Miriam Margolyes

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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.

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The programme was originally broadcast in two thousand eight.

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My castaway this week is Miriam Margulies. The term character actress could well have been coined just for her. She has spent a career bringing fruity, rich, full bodied individuals to our screens, with more than forty movie credits to her name.

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and her extraordinary ear for dialect and dialogue has earned her a place as the busiest voice in the business.

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She has spent a lifetime not just working hard, but dealing too with the disappointment that she's not the most important person on earth. She has her doting parents to blame for that particular delusion. They were a family so wrapped up in each other, she says, that the outside world had almost no emotional significance for me.

Presenter1:06

Miriam Margleys, I'm wondering then if you're over that, not being the most important person in the world.

Presenter1:11

I hope I am, because I'd be a really damaged creature if I weren't. But I do still think sometimes that I should be treated better. I mean, it's taken a jolly long time to get on to Desert Island Isque, so I'm really glad to be here, because it is a mark of having arrived at something. Indeed. Well, you're here now, so let's enjoy it. And and what about this volume of work that you churn out? Are you just a girl who can't say no to work?

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Well, under certain circumstances. Uh I don't know. I

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It never seems to me that I have the career that I want, but I think all actors say that. I'm not I'm not happy with with what I've given to the world. I'm so surprised that you say that.

Miriam Margolyes1:50

I'm a s

Presenter1:52

Honestly, I I've I think I'm underused and undervalued and and perhaps slightly despised. I've got a good voice, and my whole life really is based on voice and on understanding voices and searching for people's backgrounds, using voice as my starting off point. But

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No, I I wanted more out of

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out of my skills. I wanted to do Shakespeare, I wanted to be at the National, I wanted to to be admired as an actress, and I think at the moment I'm just kind of smiled at as an actress, and I want to touch people, and I want to

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I want to hurt and astonish, I think, and I haven't done that yet, but maybe I will. What makes you think you haven't?

Presenter2:40

Well, because nobody says so, she said rather wistfully. No. I I think there's a lot more to do, and I'm sixty seven.

Presenter2:48

Uh and if I'm lucky, I I have another ten years or so if I'm lucky. And I look back on what I've done and what I've achieved, and it's not enough. There's a lot of the spoken word in your choices today. Does that m mark a particular antipathy towards music, or is it just that your world is about words? I think it's not antipathy to music, because I do listen to music, but I don't

Presenter3:10

Bye.

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I have to call them records. It's not called records anymore, but that's what I always call them records.

Miriam Margolyes3:14

That's all right.

Presenter3:17

I don't understand all this noisy banging sort of music. Is it called garage? I mean, for me, garage is where you keep your car. I don't understand. And me, we're perfectly matched, and that regardless

Miriam Margolyes3:24

And me.

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Tell me about your first choice today.

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You mentioned that voice was important to me, and one of the first voices that I remember. Impinging on my life was Dylan Thomas.

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And the richness of his voice and the particularity of his vision excites me, and this particular bit that I've chosen

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I think it's just wonderfully done, and you're pulled into that world that he creates, with that rich, sonorous

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Amused voice.

Speaker 44:00

They said

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You aren't dead, mister Thomas?

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How can you be buried then? Nobody's gonna bury you in Franz Stefan.

Speaker 44:07

Come on home, mister Thomas.

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There's strong beer for tea

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And he

Speaker 44:15

But grandpa stood firmly on the bridge.

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clutched his bag to his side.

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and stared at the flowing river and the sky,

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Like a prophet who was in no doubt

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Dylan Thomas reading part of his poem A Visit to Grandpa's. You were in some sort of ecstasy there, listening to that. It's a magic piece, and he was a magician.

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Tell me about the early days. Home life. There was you and mum and dad. It was a a very secure upbringing, was it?

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Well, of course, we would never have said mum and dad. That's very Mummy would call that common. I'm so excited. Because she was a bit of a social climber. Well, I'm not.

Miriam Margolyes4:51

Punch is a bit of a social.

Miriam Margolyes4:53

Well I'm not.

Presenter4:55

It was always mummy and daddy. Well, it was North Oxford, you see. Yes, and North Oxford means a great deal to me.

Miriam Margolyes4:57

Daddy.

Presenter5:03

It was where I was born, and it was where I went to school at the Oxford High School from nineteen forty-five to nineteen sixty, and when I went up to Cambridge. And my school was really the focus of my life in in Oxford. You say that your mother was something of a social climber, but you've I've also read you s you say now, looking back, you think she was a bit vulgar.

Presenter5:25

Yes. I'm trying to be objective about my parents. When I had therapy many, many years ago, in order to put me back together again, I was a bit fragmented. And by the way, I'm absolutely together now. Um my therapist said that I must be objective about my parents. And you know it's the hardest thing for me to be objective about my mother and father, whom I adored, and for me to make any criticism of Mummy feels like treachery. But I suspect she could have been a little bit vulgar as indeed am I. Um but she was shrewd and clever. I you know, I feel it difficult to say anything about her, because she was a wonderful person. And were you an only child by design? Did your parents want a small therapy?

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My mother was frightened of childbirth because my cousins or her cousins had died in childbirth in South Africa, so I think that she

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really was afraid to have children, and I know I was conceived in an air raid, which may have had an effect one way or another, but uh she never did it again any w well, she never had children again. I don't know about the rest.

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And your your father Scottish, a Doer Scot?

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Yes, he had the the qualities of being Jewish and being Scottish together, which is quite a formidable combination. He was a very a very sombre, quiet man, but full of integrity, and he would he would always say Behave yourself, Miriam, behave yourself.

Presenter6:55

And of course I haven't, alas. But he was a man who found it difficult to be joyous, whereas my mother was a very joyous person. They had an excellent marriage, and we were a a real family. But I wasn't the daughter that they should have had, probably, and I've always felt a little bit that I've disappointed them. You know, I didn't marry, I didn't have children. But I am an OBE.

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It's not bad going.

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It'll have to do. Tell me about your next choice, then.

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Well, that is Jerusalem, which was the anthem that we sang at school, and to me it symbolizes that part of my life, my school, and the English part of me, because I am very English, I've got this funny posh English voice.

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So Jerusalem is for the the other bit of me.

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How many songs?

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Bring me my soul.

Speaker 28:10

Uh

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See this program.

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You know, that makes me think of a woman I had an affair with once. She was a member of the Women's Institute, and they sing it there, and she said, Whenever I hear those words, Arrows of Desire, I think of you.

Presenter9:06

Well, that was Jerusalem, for all sorts of reasons, sung by the Liverpool Cathedral Choir, with the massed choirs from Merseyside and the Liverpool Cathedral brass ensemble. You speak so warmly about school clearly a happy time were you clearly, I imagine, a very bright little button.

Presenter9:21

I was a very naughty schoolgirl, very naughty indeed. I was always being sent out and sent to Miss Stack's office, who was our headmistress, and she was rather severe. She had been the uh head of studies at um Holloway Prison, and I think some of the techniques were brought back to the Oxford High School. I was quite frightened of her, but not frightened enough. Did you delight in being naughty? Yes, I think I did, and I still do. I mean, I like to be a bit cheeky. I know I do, which is has got to be slapped down, and I hope you will if it reappears again. Um but it was a very happy time of my life, and I loved those girls, and I still do. Were you funny then? Were you a funny school girl? I think I was. I think I was amusing. I was the form wag, and people laughed at me, and I realized that laughter was like love.

Presenter10:09

And I can't get enough of it. You can't, yes. You you need the the approval of people around you. Yes, I do. You want to be liked. I desperately want to be liked. I'll do almost anything to be liked. I mean, it's a bit serious. Were you a show off in school? Of course.

Miriam Margolyes10:14

Yeah, I think it's a very good idea.

Presenter10:23

Look, acting is just paid show off stuff. That's what I'm doing, showing off. And it is fun. It's lovely. And I hope it I can go on getting paid for it.

Presenter10:43

To the parents in the front row. And as a teenager, you modelled for Augustus John, is that right?

Presenter10:49

Yes, I did. There was a programme on television called Face to Face, and one day Augustus John was on that programme, and I just thought what a gorgeous man He was about

Presenter10:59

I suppose he must have been in his eighties then, shortly before he died. And I wrote to him and said,'Would you like me to model for you'? and he got his wife, Dorelia, to ring ring my parents and check that it was all right. And she said,'Well, do come to the you should talk like that' It was very, very far back. And he said,'Do do come. By the way, it is in the News. Is that all right?

Presenter11:23

And so I I was taken there by my parents, and I took off my clothes very expertly, and he wanted me to go up and down a ladder. I don't know why, but I did, and he'd do a sk some sketches of me, and um we talked a lot, and I remember very well that he said

Speaker 411:41

You see that picture up there on the wall?

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You see that?

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Yeah.

Speaker 411:44

Uh

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That's by my sister, Gwen, and one day people will find out she's a much greater painter than I am.

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And I think it's true. And can it also be true, whilst we're in the area of name-dropping, that Isaiah Berlin uh sponsored your form, your university application form, or or or wrote something on your form? Yes, it it's true. My father was the doctor to his parents, and my father spoke Yiddish, and his parents were from Riga, and they only spoke Yiddish, they didn't speak English. And my mother, who was this brilliant lady, she invited him to supper one day.

Presenter12:20

And she asked him, would you sponsor Miriam for university entrance? Oh, I mean, the liar of Napoleon. You could never understand the thing he said, actually. I mean, I know he was brilliant, but y y you had to read it rather than listen to it. And he did, of course. Oxford and Cambridge wouldn't dream of saying no to somebody who was sponsored by Isaiah Berlin, so I got in to both of them. And given that your mum had great your mummy had great aspirations for you. That's better, dear. She was, presumably, delighted that you were on your way to Cambridge. It was the fulfilment of all her hopes. In that way, I fulfilled my parents' hopes, yes. I got into Newnham College, Cambridge, and that's really when my life started. We shall talk about that in just a moment. For now, tell me about your third choice.

Miriam Margolyes12:44

That's better, dear.

Presenter13:02

I've chosen the Aria Queen of the Night from the Magic Flute. It's very.

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It's very much to do with my worship of the voice. I just can't believe that any human being can make this noise, and I love listening to it.

Miriam Margolyes13:23

Yeah.

Miriam Margolyes13:43

My name's the bonus.

Miriam Margolyes14:03

Uh

Speaker 214:04

Yeah.

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Uh

Miriam Margolyes14:06

Uh

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Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah

Speaker 214:10

Yeah.

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Yeah.

Speaker 214:11

Yeah.

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Yeah.

Miriam Margolyes14:15

Why do you believe you fail?

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Lucia Popp singing Queen of the Night from Mozart's Magic Flute. Was it a a household where achievement was was important?

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It was a Jewish household, so of course achievement was important, because that's how you pulled yourself out of the depths. My parents wanted me to go to university, but the reason that they wanted me to go to university was because you'll meet the right people.

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and you will be able to talk to anybody about anything.

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And that was something that my mother was very sensitive about, because she felt she was educationally challenged and she couldn't. But they wanted me to be

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In some kind of social elite that comes from being excluded. They were outsiders, and I think they felt they'd been submerged. And did you feel included when you went to Cambridge, or did you feel something of an outsider? No, I always felt that Cambridge belonged to me. Me personally. It was my Cambridge. It was a thrilling time. And my parents used to come up to visit me so much that people thought they were actually part of the part of the student body. They loved going there. Did you like that? Because one of the most useful things about being a student, of course, is separating yourself from your parents, being away from them, not being identified with them. Well, as you see quite clearly, I have not separated myself from my parents, and I probably never will.

Miriam Margolyes15:27

Did you like that?

Presenter15:41

No, I was a little bit embarrassed. But they loved it, and um I'm glad that they enjoyed it, and I'm glad they came. You were a performer, too, you remember, of uh Footlights, uh round about the same time as as people like John Cleese and Graham Chapman. Were were you welcomed into the fold?

Presenter15:56

At that time girls were not welcome in footlights. We weren't allowed to belong, actually. We were just there on sufferance. And I didn't like any of those footlights boys, and they didn't like me. And it makes me sound like a crabby old bitch, which I may well be. But I didn't like them. They weren't interested in girls they didn't sleep with. And I certainly wasn't in in that department, because at Cambridge I didn't have sex at Cambridge. You just didn't do it. I mean well

Presenter16:23

I think it was partly because my parents told me that I mustn't. And also, of course, I didn't know then that I was uh gay, which I am, and I didn't know what to do with myself. So it was a b I was tearing around, uh rather frustrated. I did have a boyfriend, and we we did I think what we call heavy necking, I think that's what it's called, or petting or something like that, but nothing much happened, you know. It was rather unfulfilling. But I did do lots of productions. Tell me about your next choice, then.

Presenter16:54

Well, I have a man in my life, and his name is Charles Dickens.

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I love the world he creates, I love the power of the prose.

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And the characters that he created and he created over two thousand characters.

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ebullient and just full of life. I think he is just remarkable, and I couldn't be on a desert island without him. So um I have chosen a piece from Great Expectations, where

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The great Miss Haversham is displayed.

Miriam Margolyes17:26

Tell me, Pip.

Miriam Margolyes17:28

Do you admire her?

Miriam Margolyes17:31

Surely any one must who sees her. Come close, Bip.

Miriam Margolyes17:37

Love her.

Miriam Margolyes17:40

Love her, love her, love her.

Miriam Margolyes17:43

if she favors you.

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Yeah.

Miriam Margolyes17:45

Love her.

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If she wounds you, if she tears your heart to pieces, love her

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Love her with blind devotion submit to her, give up your soul to her.

Miriam Margolyes17:59

Yeah.

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Love her as I have loved.

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Mm.

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Yeah.

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Go to her.

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Janet Susman was Miss Havisham and Oliver Milburn was Pip in Dickens' Great Expectations.

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So, Miriam Marglis, you left Cambridge and.

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Am I right, one of your first jobs was voicing up soft porn movies.

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How embarrassing Yes, I I was asked to do for money, of course, and it wasn't that much one. I think I got about two hundred and fifty quid. But I was asked to do

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an audio recording. I I would like to make that clear. It's not a it wasn't in vision. And the title of the uh record

Miriam Margolyes18:37

Vision

Presenter18:41

Was Sexy Sonia Leaves from My Schoolgirl Diary? And it I think we've got the picture.

Presenter18:48

I'm very glad. Every now and again people remind me of it, and and I am a bit embarrassed because I don't approve of pornography, actually. But at the time, didn't you go into the local I imagine, probably somewhere like Soho, to see how well it was selling?

Presenter19:02

I did. I checked on the sales, actually. And what was embarrassing was that the the chap who was behind the counter said, when I said I was sexy, Sonia, he he looked round quickly and he he said

Presenter19:15

And I realized that he didn't want any one to know that I was Sexisonia, because I don't look great.

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And it might have turned them off their fancy. Well, you said you you don't look great. Of course, actresses notably are obsessed by the way that they look.

Presenter19:28

Yes, we are, and I'm obsessed with the way I look. I love my face. I think it's fabulous. But I don't like my body, and it's up to me to do something about it. And I've been fat all my life. But, um, there it is. I I've just got this endomorphic frame. But what about your body then? I mean, if you're on film. What about my body, dear? Um Well, that must be very difficult. If you feel dissatisfied with your body, then to to put it on screen in front of millions of people must be a difficult experience.

Miriam Margolyes19:47

Two more bat

Presenter19:59

Yes. I I spend a lot of time in corsets because I seem to be in in a lot of period stuff, and uh I realise that I'm just a f a fat lady, and what can I say? I mean, here I am, I stand before you. I was so surprised to hear you say when we began talking that that uh you were in some way dissatisfied with your career, that you haven't had the career that you want, because it seems to me you've fashioned a very clever career. We see you playing these wonderful, rich parts, these character parts, and at the same time you record all of these uh books that are so well received.

Presenter20:35

Why would you be dissatisfied when you've built a career like that, that has these different dimensions? I think actors always want more. I think we're greedy.

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Um I would like to be at the National.

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I would love.

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to have the parts that, say, Joan Plowwright has. In fact, she really gets in my way.

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Tell me about your next piece of music, then. My next choice.

Presenter21:01

Is my friend Martin Jarvis reading a part of Violet Elizabeth Takes Control?

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By Richmond Crompton, and he is a great voice artist.

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How can I put it?

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He tugs us in.

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and we live with him in that world.

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And it's just an example of voice work at its absolute best.

Speaker 421:27

William at normal times disliked Violet Elizabeth. He disliked her curls, and pink and white complexion, and blue eyes, and lisp, and frills, and flounces, and imperiousness, and tears.

Speaker 421:40

The rain had stopped.

Speaker 421:42

Good afternoon, William.

Speaker 421:44

said Violet Elizabeth.

Speaker 421:46

Afternoon, said William, without discontinuing his moody scowl and his hunched up onward march.

Speaker 421:52

Violet Elizabeth joined him and trotted by his side.

Speaker 421:56

You feeling sad, William? she said, sweetly. Anyone who feels sad, burst out William.

Speaker 422:04

How was I to know a book didn't know what it was talking about? You'd think a book'UD know, wouldn't you? Blaming me, because a book didn't know what it was talking about. It's enough to make any one feel sad. Well, you'd think a book about machinery'd know just a bit about machinery, wouldn't you? Sinking me in a mucky old pond, and then, when you'd think they'd be a bit sorry for me, going on as if it's my fault as if I'd wrote the book.

Presenter22:26

MARTIN JARVIS reading part of Violet Elizabeth Takes Control, by Richmond Crompton. Given this apparent huge confidence, I wonder if you're ever intimidated. I'm thinking about when you walk on to

Presenter22:37

Martin Scorsese's set or Bas Luhrmann.

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Calls you up and says, I've got you in mind for something. Are you ever overwhelmed by I'm always overwhelmed? I'm totally scared stiff. Are you?

Speaker 222:45

I'm old.

Presenter22:49

I'm a a frightened little muffin, actually, and all this big talk and swaggering about is just to cover up.

Presenter22:56

A real terror, I think. I'm really afraid a lot of the time, and afraid of failure, and I do what I can to overcome that. Is that what earlier on you said there was a point in your life when you were going through your therapy and that you're all put together now, but there was a point when you were in pieces. Was it the terror that that shook you into pieces?

Presenter23:18

To be honest, the reason that I went to the therapist was because I was

Presenter23:24

having marital difficulties.

Miriam Margolyes23:27

Boop.

Presenter23:28

But um because I've been with my partner for forty years now, but we did go through a a bump, and I needed to be put together again. And I am now. I I sometimes jokingly say that I think I'm perfect. Well, I don't really think I'm perfect, but I'm not far off.

Presenter23:46

Was it a long journey putting the pieces back together?

Presenter23:49

I think it took about two years, and I used to then go for what Margaret called top ups. She was terrific, she said to me.

Presenter23:59

You splash your yellow wellies in the puddles, and you're uh what she uh called show business people talented toddlers. You're a talented toddler. She said your your your emotional age is about seven, but if we're very lucky we'll get it to be twelve. But that will be a triumph.

Presenter24:21

Tell me about your next choice, then.

Presenter24:23

I've chosen the Kholnidri prayer.

Presenter24:27

And

Presenter24:28

As with most of of the records that I've chosen, it's about representation of bits of my life, and I've mentioned many times, probably, that I'm Jewish, and that's very important to me. I have to mention also that

Presenter24:43

I reject many of the things that I see in the Jewish world.

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And I passionately object to the way that Israel is dealing with Palestine.

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I have been castigated by many Jews who feel that I am betraying my people, and I can't help it. I have to say

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What I believe, and I am a proud Jew.

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But I am also an ashamed Jew.

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And I'm chosen I've chosen the colnidre because

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Being Jewish and The Fine Ethics of the Religion.

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They do inform my life.

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and I could never be without them. So that's the reason for Colnidre.

Speaker 425:30

Yeah.

Presenter25:31

Not all

Speaker 425:34

Ah

Speaker 225:45

Be sure.

Presenter25:52

Richard Tucker singing The Call Nidri

Presenter25:55

You are, as you say, Miriam Marglis, perfectly straightforward about your sexuality. But you say at at university you weren't having proper romances, proper encounters. When when did you begin to look your sexuality in the eye?

Presenter26:08

In the eye. That was maybe the wrong choice of perfection.

Miriam Margolyes26:12

Exactly.

Presenter26:13

I suppose I really came to terms with things in nineteen sixty seven.

Presenter26:22

I don't know how old I was then. If I was born in forty one, you can perhaps work it out, I can't. But anyway, I was in my

Presenter26:28

late twenties, so it was a bit late for that sort of thing. And I know when I told my mother

Presenter26:35

that I had had an affair with a woman

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She had a stroke about three days later.

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And um

Presenter26:44

You know, that that's uh pretty shocking.

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for me to have to deal with.

Presenter26:49

How did you deal with that?

Presenter26:53

Well, I realize that telling people things that they can't deal with is an indulgence, and so I advise people who may be in the same position as me

Presenter27:03

and find that they are homosexual.

Presenter27:06

that they should just keep it to themselves. I don't agree with um actors talking about their sex life. I've done it now because it doesn't matter any more. But when I was younger I wouldn't talk about it at all. But

Presenter27:20

If it can help somebody, then I then I would speak. But

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I was

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I was very shocked by what happened to my mother, and indeed that started

Presenter27:29

The long period of her terrible illness and the blackest time of my life.

Presenter27:36

The only good thing was that I had my partner in my life, and she is still there. As you say, a forty year relationship, an enduring relationship. Of course that would mean to your mother that she was never going to have grandchildren. Do you think that was her great was that her sorrow?

Presenter27:53

Yes, I think that was part of it, and also because it was shameful in the sixties. People just you weren't supposed to have that sort of thing. It was not proper.

Presenter28:04

You know, it's just nonsense. I mean, it's just like anything else. You

Presenter28:08

If you're gay or straight it really shouldn't matter, and people should pull themselves together about it.

Presenter28:13

I I want to be somebody that people admire as an actress, and when I got the OBE it was for services to drama, it wasn't for services to sex.

Presenter28:22

You've said it's very unusual to hear people say that you know there are times when honesty is not the best policy, when it it is an indulgence to be honest. Do you regret that you told your mother?

Presenter28:33

Yes, I do.

Presenter28:35

because it caused the person that I loved most in the world

Presenter28:39

a pain she could not bear.

Presenter28:41

And I have to take the responsibility for that. I didn't do it to hurt her. I did it because we always spoke everything to each other. We always

Presenter28:51

said everything that was what we had an a completely open, loving relationship together.

Presenter28:56

But I I should have been aware that that was something I could not say, and I really do regret it.

Presenter29:04

Towering success and all these years of employment. No, she didn't she didn't and that is so sad. I really do. It hurts me.

Presenter29:16

Tell me about your next piece of music, then.

Presenter29:19

This is the famous scene on the balcony from Private Lives with Noel Coward and Gertie Lawrence. This is an example of complete utter excellence and control, and I will never tire of hearing it.

Speaker 229:35

We met on a house party in Norfolk.

Presenter29:37

There is black local.

Speaker 229:39

There's no need to be unpleasant.

Presenter29:41

There was no reflection on her, unless of course she made it better.

Speaker 229:44

Your voice takes on an acid quality every time you mention her.

Presenter29:47

I

Speaker 229:48

I swear I'll never mention that again. Good.

Speaker 229:50

Now keep off yours.

Speaker 229:52

Thank you. Not at all.

Speaker 229:55

That orchestra seems to have a remarkably small repertoire.

Presenter29:58

Strange how potent sheep music is.

Presenter30:04

Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence in Coward's Private Lives recorded in 1930. It's extraordinary the amount of

Speaker 230:04

Yeah.

Presenter30:10

Emotion, the depth of that, when they are saying essentially so little.

Presenter30:15

That's their skill.

Presenter30:17

I know very few people who can do that now. My great friend Patricia Hodge is one of them, and she is for me the reincarnation of Gertie Lawrence.

Presenter30:27

What about your outrageousness? I need to ask you about that. I mean, people will see you on on now and again on things like Graham Norton's show, saying very, very, very rude things indeed.

Presenter30:39

I know.

Presenter30:41

What is that? What's that all about?

Presenter30:44

It's part of wanting to shock, I suppose, and also

Presenter30:49

I like to confront the things that other people don't seem prepared to.

Presenter30:54

And

Presenter30:56

It's a compulsion, a little bit. It it's a kind of verbal turet, I suppose. And it makes me laugh. I think knickers and lavatries and things like that are hugely funny. And breasts. I just love the whole physical part of life. It it i it's hysterically funny. You said um a few discs ago that you're just a frightened little muffin. I mean, you don't you seem the absolute opposite of that. You seem like somebody who would be daunted by nothing and could say anything at any moment. I'm good at it, aren't I? You see? My disguise is very good. But it's it's part of you, surely. It's not not just simply a a disguise.

Miriam Margolyes31:28

At any moment.

Miriam Margolyes31:30

I use

Presenter31:38

I think I'm confident when I'm with people. People give me confidence. They don't frighten me. But if I stop to think about it for too long, then I get nervous. And then I need reassurance. And the way I reassure myself is to say something shocking, because I suppose for a moment it gives me back the power, because I'm in charge. And I I'm a control freak, that's probably it.

Presenter32:04

A desert island's going to be tricky then, because of course you'll have nobody to shock.

Presenter32:10

Gosh I never thought of that. I would be very lonely. I don't think I'd like it.

Presenter32:16

How are you domestically? What sort of personality do you live with?

Presenter32:19

I have no domesticity in me. I don't have that button. No, I I am hopeless. I I can barely boil an egg. So you wouldn't be foraging in the bushes for berries. Foraging in the bushes? I should think not. For food, I think. Oh, I see. Um well, no. No, I for food. Oh, gosh, no, there won't be s there won't be a shop. Oh, crikey. Well, I don't know what I'd do. Will there be berries and nuts and things? Probably. The trouble is I'm so short I just can't reach them off the trees. It's going to be hideous times. It is. You're conjuring up a very, very sad picture. A sad, disconsolate, starving woman. Mind you, I'll lose weight, won't I? That'll be good. Let's comfort ourselves with some music, then. What's your final choice? Ah, well, my final choice is

Miriam Margolyes32:32

Is a

Miriam Margolyes32:45

Probably.

Presenter33:06

Schubert's Trout Quintet. This was the first piece of music.

Presenter33:10

that I ever listened to with my partner. She made me sit down and listen to it. So it's all about her and me.

Presenter33:18

as well as Schubert.

Presenter34:20

Iain Brown and the Nash Ensemble with the opening of the fourth movement of Schubert's Trout Quintet, and you said that was for your partner who you've been with for forty years. That's right.

Presenter34:29

She's very, very different from me.

Presenter34:32

She's a grown-up.

Presenter34:34

Well, she's not going to be on this island, of course, and now I am going to give you the Bible and or the Torah, whichever you prefer, and the complete works of Shakespeare, and you can take one other book to the island with you. Well, it would have to be the Bible, and it must be the King James Version of the Bible. I can't read Hebrew to my shame, and I won't have anything to do with the revised version. It's just not good enough. And what else have I got to do with the Prince? Well, you you can choose a book.

Miriam Margolyes34:57

Well you

Presenter34:59

You can take your own book. Just one book. Oh, pooh, that's horrible. There you are.

Miriam Margolyes34:59

You can take your own book.

Presenter35:04

Just one book.

Miriam Margolyes35:05

But

Presenter35:08

You may have that, and a luxury to make life a little more bearable.

Presenter35:13

Could I have a flush toilet?

Presenter35:16

Yes.

Presenter35:17

I'll have a flush toilet, then.

Presenter35:20

It's my pleasure to give you that. And if I was to force you to choose just one of these tracks to take with you, which disc would it be?

Presenter35:28

Oh, it would be the Schuppet.

Presenter35:30

Miriam Margues, thank you very much for letting us hear your desert island discs. It's been quite a ride. Thank you so much.

Presenter35:42

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