Duncan Goodhew

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 two, and the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Presenter0:31

My castaway this week is a sportsman. His career was chosen for him when, at the age of five, he watched a bulldozer digging up the family tennis court to replace it with a swimming pool. From that moment, swimming became his life. When he was nineteen, he represented Britain at the Montreal Olympics, but his nerve failed him and he won no medals. Four years later, however, he recovered to carry off the gold for the hundred metres breaststroke at the Moscow Games.

Presenter0:57

Completely bald as a result of a childhood accident, he now campaigns vigorously for fitness and health, and also in support of those who, like him, have lost all their hair. He is Duncan Goodhue. So it was a a bulldozer, Duncan, that set you on the path to fame. Can you can you still see this machine in your mind's eye?

Duncan Goodhew1:15

Yeah, I I was about five years old and I remember this a commotion going on and this bulldozer started attacking the tennis court. And I thought it was uh some kind of animal or something like this. And as I crept closer and once in a while this thing would swing round and and go for me and I'd run back clinging to mummy's legs. But it took a while to dig up the tennis court and I think my father was in mourning at the time because there were super little holes in this grass tennis court and he knew which where each one was, so he always won.

Presenter1:47

So why did why did he make this momentous decision then to dig it up?

Duncan Goodhew1:51

Well, everybody thought he was absolutely mad at the time, because nobody had outdoor swimming pools, but he he always liked swimming. And later on actually, before he knew that I was going to become a a fairly good swimmer, he said to me, um, in terms of fun, it was the best investment he ever made.

Duncan Goodhew2:07

Because from that moment on, once they filled it up, we spent all our time swimming around in the pool, having a great time.

Presenter2:13

And were you always then competitive from that moment on? Did you leap into the pool, start swimming straight away, and want to beat everybody? It was terrible.

Duncan Goodhew2:20

Oh.

Duncan Goodhew2:21

I didn't actually leap in. My my mother put me in flippers and armbands and rubber rings and and I kind of uh got in slowly and gradually. The armbands and the rubber ring were removed very quickly by me actually, I think, but the flippers stayed on for probably about two years.

Duncan Goodhew2:38

And then eventually they were surgically removed and I was told I wasn't allowed to have them on anymore. But i it was funny, when they took the flippers off, I really had a problem with swimming. I started to sink actually. It wasn't until I met well I went to prep school, Windersham House School, and the swimming master there, Tony Roberts, said, We're learning how to swim breaststroke this lesson. And I followed his instructions to the letter, and suddenly here it was, and it felt so right.

Presenter3:09

I'm not sure. I don't think I've ever cast away a swimmer before. W will you immediately get into training on the island to escape by water?

Duncan Goodhew3:16

Depends on the sharks. I'm a I have a bit of a fear for the sharks. But yes, I mean, it the water uh around a desert island, as I would imagine, is, you know, coral white sands and you you're swimming in this water, which is just terrific.

Presenter3:31

So you'll be in the water all the time. Will you ever be sitting on the beach listening to any of this music you're going to take with you?

Duncan Goodhew3:36

I think I have to dry out a little bit, otherwise it it might dissolve.

Presenter3:40

So what's the first record you'll play there?

Duncan Goodhew3:42

Well, it's it's a piece of music that I used a lot to psych myself up for for the Olympic Games and for swimming. It's a piece by Bach, but been changed a little bit to Carter by Skye.

Presenter4:22

Skye playing Bach's Decarter. Well, now, Duncan, how did that music help you win the gold medal? Explain to me.

Duncan Goodhew4:29

I think success or winning at something is is difficult and especially came difficult to me because it wasn't natural.

Duncan Goodhew4:37

So what I did was I went back and said, you know, what is the perfect dive? How many strokes the first length? How many strokes the second length? And what is the ultimate swim that I can achieve? And to do that, I found that the best way was to sit down and actually picture it in my mind. And I found listening to that piece of music really helped that.

Presenter4:57

You're psyching yourself into a positive mode, aren't you?

Duncan Goodhew5:00

Oh, absolutely. You get to the point where swimming or any any sport, anything, you've actually got to decide that you are good enough to win. And that's a very difficult thing to do.

Presenter5:12

But yeah, it's quite I mean, how do you stop doubt creeping in? I think most people have a a sort of inner voice when they're up against it that says you're not going to do it.

Duncan Goodhew5:19

I I think the visualization does help tremendously. Obviously, you've got to do all the work. And slowly, it's just the final step you take and say, yes, it is possible.

Presenter5:31

So you've got to do all the physical training obviously first, which can be certainly at international competitive level very punishing.

Duncan Goodhew5:38

Well on a good day or a bad day I'd say it was a bad day. The coach would say it was a good day. I have swum as far as 20,000 metres which is about I think it's 800 odd lengths of your average swimming pool. On top of that I would do weights as well. So it is quite a long way and people say don't you get bored? I said well there's a lot of tiles to count on the bottom yes.

Presenter6:02

That is the point actually, that that that perhaps in swimming more than any other sport you're you're kind of out of touch. All your other senses are blocked off, really, aren't they? Unlike when you're running you can see or hear somebody on your tail. When you're swimming, presumably you can't see much and you can't hear much either.

Duncan Goodhew6:17

That's right. You're almost alone, really, in some ways.

Presenter6:22

Echo number two.

Duncan Goodhew6:23

I had the most terrific holidays as a child. Uh we we have a house in Alderney. It's actually called Mother Friday's House because uh my father bought it in nineteen fifty five o a widow who used to sit at the the step and put her hand out on a Friday evening as her sons came round the corner having had their pay packets, so it's called Mother Friday's House. And then after that we we uh got a place in Corfu. In in fact, uh it the house we had was uh Lawrence Durrell's at one point that he uh built on the top floor.

Duncan Goodhew6:58

And uh perhaps perhaps the stories and memories I've got are more like his brothers, my family and other animals.

Duncan Goodhew7:04

But it's absolutely terrific memories and and a bit of Greek music really brings those back.

Presenter7:39

That was George Zambetas and Two Sacana and memories of Greek holidays as a child for Duncan Goodhue.

Presenter7:47

We were talking about confidence, positive thinking, characteristics which by all accounts you didn't have as a child.

Duncan Goodhew7:54

I suppose I started off well, um, but I found school a real effort. It took a long time for me to find out exactly the problem. Uh in fact I was fourteen when eventually I found out I was dyslexic. I remember about the age of seven or eight, sitting in English class and the English teacher came in and said, Duncan, would you read please? And I got up and I started on the first kind of

Duncan Goodhew8:19

Paragraph, and after a couple of words, I stuttered and stammered to a halt, and I just couldn't get any further. And there were a few laughs from the class and everything. I described it later. It's almost like a knife going into your self-esteem. And it really gave me a reason, I suppose, to look around for something I was good at. So I now thank it because for that reason I found swimming. And when Tony Roberts said to me, after my first swim in the pool, I'd swum up and down. And he actually timed me, and I'd only been swimming breaststroke for literally a few minutes. And he said, Duncan, stay behind for a few minutes. And the class fell out, and Tony Roberts said, Duncan, would you be interested in swimming in the swimming team? And it was like.

Duncan Goodhew9:10

Somebody wants me for something. And and and I think it's a great shame so many people have so much talent and they they don't appreciate it.

Presenter9:19

But then, of course, you developed another problem because at the age of ten you went completely bald, you became entirely hairless. How did that happen?

Duncan Goodhew9:28

I was in a PE class and we actually did an assault course and there was this rope from the top of this well, midway up a tree, about eighteen feet off the ground, that went at an angle down to the ground.

Duncan Goodhew9:41

And I got up there and uh I was in a hurry.

Duncan Goodhew9:44

and I leant out as far as I could and grabbed the rope.

Duncan Goodhew9:47

And my my wrists, I was supposed about ten years old, were too immature to hold the weight and they just let go.

Duncan Goodhew9:54

So I fell some eighteen feet and and landed on the root of the tree on my lip.

Duncan Goodhew10:00

It became very swollen, got black eyes, and um a few months later I started to get bald patches. So we went to the specialist and they they they tried everything. They they they didn't know what was wrong, and and eventually they said the only thing they could attribute it to was the the fool.

Duncan Goodhew10:16

About ten months later I w was wrestling, uh actually having games, and we were outdoors and looked up and the whole mat was covered with hair.

Duncan Goodhew10:28

And I had this huge bald patch right the way across the whole of my head with a fringe running round the edge. I looked just like a friar.

Presenter10:28

Uh

Presenter10:37

And then the fringe disappears.

Duncan Goodhew10:38

Yeah, after after about uh three months, everything all over my body just

Presenter10:42

And your eyelashes went as well.

Duncan Goodhew10:43

Yeah, yeah, they they were actually it was irritating as a as a boy. I I was a bit dangerous on a bike because eyelashes, you know, stop insects getting into the eyes. So I had many a moment of temporary blindness while in control of a bicycle.

Presenter10:58

But, nevertheless, I mean, you you can smile about it now and you can tell the story, but it must have been, again, a very traumatic experience for a young boy who was already being teased because he seemed to be a bit dim.

Duncan Goodhew11:08

At the time it was not a lot of fun, but it really did solidify my determination to do something about my swimming.

Presenter11:16

But did it also change your character a bit? Did it make you aggressive to sort of have a go back? Because.

Duncan Goodhew11:23

Yeah, well I I suppose it I I did really feel uh uh a slight case of paranoia. But I I think that's a natural reaction of of a lot of people. They kind of feel very edgy about it. And it took me years and years to really overcome it.

Presenter11:33

Absolutely.

Presenter11:37

Was there a moment, was there a a a turning point when you thought to yourself, I'm not gonna feel self-pity anymore, I'm just gonna get up and go and do what I do.

Duncan Goodhew11:44

Absolutely, and and in fact uh the next record I've picked, the reason I picked it was for that uh that reason. I was about sixteen, seventeen years old. Uh it's on the turn as it were. Girls were in the uh in the offering and I used to have to walk past the tennis courts on my way to the pool and there were two very desirable young ladies, both of them on the tennis team. And uh one of them I'll just call her Sally. Obviously, you know, for some reason.

Duncan Goodhew12:15

had an interest in me and and when she started talking to me I nearly fell over backwards'cause I never expected this to happen.

Duncan Goodhew12:24

So she she must have been a very patient girl,'cause she tried for quite a while to talk to me and I found myself with my tongue tied and every other word I wanted to say to her. I'm sorry, I'm bald to her. And eventually we went to a hop, a little dance, and I knew at that point I'd lost her and they played Nielsen Without You.

Speaker 112:49

If living is without you, I can't live

Speaker 112:56

Can't give anymore

Speaker 113:00

Yeah, yeah.

Presenter13:12

Nielsen, without you.

Duncan Goodhew13:14

After that that hop I felt so depressed and I kept on hearing that music. And one day I walked into uh my common room and there was probably one of the bravest people I have ever met. He had polio, he had a club foot, hooked arm, stunted growth, but just a heart of gold and he he smiled just a teeny knowing smile.

Duncan Goodhew13:38

And he said, Dunk, what's your problem?

Speaker 113:41

Hmm.

Presenter13:41

Yeah.

Duncan Goodhew13:41

And since then I have never looked back.

Duncan Goodhew13:45

And it's never been a problem.

Presenter13:47

Do you believe in a bit of fate in all of this, that um that you know you were perhaps meant to be a swimmer and perhaps meant to be a famous one?

Duncan Goodhew13:55

I I I don't think until recently I I realized how much it had played a part. In swimming you actually shave your body before you swim in the pool. It's like taking the barnacles and the weed off the bottom of the boat. You swim faster. Um unfortunately of course I don't have any to take off so not even a laser would help me.

Duncan Goodhew14:16

That I think that

Duncan Goodhew14:18

Throughout my teens.

Duncan Goodhew14:20

I used it. I said, well, you know, here I am a swimmer. I'm good at swimming. I've lost my hair. It all fits. So it kind of strengthened my belief in some kind of destiny, some kind of path in life that you have the choice to follow if you want to or if you choose to push yourself. But like everything, it has a cost. And with a cost, it actually, when you get to the end of it, is worth even more.

Presenter14:49

More music.

Duncan Goodhew14:50

Well

Duncan Goodhew14:51

I had my little rebellious stage. In fact, I I ended up in a university in America, North Carolina State, studying some business and economics. And the man there is the boss, Bruce Springsteen, Badlands.

Speaker 115:07

I wanna go out tonight, I wanna find out what I got.

Speaker 115:17

Believe the Lord!

Speaker 115:19

That you gave me, I believe in my faith.

Speaker 115:23

That can save me, I believe in the hope and I pray that someday it may

Presenter15:34

Bruce Springsteen and Badlands, and memories of North Carolina State University. How did you come to end up there, Duncan?

Duncan Goodhew15:42

Well, um my father died in nineteen seventy two.

Duncan Goodhew15:46

um when I was about sixteen years old. I suppose it changed a lot because again it it um helped me find a direction in my life. And I suppose the real moment was my mother just coming up to me and saying, Duncan, um, we can't afford to keep you at Millfield any longer. What do you want to do with yourself?

Duncan Goodhew16:05

I suddenly, clear as day, knew that what I wanted to do more than anything else in the world was swim.

Duncan Goodhew16:12

And um I desperately looked around in Britain to how I could manage to to fit in my swimming and and carry on some kind of education. And um eventually the the coach, Paddy Garrett, said, Um how about going to American University? Now for somebody who is dyslexic this was quite a funny thing to to say, but I was really lucky because um out in the States they have an SAT exam, standard aptitude test, which is a little like an IQ test and I don't have a problem with IQ, it's reading or writing I have a problem.

Presenter16:44

So in you went. And it was from there that you went to Montreal in 1976.

Duncan Goodhew16:46

To

Presenter16:51

Uh to represent Britain. Was that the first time you'd ever represented your country?

Duncan Goodhew16:55

That was my first cap for Great Britain, uh and it was such a moment because if if it's not nerve wracking enough uh swimming for Britain, but having the first one at at Olympic Games in Montreal of all Olympic Games.

Presenter17:07

In front of the Queen.

Duncan Goodhew17:09

That's right. Well, I I I kind of walked out and it was most unexpected. I got level with the block, you know, first heat of the day, and she walked in and sat down. I couldn't believe it.

Presenter17:18

And was it in front of her that you actually broke the Olympic records, which you did in one of the heats? Did you

Duncan Goodhew17:22

That that's right. Not only had I swum in front of the Queen on my first international, but broken the Olympic record and got through to the semifinals, which was just fantastic.

Presenter17:33

And then you blew it. It all went well.

Duncan Goodhew17:35

Yes, uh you could say that. I got a little nervous. Well, the thing was, we left the Olympic village, I suppose, about half past four, David Wilkin and myself, and we went down to the pool and and we didn't swim till after nine o'clock at night. And uh y you get marshalled, oh, some forty-five minutes before your event, into this all I can say is a box.

Duncan Goodhew18:00

It was glass on three walls, double glaze, couldn't hear anything that was going on outside, and it was also one way glass, so they couldn't see you inside, and there was a T V monitor either end of the box showing you what you could see going on outside.

Presenter18:13

And it's just you in this box?

Duncan Goodhew18:15

Just the eight fastest people in the world.

Duncan Goodhew18:18

And uh it was quiet.

Duncan Goodhew18:21

Very quiet. And I suddenly thought

Presenter18:21

Bury

Duncan Goodhew18:24

I don't feel so good.

Duncan Goodhew18:27

So you

Presenter18:27

So you lost it all then and there?

Duncan Goodhew18:29

Round and round in my m mind and and I felt so dreadful.

Presenter18:33

And you came in seventh, and you went away with your tail between your legs. So then it was four years later, the Moscow Olympics, 1980, but

Duncan Goodhew18:34

Yeah, so

Presenter18:42

By that stage Russia had invaded Afghanistan and the Americans of course boycotted the games and the British Government advised its athletes that it really would rather they didn't go. But you decided to go. Have you ever regretted the decision?

Duncan Goodhew18:55

No, not at all. I mean, I felt the Olympics at the time was in such a a fragile state that if it had truly been a hundred percent boycotted, it would have actually finished what is the greatest show on earth.

Presenter19:10

So how did you feel then when having won the gold and you mounted the podium that the Olympic flag went up, not the Union Jack, and they played the Olympic anthem, not the national anthem?

Duncan Goodhew19:20

My real moment had been minutes before. I was twenty five metres out from the end. A lot had gone wrong in the race, and I'd I'd actually had an injury for sixteen weeks before that.

Duncan Goodhew19:33

And I could feel the thing slipping, and I heard myself saying, Duncan, if you don't do something right now, you're not gonna win.

Duncan Goodhew19:42

And that's totally absurd.

Duncan Goodhew19:45

And and it all clicked together, touched the end, and I knew in my heart I'd won.

Duncan Goodhew19:51

And uh I grabbed the block.

Duncan Goodhew19:53

And I thought, I'm going to savour this moment, because it's never going to be quite the same after this.

Duncan Goodhew19:59

And they say when you drown, your whole life goes before your eyes. Well, in that case, I was drowning in my own emotion,'cause everything was there, my parents.

Duncan Goodhew20:09

The work, the people, where I was from. It was most extraordinary. And it was only a fraction of a second too. So w when I got up on the on the rostrum there and they played the this very long tune and and raised the um Olympic flags, I was already fairly flat.

Presenter20:28

Record number five.

Duncan Goodhew20:30

Well, on every uh island you you get stuck on, you can always think it's greener the other side of the fence. Well, I thought I'd take something to remind me what metropolitan life is all about. So let's hear a bit of Chris Rea, Road to Hell, Part Two.

Speaker 120:48

And the perverted fear of violence chokes the smile on every face And common sense is ringing out the bell

Speaker 121:04

This ain't no technological breakdown.

Speaker 121:10

Oh no, this is the raw home.

Speaker 121:13

To have

Presenter21:16

Chris Rhea and the Road to Hell. We've established that in many ways, Duncan, um fate had you earmarked, as it were, as a swimming star. But your father, although he died some eight years earlier, also played a part in your Olympic success, didn't he?

Duncan Goodhew21:29

Yes, um ever since he died I I mourned him terribly for about an hour, and then I felt a spirit almost like

Duncan Goodhew21:38

in me from him. And um I was going through a particularly difficult time in my swimming career. I'd been to the Montreal Olympics and after that I really fell into the doldrums. It was as if my talent had all washed away and I spent months rebuilding it. I was at the European Championships.

Duncan Goodhew22:04

It was testing time. Literally within days I was going to be tested to find out if I really had this talent or was just a flash in the pan.

Duncan Goodhew22:12

And when I lost my hair,

Duncan Goodhew22:15

One of the things that apparently is characteristic of people who have total alopecia is that um they don't remember their dreams. And I perhaps re remember one or two dreams a year and I I I woke up having had a dream and it was a dream of my father watching me swim with this face of total approval.

Duncan Goodhew22:41

And as I opened my eyes, on my chair was the only thing that I had of his. It was a cloth cap. And from then on I wore it at every competition that I went to, and it gave me so much strength.

Presenter22:56

And you took that with you to Moscow and and you wore it, of course, when you stood on that podium to get the gold medal, didn't you?

Duncan Goodhew23:02

Yes, it w it wouldn't it wouldn't lea leave my side, literally.

Presenter23:05

You actually walked on in it at the beginning before the race with with the dressing gown on and the flat cap.

Duncan Goodhew23:10

It's very important to keep heat in the body, so it wasn't it was uh actually had a function as well.

Presenter23:16

And do you still have the cap?

Duncan Goodhew23:18

Unfortunately not. I swam in the relay shortly after that and um

Duncan Goodhew23:24

It was the last swim of my career. I decided to retire. And I got home to the Olympic village and it it had gone. I think um either it had dropped or or um somebody had taken it as a souvenir. So it was it was a very sad moment in a way, but perhaps an appropriate moment because it was one stage of my life finishing and another one starting.

Presenter23:48

Next record.

Duncan Goodhew23:50

I would like to play the theme tune to Chariots of Fire by Vengelus, which every time I hear it brings goosebumps to the back of my head. In fact, it would ev even grow hair on the back of my head.

Presenter24:33

Vangelis and the theme from Chariots of Fire. You were twenty-three when you won your gold medal, Duncan, and then you gave up competitive swimming immediately afterwards. Why did you do that?

Duncan Goodhew24:43

I suppose, first of all, there's no reason to continue. I mean, ultimately sport.

Duncan Goodhew24:49

uh is probably the most self-indulgent thing you can do.

Duncan Goodhew24:53

Everything takes second place to your sport. And I it's funny, people are very understanding of that as well. I'm not sure why. I suppose it's so clear cut, either you win or lose.

Duncan Goodhew25:05

There's no grey.

Presenter25:06

But you could have gone on to a second Olympics, to the eighty four Olympics, couldn't you?

Duncan Goodhew25:10

It would have been very difficult.

Duncan Goodhew25:12

First of all, I mean, there was no funding.

Duncan Goodhew25:15

And so it would have been awkward financially for me. And I'd spent four years in the States avoiding a career and things like that. But what else would I have done in the meantime? Because it is a full-time job, there's no doubt about that. And also I feel life has got a balance to it. You put into things and you get out. And I reckon I'd really optimized that. If I'd gone on any more, all of the work that was a joy in a way to me would have come, I think, too much.

Presenter25:49

So you quit Twaniwood ahead. Um but you did

Duncan Goodhew25:51

Yeah, good way to put it actually. I like that. Yeah, yes, I'll remember that one.

Presenter25:52

It's here.

Presenter25:55

You did take up bobsleighing, though, didn't you, after that from the from the swimming pool to the the Cresta run, a hundred miles an hour.

Duncan Goodhew26:01

It was just so exciting. I mean, the other axiom I think is very exciting that I found from sport is you haven't seen life till you've seen death. And Bobsleigh certainly is that. And after my first little brush, I decided life was pretty bad, but pretty good rather, and I didn't want to mess it up Bobsleigh.

Presenter26:23

So how have you gone on then to make a living? I mean, obviously at that stage, when you gave it up, aged twenty three, you were established, you were a celebrity, recognized wherever you went. You obviously set about quite naturally exploiting that.

Duncan Goodhew26:35

It was a bit of a shock actually, because it I wasn't used to that type of thing. Yeah, I mean I felt that it was going to open a lot of doors and fortunately I I had other commitments in the family, business, etc. So although they weren't time commitments, they they would certainly prop me up if if everything fell down. So I decided to take a view and open the doors for business. It took a while to establish that I could do my job and then people started coming to me and saying, Duncan, would you do this and that?

Presenter27:09

What do you do?

Duncan Goodhew27:10

I suppose I'm promotional s businessman. Uh I I have a a number of different ventures from catering uh to health clubs. None of them are full-time jobs. Um so I'm a good cheerleader, I suppose.

Presenter27:26

Record number seven.

Duncan Goodhew27:28

Well, it's a piece of music that, uh

Duncan Goodhew27:30

Reminds me of the first meeting of my wife, Brian Ferry Avalon.

Speaker 127:36

Every morning.

Speaker 127:39

And your destination

Speaker 127:43

You don't know

Speaker 127:51

Uh

Presenter28:04

Brian Ferry and Avalon, and memories uh for your desert island of your wife, Annie, and you have a baby daughter, Victoria, I think.

Duncan Goodhew28:11

That's right.

Presenter28:12

How old is she?

Duncan Goodhew28:13

She's 15 months old. And does she swim? Oh, she gets in and swims, yes. She's still in the kind of.

Presenter28:14

And as she swung

Duncan Goodhew28:19

Her armbands dage at the moment, but I'm working on her heart.

Presenter28:23

But you feel very strongly about children being able to swim, don't you?

Duncan Goodhew28:26

Oh, absolutely. I'm I I think that swimming goes along with r reading, writing and all those things. If you can't swim, I think it's a great shame, because not only is it the best form of exercise, it actually is uh one of those major things in your life. I mean how often

Presenter28:42

So it should be part of the core curriculum as far as

Duncan Goodhew28:45

Oh, absolutely, yeah. I mean, how often do you go on holidays? And if you can't swim, then you feel inadequate. And I think that's a great shame and the school system has failed.

Presenter28:51

To the night.

Presenter28:54

Do you do you think we're neglectful of our children's fitness? Do you think we're guilty of thinking, Oh, well, they're running about all the time, they must be okay and physically fit?

Duncan Goodhew29:02

It is actually very worrying. There's some reports coming out that will, I think, show how serious a problem it is. 30% of our nation is dying of heart disease. It's intolerable. And really, the school system has not come to terms with it. And I don't think we as parents have come to terms with it. You know, everything is saying you have a responsibility. And I do hope that slowly the message will get across. And even if you're ignoring the kind of health scare of it, exercise creates endomorphines in your body, which stimulates your brain. So you actually get what's called an exercise high, which feels fantastic.

Presenter29:46

So so left o on a desert island, you would become supremely fit, you'd miss your family like mad, and you'd swim for the horizon as soon as you felt up to it, would you?

Duncan Goodhew29:55

Well, I could leave any time.

Presenter29:56

Would you?

Duncan Goodhew29:56

Would you? But, um, you know, I might enjoy the sunshine for a little while and and um play the records, think of my wife and and my little Victoria Florence and float off home.

Presenter30:07

So you're a man who it's impossible to cast away?

Duncan Goodhew30:11

I I don't know. If there were lots of sharks in that water, I think it might keep me hostage.

Presenter30:16

Record number eight.

Duncan Goodhew30:17

Well, it's a record that holds a lot of special things for me because my wife was on the way to Florence when I met her. My grandmother's called Florence, and in fact, Florence is a place that just captures something for both my wife and I. It's Kiri Takanawa's O Mio Babino Caro. And it was part of obviously a famous opera, but also a theme tune of Room with a View. It's a lovely piece of music.

Speaker 130:51

Each boy and darling is in love with all

Speaker 131:16

Per bud vieno.

Speaker 131:22

Damn.

Speaker 131:23

Yeah.

Presenter31:45

Kiri Takano were singing Puccini's Omio Babino Caro, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir John Pritchard. So now, Duncan Gutier, you have to say which of those eight records is the one that you'd take more than any of the others?

Duncan Goodhew32:00

I think having just heard that, Kirita Kanawa, she is just her voice is so lovely, and um for anybody who's met her she she's just as charming to meet as well.

Presenter32:11

Right. And your book? You've got the Bible and Shakespeare waiting for you.

Duncan Goodhew32:15

All right, so I've got some some heavy reading. Um I I think uh one of the books that I've really enjoyed reading several times um uh it's really uh a bit of nonsense in a way, but um yes, Lord of the Rings by Tolkien.

Presenter32:29

And your luxury.

Duncan Goodhew32:31

Oh, it's got to be a wig, doesn't it?

Duncan Goodhew32:33

I mean all that sun, it's you know, I I'd I'd get sunburnt out there, I'd have to protect it. And when it rains I have a an awful problem too, because it's uh like a tin roof, it's very noisy inside, so protect me from that.

Presenter32:47

It's a bit practical, but I don't think I can deny you. If you want a wig, you'll have a wig. Duncan Goodyu, thank you very much indeed for letting us hear your desert island discs.

Duncan Goodhew32:56

Thank you very much, Sue.

Speaker 333:04

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