Fred Streeter

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and you are listening to Desert Island Discs.

Speaker 10:05

This edition of Desert Island Discs was archived without the music, so although the Castaways choices are introduced, they're not part of this recording.

Speaker 10:15

Full details can be found on the Castaways page on the Desert Island Disc's website.

Speaker 10:21

The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen fifty seven, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:28

How do you do, ladies and gentlemen?

Presenter0:29

Our castaway this week is a countryman. He's a very popular broadcaster. For many years he's helped us with our gardening problems on the air and on television. Here is Fred Streeter.

Presenter0:40

Alfred, how do you face up to this idea of being on a desert island?

Fred Streeter0:43

Well, you know, I'm really going to love it. Oh, I think it's a new adventure for me, and uh I shall look forward to laying this island out, just as an island should be laid out.

Fred Streeter0:53

With all the new tropical stuff, I should be that interested and uh you know I shan't know either time goes at all. You're really facing this with a lot of confidence and excitement. Oh, yes, it'll be a new life for me altogether. Well, you've got eight records to go with you. You anything of a musician yourself? No, not much of a musician. I was in the choir, but the organist he wanted to get rid of me, you know, for some reason or other. You don't know what it was? Uh, no, I don't know. I think he thought I ought to be outside weeding or something.

Fred Streeter1:21

Well, how have you gone about choosing these records? Well, now I I thought I'd like to have one for Sunday. The Holy City by Walter Midgley, I think his name is, isn't it? If only these singers net would use flare names, I could think of'em, but I can't think of these others, you know. Why do you choose this?

Presenter1:31

If only

Speaker 11:31

Please

Fred Streeter1:37

Well, because uh it would remind me of Sunday at home and uh I should know the days of the week and I'd put a stone down to say that it was Sunday because I shouldn't lose camp at times, see, I should be working all day.

Presenter1:49

All right, let's hear it.

Presenter1:54

What next, Fred?

Fred Streeter1:55

Well, now I'm going back uh a good many years, and it it's uh Home, Sweet Home by Madam Patty. You wouldn't remember her, but you know, she used to come to the country houses where we were employed sometimes, and we could hear her singing uh in the drawing room,'cause we were never laid in there. You you quite understand that, don't you? Garden fellows are outside. But, you know, she had a beautiful voice, and she'd got a lovely castle up in Wales, and she used to sing to her plants. Now, that's what people didn't think. They thought she sung to the people outside, but it was the plant she was singing, and she used to have her houses kept absolutely perfect, just the same temperature as she liked herself when she got out of her bath, so the plants were.

Presenter2:37

Oh, it's a lovely thing. Well, here's the record, as you say. It is rather an ancient one. In fact, it says it was recorded in December 1905.

Presenter2:45

An old record, we'll hope it does her justice, home sweet home.

Presenter2:52

Well, Home Sweet Home to you, Fred, is Sussex, isn't it? You're a Sussex man. Yes, that's right. How did you get the idea of being a

Fred Streeter2:58

Gardner, was your father a gardener?

Presenter2:59

Uh

Fred Streeter2:59

Uh no, but he he was uh you know used to work on the land, always interested in the land. When did you start? Uh well I started at the age of two. Two? Yeah, two, yes. Fell out of the bedroom window and right into the a bed of pinks. But uh my mind was made up. And you know I'm one of those chaps that as soon as my mind's made up, well, then I'm going straight for it.

Presenter3:20

Mask.

Fred Streeter3:21

Wh how old were you?

Presenter3:21

Way when you started it.

Fred Streeter3:22

Uh well I started at twelve at three shillings a week.

Presenter3:22

Uh well I started.

Fred Streeter3:25

Six uh to six. Six o'clock in the morning from six o'clock at night.

Presenter3:29

Yes, that's right.

Fred Streeter3:31

I used to love it.

Presenter3:31

How many days a w

Fred Streeter3:32

Uh oh, uh, six days a week and then on the seventh we had to go and do duty. That would be about four hours. Uh no pay in mind for that. No overtime. No overtime. What was your next job after that? Well, from that we wandered through several

Presenter3:43

Yeah.

Fred Streeter3:46

private places and into uh the big nurseries in Chelsea. Now there we got twelve shillings a week. Then I shifted on to Ireland. Oh, that was a lovely place. And uh there I stayed for

Fred Streeter3:59

Two or three years. And then from there I come back to uh England, went into Hampshire, down a place called Privet, and that's where I met my wife.

Fred Streeter4:09

And you know, I never had anything to do with girls at all, not till I met her. I was out for a walk one Sunday afternoon and she I saw this flash young lady, blue eyes, uh fair hair, you know, dog and a bicycle and I took over the bike, pushed the bike out, asked her if she was engaged, she said no. I said, When can I meet you again? Well, we got married uh four years after and uh we haven't had our honeymoon yet.

Presenter4:32

Well, Fred, we'll we'll break the rules. We see if we can get her on this island with you for a bit and so that you can have your honeymoon.

Fred Streeter4:38

Cool then would be a trait.

Presenter4:39

Wouldn't that sound?

Fred Streeter4:39

Uh well now, could I have in a monastery garden? Uh you know, by Catalby. I I think that's a lovely thing.

Speaker 14:45

Uh Uh

Presenter4:46

Enough.

Speaker 14:46

I found it.

Fred Streeter4:48

You know, uh picture all those monks in there all the day doing all these terrible jobs, but to be able to get out into the garden and see the flowers grow, you know, I'm sure it'd brighten up their lives.

Presenter5:04

Well, after in a monastery garden, let's go back to your life story, Fred. You you just got married and you were working in Hampshire.

Fred Streeter5:10

Yeah.

Presenter5:10

Yes, and then

Fred Streeter5:12

Not

Fred Streeter5:12

Of course I got my first head place.

Fred Streeter5:16

As head gardener. Yes, head gardener. Uh at the age of about twenty six. That's very young, isn't it? Oh, yes, it was uh rather too young, really.

Presenter5:16

Todga

Fred Streeter5:24

But you know what it is, you want to get on. But uh I only had seventy five pound a year then. Got married and had to keep uh keep going on that. But it it was quite all right.

Fred Streeter5:33

Then me employer died and I shifted on. I had two or three quick moves and then I went back to Ireland again as head.

Presenter5:37

Top

Fred Streeter5:41

But uh to the same

Presenter5:42

To the same plate.

Fred Streeter5:43

Same place as took over the head job. Fancy that.

Fred Streeter5:46

Uh and then

Fred Streeter5:48

From that I went out, had two years in the war.

Fred Streeter5:52

Well, that that was a rotten set out. I had two years in the Middlesex Hospital over there. I was jolly glad to get back to the garden.

Presenter5:58

Mm-hmm.

Fred Streeter5:59

Yeah.

Presenter5:59

Yeah.

Fred Streeter6:00

Well, I went back to Ireland, then I come back to Petworth Park.

Presenter6:03

Or Petros Bucket is where you are now.

Fred Streeter6:05

Yes, I've been there over thirty years now.

Presenter6:05

Yes, I've been there

Fred Streeter6:08

Who whose place is it? Well, it was uh Lord Leconfield, you know, but the present owner is Mr. John Wyndham.

Fred Streeter6:15

How big are the gardens? Oh, well, they're pretty extensive. There used to be about three hundred acres, three hundred acres under me charge. But uh not not as uh big as that now, because we haven't got the staff. I've only got five now to manage. How many should you have? Uh, well, about between thirty and forty.

Speaker 16:25

Are we gonna get

Fred Streeter6:31

Oh dear. Can't just can't get chaps to become gardeners now. Oh, no, it's too expensive. You can't employ them, not at the wage.

Presenter6:34

Yeah.

Fred Streeter6:37

Five cost more than twenty would before.

Fred Streeter6:40

Well, let's break off there and have another record.

Presenter6:41

Number four.

Fred Streeter6:43

Well, The Roses of Picardy by uh John McCormick. Yes. He was an Irish singer and you know those uh roses are famous the world over. And I think this is a beautiful song, and he sings it so lovely. I can always picture a rose in his buttonhole, you know, when I hear this song.

Fred Streeter7:04

Uh

Presenter7:04

When did you first start broadcasting, Fred?

Fred Streeter7:06

Ah

Fred Streeter7:07

Well, it was in mister Middleton time. He he asked me to come up and have a go, and that was the start of it.

Presenter7:13

Mm-hmm.

Fred Streeter7:14

And I've been on ever since.

Presenter7:16

Man Yeah.

Fred Streeter7:16

Many hundreds of growth. Yes, I don't know why, you know, because an old Sussex gardener like me broadcasting up here, I don't know.

Presenter7:22

You've never studied for horticultural degrees or diplomas or anything like that, have you, Fred? You've always been the the the pract

Fred Streeter7:28

Practical man. Uh diplomas doesn't mean anything to me, you know. Uh I'd rather grow a plant and see the plant growing and talk to it and, you know, feel that you're living with it. I uh that that's my life.

Presenter7:41

Yes, quite agree. Where do we go now? What's uh n record number five we got to?

Fred Streeter7:46

Yes, well, I should like to go back a bit now to the old theatre in Dublin, to a piece by

Fred Streeter7:53

Van Beeny called The Broken Melody, uh cello solo, you know. Yes, it was in a in a play. In a play, and this was the melody running like a thread all through the play. And you know, that's stuck to my mind all these years.

Presenter7:57

It was the

Presenter7:58

In a play and this

Fred Streeter8:06

And I should like to hear that air on the island.

Presenter8:08

Well, here's a record of it by Van Dini himself. Rather rather an old record, but nevertheless. Here it is.

Fred Streeter8:13

Well

Presenter8:13

Be old.

Presenter8:19

Broken Melody. You're very fond of the theatre, aren't you, Fred?

Fred Streeter8:22

Yes, and uh I haven't seen much of it lately, but in years gone by I was uh a pretty frequent goer, although I didn't get much money. See, I had my tickets given me.

Presenter8:32

It is

Fred Streeter8:33

And you know, I was at the uh opening night of Her Majesty's Theatre in A Market. Now you wouldn't believe that, would you? With Sir Bierbaum Tree and a play called In the Seats of the Mighty. And you know, a funny thing happened to me that night. The curtain didn't fall till midnight. You know, these curtain calls used to go up and down.

Presenter8:38

I would believe it.

Presenter8:51

Yeah.

Fred Streeter8:52

Well when I got to Charing Cross the last train had gone, so I had to start walking back to Reigate.

Presenter8:58

Yeah.

Fred Streeter8:58

I rather than miss the end of the

Presenter8:59

The play who had walked twenty something miles to rag it.

Fred Streeter9:02

Oh yes, I didn't mind that.

Presenter9:02

Yes, I didn't mind that I locked. I did see the

Fred Streeter9:04

the curtain down. But you know, something happened there uh and I never can quite understand.

Fred Streeter9:09

Uh when I got to about Purley, half way down, I someow turned round and found myself back at Westminster Bridge.

Fred Streeter9:18

Would you believe it?

Fred Streeter9:20

Perfectly true.

Presenter9:20

Okay.

Fred Streeter9:21

And then I went home the next morning uh by the first train. And a good story, I hope. Oh, yes, they the gardener met me, he said, Oh, here's this bad ape, and he turned up. Where have you been all night? Well, of course, as soon as I told him, I d I don't think he believed me, you know. But it was perfectly true.

Presenter9:37

Yeah.

Fred Streeter9:38

Oh yes, on the other plays that I saw, I saw Sir Henry Irving and Ellen Terry.

Fred Streeter9:45

Sir George Alexander, and then all the musicals. You know, you see George Roby, Little Titch, Harry Champion, all those fellows.

Speaker 19:47

Yeah.

Fred Streeter9:55

And Mary Lloyd? I've I've seen em all. As a matter of fact, I used to know a lot of them.

Fred Streeter10:01

One thing that I used to like was the Kentucky minstrels. So I I wonder if we could have uh a record of them, could we? Surely. What would you like to hear them sing?

Fred Streeter10:09

See, what is that one now? That particular one I like something about green pastures. That's it.

Presenter10:14

Green Green

Presenter10:17

Right.

Fred Streeter10:17

Uh

Presenter10:17

Yeah.

Presenter10:22

Fred, you said you're going to turn this island into a garden, um which is very nice, but how are you going to manage it in a practical sense? You're going to be able to look after yourself?

Presenter10:29

Yeah.

Fred Streeter10:29

Uh yes, I can manage that, because uh all young gardeners, you know, they have to manage.

Fred Streeter10:35

And they have to do a bit of cooking and cleaning up, make the beds and do the washing and all that.

Presenter10:40

Mm-hmm.

Fred Streeter10:41

And uh I I shouldn't be lost at that job, but you know, there's one thing I shouldn't be able to build a house or anything.

Presenter10:47

Why, have you sort of been very good at that?

Fred Streeter10:49

No, I'm I can't drive a nail in. Do you know when I got married, the first thing my wife asked me was to put up a shelf in the scullery to put the saucepans on. Well, you know, I put the shelf up, the first saucepan was put up, come down. Now I've never been asked to put up a shelf since. That's a very subtle ruse. Obviously you made that shelf fall down.

Presenter10:49

Not

Speaker 110:58

But yeah.

Presenter11:07

And so you wouldn't never be asked again.

Fred Streeter11:09

Well well, I couldn't say that, you know, but it can't

Presenter11:11

And you know, but it comes They know, right?

Fred Streeter11:12

And I can't drive a nail straight. I'm no use to that at all.

Presenter11:17

Well, you wouldn't have any tools, so you wouldn't have to drive many nails.

Fred Streeter11:17

Yeah, but

Presenter11:20

No no tools.

Fred Streeter11:24

Yes, well now could I get some good shells, good scallop shells or something, that I could work the sand? Because I think it'll be sand. It won't be heavy clay, will it? It's sandy soil, yes. Well, and I should start one end and work through as quickly as I could and as well as I could.

Presenter11:32

He played willing.

Speaker 111:32

Yeah.

Fred Streeter11:40

And I should try and have a a special garden to make it worth, you know, if anyone's while going to look at it. Can you fish? Uh fish? No.

Presenter11:49

No.

Fred Streeter11:49

Oh, I got no time for fishing. No, and I don't like fish either. No. Any good at uh

Fred Streeter11:55

I was going to say poaching, let's put trapping.

Fred Streeter11:58

Oh, no. Uh, you see, I married a keeper's daughter. Oh, well, obviously you wouldn't know anything about it. No, I don't know anything about that. Mm-hmm. No, so I should grow vegetables and salads and live on them and I should be

Presenter12:03

I don't know.

Presenter12:07

I should be perfectly happy. What very decorative and very happy island you're gonna have. Let's have some more music to go on it.

Fred Streeter12:13

Uh I should like to have uh another flare one if I could. You know, We'll Gather Lilacs by Richard Tolbert. Could I have that one please?

Presenter12:26

And now we've come to your last record. What's that going to be?

Fred Streeter12:30

Could I have Sussex by the Sea? I'm an old country chap and as I go round the flare shows and the fates and the church parades and that, you always get Sussex by the sea and get it with a military band. Nothing like it in the world. And you should see those old Sussex uh plodders, you know, march to it. Beautiful. And that would bring me back to say, oh well, I don't think there's any place like Sussex after all.

Presenter13:01

Good old Sussex by the sea, played by the band of the Royal Air Force. Well, there are your records, Fred. Now you've still got your luxury item to choose. What one luxury would you like to take on this island?

Presenter13:11

Could I have a greenhouse, please?

Presenter13:13

Oh, wait a minute, now is that a luxury?

Presenter13:16

Um

Presenter13:17

Well what do you want to grab?

Fred Streeter13:18

Uh orchids and all fancy stuff that uh would make these other fellows jealous from the Chelsea show and that.

Presenter13:25

All right, if you'll promise not to grow food in it, not use it as shelter, not to live in it, certainly we shall have a very handsome greenhouse.

Fred Streeter13:32

Oh, thank you very much. And could I have the latest dictionary, please, to keep me up to date? What sort of dictionary? Uh oh, garden dictionary. I shouldn't want anything else. I should think the garden dictionary people come to you for names, don't they? Uh well they do in some, you know, but uh out on this island I should so busy with these shells making me garden that I must keep me memory right.

Presenter13:51

All right, you shall have your dictionary. And thank you very much, Fred Streeter, for letting us know your choice of desert island is.

Fred Streeter13:56

Well, thank you very much for giving me the chance to go over there.

Presenter13:59

Uh

Fred Streeter14:00

I shall love it.

Presenter14:01

Uh

Fred Streeter14:01

Goodbye, everyone.