Rolling Stones.

Imran Khan15:28

And it's called You Can't Always Get What You Want. And the reason I like it is because it reminds me.

Imran Khan15:34

Of a particular time when we lost the World Cup.

Imran Khan15:39

And it was one of those days when I used to find it very painful to lose, and especially the World Cup, which came once in four years. And so this song, a friend of mine made me listen to it, and it sort of it reminds me, A, of that loss, and secondly, of actually how to get over it.

Speaker 215:59

I saw her today at the reception.

Speaker 216:06

A glass of wine in her hand

Speaker 216:11

I knew she was gonna meet her connection.

Speaker 216:17

At her feet was a foibl's man.

Speaker 216:23

You can't always get what you want.

Presenter16:28

The Rolling Stones, and you can't always get what you want. We left your cricketing career, Imran, when you were captaining Oxford in the mid seventies, and you went on to play for Worcester and Sussex, and of course became a regular player for Pakistan. What was your ambition then in those early years? What was your cricketing goal, as it were?

Imran Khan16:46

Well, let me tell you, when I was playing school cricket, my ambition was to be the youngest player to play for Pakistan. I mean, I have to say here that my ambitions were always so high. When I look back, I mean, I'm I'm shocked at what I aimed for. Then when I actually played for Pakistan, I remember that, you know, people there were sort of other players in the team who were quite nervous. It was a first test against England when England was supposed to be invincible in nineteen seventy one. And you know, m I I mean other players now when I look back might have ambitions like you know they should just do okay. Mine was nothing less than to score one hundred rounds and get ten wickets in the match.

Presenter17:27

Well you you in fact became, of course, the best all-rounder in the world, or or one of the greatest, anyway, didn't you? I mean, do those records

Presenter17:34

mean a lot to you. I think you were only the third man in history to score three thousand test runs and three hundred wickets alongside what Botham and Kapil Dev. I mean, d does that mean something to you?

Imran Khan17:46

Well, it did in the beginning.

Imran Khan17:48

You know, when I wasn't the captain, it obviously meant that you were competing with other rivals and you wanted to excel against them. But you know, when I became the captain, for some reason these became irrelevant because then my ambition became to see Pakistan on top of world cricket. And so it wasn't so much, you know, how I competed with these other players, but how the team competed o as a whole.

Presenter18:12

You're a natural leader, would you say?

Imran Khan18:13

But I found, I have to say, that as a player, my performances improved dramatically when I became the captain as a player. And also I found that the satisfaction I got from the team doing well and watching the team succeeding, because we had the greatest success in the eighties.

Imran Khan18:29

That gave me a lot of fulfilment.

Presenter18:31

Have you have you got a cricketing ambition left? Is there one more thing that you would really like to achieve before you declare?

Imran Khan18:38

Well, one is now coming up as the World Cup.

Imran Khan18:41

I've played in all the World Cups and now in February we've got this World Cup in Australia and obviously the ambition would be to win it.

Presenter18:50

After that you might retire?

Imran Khan18:52

If I have any regret, was that I announced a retirement in 1986, that I would retire in 1987. Now that was the biggest mistake I made because I didn't realize that one actually does not have control over events in the future. So it is a very silly thing to do, to announce your retirement a year earlier when you don't know a year later what the circumstances would be. So I'm again I've been very careful since then. I mean I came back after that, three months later, because of a pressure which I couldn't cope with. And then I'm glad I came back because I had some great series since then.

Presenter19:28

That was pressure from your own President, wasn't it, from President Zia?

Imran Khan19:30

Well, yes, it was a pressure and an honor, really, to have been asked publicly by the Head of State.

Presenter19:36

Record number five.

Imran Khan19:38

Well, this is a group called Them. A long time ago they recorded this one. It's All Over Now Baby Blue. Now the reason I like it is because

Imran Khan19:49

It was at a time when this record was a hit, I was also coming to the end of a relationship. And so it just reminds me of that and plus it's a great record.

Speaker 220:00

Understand your orphan with his gun.

Speaker 220:08

Crying like a fire in the sun.

Speaker 220:17

Look at Claver.

Speaker 220:19

The saints are coming through.

Speaker 220:25

Man, it's all over now.

Presenter20:31

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, sung by them, and memories of the break up of a close relationship for you, Imran. Your your personal life and and the women in it is very well documented. Indeed, it's the subject of endless speculation. How much does that annoy you?

Imran Khan20:47

Well, I don't know how well documented it is because a lot of this is pure speculation. If you're seen with someone, uh then the their photographs appear, then you're supposed to be having a relationship with them, which not always is true. There's one thing I want to make clear. I mean, you know, I've always been sort of dubbed as a Playboy. It's something that is not possible for someone like me. Because I think a Playboy the w of what I've seen of Playboys and one of my closest friends fits the description.

Imran Khan21:16

It is someone who has a lot of time and money.

Imran Khan21:19

And you know, who then is in pursuit of women all the time. I've never had time because I've been a full time cricketer, and then I actually never have had that much money.

Presenter21:30

But you've had lots of girlfriends.

Imran Khan21:32

I've had friends, yes.

Presenter21:35

But you did once contemplate marriage with an English girl, didn't you?

Imran Khan21:38

That's true. I thought about it once, and came pretty close.

Presenter21:43

Why didn't it happen?

Imran Khan21:44

Well, it didn't happen because I suppose there c there are different cultural backgrounds.

Imran Khan21:50

Eventually, uh, you know, they just became more important.

Presenter21:54

So what did you say to your family? If when you were eighteen you expected, as as you said, to follow in the footsteps of your cousins and be educated at Oxford and then become captain of Pakistan and go back to your arranged marriage? What did you say to your family? Did you say, Excuse me, I don't want to do that bit of it, or can we defer that for a while?

Imran Khan22:10

Can we defer that for a while? My mother, every time I used to come back from a cricket season in England, she would say, It's time you got married. Now this is when I was twenty four onwards. So one day I told her, I said, listen, the day I'm thirty,

Imran Khan22:23

You can just marry me to anyone. But then, you know, when you were twenty five, thirty seems so far away. When I was thirty, I discovered that, you know, I didn't want marriage. And so I explained to her that y and and well, I tried to make her understand that, you know, my life, it won't fit in with it. And really I at no stage felt I was ready for marriage.

Presenter22:45

And you still don't.

Imran Khan22:47

Even further now, I mean, I feel that I'm further away from marriage now than ever. You know, I don't particularly feel that uh I have the commitment to marriage. I think that marriage, if I go into it,

Imran Khan22:58

It means a complete commitment to your children and your wife.

Presenter23:02

Will you not regret it if you never become a father, if you never have children?

Imran Khan23:06

No, because that is the wrong reason to get married, out of insecurity. And as we all know, marriage has no guarantees. People get married for worrying about their old age and two years later they are divorced and single again.

Presenter23:20

Perhaps you've just spent too long thinking about it. Worrying about it.

Presenter23:24

Next piece of music.

Imran Khan23:26

Yeah, it is uh from Elvin Bishop.

Imran Khan23:29

Now this is a song which is called Fooled Round and Fell in Love. It's specially dedicated to this friend of mine, who I said that there's a very close friend of mine who is actually a player boy. He is someone who adores women and who's always lived for women.

Imran Khan23:44

And three times in his life, while fooling around he fell in love and got married, but sadly none of his marriages lasted a year.

Imran Khan23:54

And this is specially for him.

Presenter24:26

Elvin Bishop singing fooled around and fell in love.

Presenter24:29

Your mother, Imran, uh died in nineteen eighty five of cancer despite great efforts on on your part to get good treatment for her. You found yourself appalled, didn't you, at the lack of medical treatment in Pakistan?

Imran Khan24:42

Well, frankly, till nineteen eighty five.

Imran Khan24:46

there was uh never any part of me that was touched as far as a medical uh health care in Pakistan went, or there was never ever any problem in my family. So

Imran Khan24:58

When she

Imran Khan24:59

First, she started complaining about pains in her stomach, and she went to various places to find out, have it diagnosed. They all came up with sort of the wrong treatment. Everyone, some said it's dysentery, amoebic dysentery, whatever. She, in fact, herself went to a certain clinic and said, Look, th there's a problem. I feel there's something, there's a blockage in one of my intestines. I actually can feel something there. And eventually they did the right test and found out that she had a tumor.

Imran Khan25:30

Now by that time

Imran Khan25:32

Valuable time had been lost. I got her to come to England, where she had it operated, but sadly

Imran Khan25:39

It had just got out of the intestine and it spread, eventually reached her liver, and she died a very painful death. Now it was at this sta being A very close to her, and secondly, watching someone that close to her in so much pain

Imran Khan25:55

The result was that it it I if I look back, it was like a watershed in my career, in my life. It suddenly changed me completely. I think it was not so much her death, but the pain she went through and the fact that it was needless. I mean, she had cancer of the intestine. It's one of the few cancers that actually can be cured very quickly, if caught early. Now, the other thing that made me realize was.

Imran Khan26:23

That in the whole of our country, 110 million people, we do not have one cancer hospital.

Imran Khan26:29

What I'm trying to do right now is this setting up a cancer hospital, which means, you know, I have never worked as much as this in my whole life.

Presenter26:38

So when you say that was a watershed in your life, you're saying that doing something about that has given you a point in your life, a new point, a new goal to aim at.

Imran Khan26:46

Well, much more than that. You know, first of all, it was, you know, the shock, the pain, then I wanted to do something. But it was more the awareness. I think the reason of the hospital was not so much my mother dying of cancer, it was the awareness that it brought me.

Presenter27:02

Some more music.

Imran Khan27:05

Okay, the number song number seven is from again Nusrat Fatih Ali Khan and this is called Allahu and this is a song in praise of God and this is just something which I've seen during these big festivals drive a whole crowd crazy.

Speaker 227:39

I didn't know now.

Speaker 227:41

Mala kuna kula kana jali kala hoo, mala huna ya na yuna hoo.

Speaker 227:47

I'm a laugh who was the last

Presenter27:55

Nusrad Fateh Ali Khan, again singing Allahu. So we prepare to cast you away, Imran. You're you're obviously a fighter, an ambitious man, you said, determined. Are you a practical man as well? Can you build a shelter for yourself, or shoot something to eat, or catch something to eat?

Imran Khan28:11

Shoot, yes, but I'm not sure about building shelters, but I suppose I eventually would.

Presenter28:16

I you're a man of the hills, aren't you? You say you you like to go off into the hills and just drink in the calm and the peace. Is that what you like?

Imran Khan28:23

I love the mountains. You know, we have in Pakistan probably the greatest mountain scenery in the world because we have the roof of the world. You know, the Karakuram mountain range is the highest in the world.

Presenter28:35

So you'll enjoy the the the peace and the aloneness of life on a desert island. What do you think you'll miss most from life here?

Imran Khan28:45

I think what I miss most, uh I what I will miss is the stimulation one gets by meeting people. Now I love good minds. I can't do as much reading as I would want to. And so when you when you come across people who are well read or who who are experts in this subject in any field, I really enjoy uh listening to them.

Presenter29:07

Last record.

Imran Khan29:09

Okay, this is one of my favorites of music in the from the West. And this is Pink Floyd and Us and Them. The reason I like it is because

Imran Khan29:21

For some reason, whenever I listen to it, it gives me.

Imran Khan29:28

A feeling of tranquillity.

Imran Khan29:31

You know, I really feel uh that this record uh just completely relaxes me. If I was a meditating man, which I'm not, I would meditate with this song.

Speaker 229:42

Uh

Speaker 229:48

And them

Speaker 229:56

And after all

Speaker 229:59

We're only ordinary men.

Presenter30:09

Pink Floyd and Us and Them. So which one of the eight records will you need with you most on the island, Imra?

Imran Khan30:17

Can I have two choices?

Presenter30:18

No.

Imran Khan30:20

Well then it'll have to be

Imran Khan30:24

I suppose I take this one, us and them.

Presenter30:26

Now on the beach waiting for you is the the Bible, if you want it, and the complete works of Shakespeare.

Presenter30:34

What other book would you like to have with you?

Imran Khan30:36

The one I would like is a book written by one of the greatest philosophers poets of the subcontinent. His name was Iqbal, and he wrote this book, Bangedara.

Imran Khan30:48

Firstly, it's poetry. But the the poetry is about

Imran Khan30:54

how it's about Islam and it's about also trying to tell the younger generation this is written by the way in the twenties and the thirties and he's trying to tell the younger generation of Muslims who were then uh ruled by the British and to rise again, but rise sort of mentally to understand the essence of Islam.

Presenter31:15

and a luxury.

Imran Khan31:17

Uh well, a luxury if I could have it would be

Imran Khan31:20

A gun. I know that it's not allowed to shoot your food. So it would be a twelve bow gun to do some clay pigeon shooting there.

Presenter31:29

So you need a machine to shoot up the clay pigeons as well.

Imran Khan31:32

Yeah, the gun and the cliff and shooting machine.

Presenter31:35

Uh

Imran Khan31:35

It's something actually I really enjoy. I mean, it doesn't have to be killing things, but I actually just um

Presenter31:35

The

Imran Khan31:40

It's uh something I've done all my life, uh shooting. Uh not as much as I'd like to, but but I would quite just enjoy clipage and shooting there.

Presenter31:50

You shall have it. Imran Khan, thank you very much indeed for letting us hear your desert island discs.

Imran Khan31:55

Thank you.

Speaker 332:03

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