Val Doonican

Val Doonican0:01

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne, and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast. For rights reasons, the music is shorter than on the original broadcast. The presenter is Roy Plomley. I hope you enjoy listening.

Presenter0:28

This week, ladies and gentlemen, our castaway is the singer and entertainer, Val Dooniken. Val, do you play records a lot?

Presenter0:35

Uh n not an awful lot. I w I'm one of these people that when I play records I I really do only play them to listen to them and otherwise I I can't sort of put records on then get on with something else. What would you want records to do for you on a desert island? Recall the past, give you courage? What uh I I think um I think a little bit of everything, really. You know, I I think a lot of records to me bring back very happy memories.

Val Doonican0:55

You know.

Presenter0:59

And other records have sort of an immediate effect on me of of making me feel either happy or sort of happily lonesome or something or whatever you call it. Various records affect me in different ways. What's the first one on your list then?

Speaker 41:08

Maybe

Val Doonican1:10

Yeah.

Speaker 41:10

Where?

Presenter1:12

Well, the first one I've chosen, if I may, is one by the Swingler singers, a Bach. This one is a Bory. Why do you choose it? Well, I spent a lot of time over the years in show business in vocal groups, you know, and I used to try and do a bit of vocal arranging. And the Swingler singers to me sort of epitomizes what can be done with the vocal group if you have somebody very clever to write it and somebody very clever to sing it.

Presenter2:03

The Swinkle Singers, a Bore from The Bach English Suite, number two. What's your second record?

Presenter2:08

Second, I'd like to have some Vaughan Williams. Now, this is one of the records I was telling you, Bernard, when I said this would make me. feel in any mood I wanted to be in this this music. Bourne Williams I think is, to me anyways, my favourite composer of all and I've often said when listening to his music, I've often felt he must have been a wonderful fellow really because if his music is anything like how he felt, you know, he must be fabulous. It's so warm and beautiful, his music, and this particular one I've chosen, this variation is on a theme of Thomas Talas.

Presenter2:42

I think it's absolutely gorgeous. It had a certain sort of religious feel about it that I think if I'm going to be lonely and on my own, I think this music would really give me tremendous consolation somehow.

Presenter3:55

An excerpt from the Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Talis, Sir John Barbie Raleigh conducting the Sinphonia of London.

Presenter4:02

Val, I have reason to suspect you're an Irishman. What not about it?

Speaker 44:04

Uh what

Presenter4:07

I come from Waterford, then on the south coast of Ireland. A big family? I was the youngest of eight, yes. What did you want to be as a youngster?

Presenter4:16

I honestly don't think I wanted to be anything, Roy. I don't think I had any specific ideas of what I was going to be when I grew up, you know. What did you do when you left school? Well, I went to school at about 17, and then I left. My father was a foreman in a steelworks, and two of my brothers went in there with him when they left school.

Speaker 34:37

And there's a whole lot of windows in this little house at 4033.

Speaker 34:44

Above thou

Speaker 34:51

So long it flees, but we'll song to me and you know All around the house you can see little children play

Val Doonican4:57

Uh

Speaker 44:57

Yeah.

Val Doonican4:57

Hello, George.

Speaker 35:00

And the knowledge of the people's kids we're proud to say.

Presenter5:05

George Dillon singing four zero thirty three.

Presenter5:08

Now you came to London to join the Four Ramblers. I remember them very well. They did a a lot of BBC variety work. They did the Riders of the Range with for Charles Chilton. Were you in them? That's when I joined them, yeah. They they had done I think they had done a series of Riders of the Range and then

Val Doonican5:17

That's

Val Doonican5:18

I lived there.

Presenter5:22

They were starting on the second episode. They were starting on the life story of Jesse James or something. So I joined them around that time and I stayed with them for about seven years. And of course in the early 50s the music halls were still going, which was a very valuable experience for them. The Four Ramblers were, to me anyway, on stage a marvellous, marvellous group. I think we did a very good, very good entertaining act. You arranged for the Four Ramblers. You also did some orchestral arrangements too.

Presenter5:50

Yeah.

Presenter5:52

When

Presenter5:53

When I was with the Ramblers, around the period of about 1957, I started to do a few auditions and tried to get somewhere and get some televisions and broadcasts by myself. And I got a few televisions and the orchestra was conducted by Nat Templar, I remember, and the arranger was Ken Thorne.

Presenter6:10

I asked Ken to give me some lessons in arranging, you see, because it's something I always wanted to do. And he said, well, I haven't got time to teach you, but if you'll bring some of the arrangements you've done, I'll have a look at them. So I took them over, and he said they were awful. And then he showed me how to do them again a bit better.

Val Doonican6:24

Again, a bit better.

Presenter6:26

And he started to tease me. So I went to Ken for about three years. What did you arrange for?

Val Doonican6:26

Got it.

Presenter6:31

Well, you know, I've I've done arrangements for orchestras like Paul Fennelly and the N. D. O. and people like that. I was singing at the same time, so they probably didn't notice that they were mine at the time, you know. When did you decide to go it alone? When did you cut away from the Ramblers?

Presenter6:44

Around 1959, I think, I wanted to get away and- This is a big step.

Val Doonican6:47

This is a

Presenter6:48

It was actually it was one of the biggest steps I ever made because at least

Presenter6:52

We were successful enough that we were working all the time. You know, we w we were you know, I was making a good living out of it, really.

Val Doonican6:58

Yeah.

Speaker 46:58

Well, really?

Presenter6:59

What was your first break as a solo artist? When I left the Ramblers, I did something that is one of these things, like out of an American musical or something. I said, I'm going to go and ma do it alone. So I come up to the BBC. I'm trying to make an appointment with the head of Light Music.

Presenter7:17

And he saw me and I said to him, well look, I've been with a group.

Presenter7:21

And I want to leave them now, but I haven't got any work. Would you give me a radio series or something? And

Presenter7:26

He must have thought I was mad. But anyway, he uh

Presenter7:32

Marvelous. Within no time at all I've I began to get a few letters back and forth and I did a little audition thing and I got a radio series in the afternoon singing with an orchestra. And that went on for a while. I remember the programmes were called Dreamy Afternoon and I used to just sing occasional songs with the guitar.

Presenter7:50

And then I sang such odd songs, you know, like Cod Live or Isle and the Dave that all Rapperti's Pig Ran Away and all this kind of thing. And they asked me if I would announce my own songs to save embarrassment. So I announced them myself. And then they started another series of them and said, would you like to announce the whole program? And I did that.

Speaker 48:02

Yeah.

Presenter8:10

I was booked for six, I think, and I I did about a hundred and fifteen. That was your date with Belle. That's right, in the mornings. Well, that launched you on radio. What was your television break?

Presenter8:19

Well, as I say, back in 57 I had done a few televisions, you know, they they weren't

Presenter8:24

very successful maybe, but at least once again I got the experience behind me that I had done them and I knew what the pitfalls were, I think.

Presenter8:32

So I began to do one or two. John Ammond is the producer who's on my programmes. He was doing a program in Manchester called Band Dance and he gave me a couple of spots on that.

Presenter8:42

And then I did programmes for BBC called Sing Along Saturday.

Presenter8:47

which which were quite good. And then uh I was in Cabaret in London and uh and then a lot of circumstances uh uh got together and I Val Parnell saw me in Cabaret and uh he put me on the London Palladium and that was about it I think.

Presenter9:03

Well, at this point, let's have break on number four.

Presenter9:06

Yeah, well one of the guests, as you probably have gathered, I love the guitar, and one of the greatest guitar players in the world, no doubt, is John Williams. And I've had the pleasure of having John on my television show several times. Last time he was with me, he gave me this particular record he'd made with the Philadelphia Orchestra of the Guitar Concerto by Detesco. I'd like to take that.

Speaker 410:05

Yeah.

Presenter10:24

John Williams is soloist in the opening of the Castel Nuovo Tedesco Concerto in D for guitar and orchestra.

Presenter10:31

Now you did these palladium shows. The next step was your own weekly television show. That's right, yeah.

Presenter10:37

I think once I had done uh the first couple of important television shows, which I did on the Palladium of course, I think this was the most important part of my career really. You write quite a few of your own songs. I do. I write quite a lot of songs. I I've never set out to try and write sort of hit songs. I I I don't I don't know if I've got the sort of

Presenter10:56

The trick for that. But what I love to do of course is I write most of the special material for my television show, the stuff I sing with the guests and everything.

Val Doonican11:01

Yes.

Presenter11:02

There are critics who say that sometimes your repertoire is inclined to be a bit sugary.

Presenter11:07

Yes, I think this is bound to happen, of course. You know, and I think the the critics who say that what I do is sugary probably don't like me anyway. You know what I mean? If I sang something else, they probably wouldn't like it anyway. They'd probably say I didn't sing it as well as other people, you know. So I feel that. There's an awful lot of people in show business whose repertoire is not sugary. So you've got to have a little bit of everything. You know, I've never set out to be sugary. Let me make that very clear.

Val Doonican11:30

You know, I

Presenter11:35

that I sing songs because I like them.

Presenter11:38

I read that your television series is pulling in 17.5 million viewers. Last year you were British television personality of the year. You've done royal performances. Now what's the next step? United States?

Presenter11:50

Well, I would hope so, yes. I would like to sort of spread my wings a bit. One of the things I've often found about ambitions, you know, is that people say, what's your next ambition? And I think for me, the only ambition I've ever had up to now was to try and get better at what I do, really. And I feel that if you keep on getting better, then people can't ignore it. You know what I mean? That people will come and say...

Val Doonican12:04

Mm-hmm.

Presenter12:11

I think we'll try him now for a change. I think if you keep on, as I say, trying to perfect your own material. But one of the things I wouldn't like to do now, quite honestly.

Presenter12:20

at my stage in show business is to have to go to another country and start back in 1946 again. You know, I don't really want to do that. I've worked

Val Doonican12:28

Okay now I

Presenter12:30

Very hard now for 22 years, or whatever it is. And I wouldn't like to go back 22 years and do it all again. If I go anywhere else, I'd like to go.

Presenter12:38

a few rungs up and and not have to work quite so hard.

Presenter12:43

Let's have record number five.

Presenter12:45

Well, number five is people will say we're in love and and the reason I picked this is strictly for nostalgic reasons this song to me

Presenter12:54

is one of my favorite songs, but not only that, it brings back more memories, I think, than any song I know, because when I started in show business in 1946,

Presenter13:01

This song was one of the big hits of the time, and I can remember sitting for hours and hours on a bandstand with a guitar in the mornings while everybody was out swimming, trying to learn this so I could play it that evening. So there's no song has ever been so instilled into my brain as this one. It's played by Al Garner, whom I love very much too.

Presenter13:49

Erl Garner playing People Will Say We're in Love from Oklahoma. What next?

Presenter13:54

Well, I'd like a bit of uh dvor jock, if I may.

Presenter13:58

I've got a lot of devotees records at home and the only reason I picked this one is because the third movement is one of my favorite sort of themes of all time. I absolutely love this and that's the only reason I just can listen to it any time at all. What's the word?

Presenter14:12

Oh sorry, it's words are symphony number 8.

Presenter15:12

The opening of the third movement of Rodjack's Eighth Symphony

Presenter15:16

Herbert von Carrian conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Presenter15:20

Bell, are you good with your hands?

Presenter15:22

I think so, yeah. I've I've

Presenter15:24

Over the years I've had to do practically everything. When I came out of school, as I say, and went into working, I learned to work with wood and I learned to work with steel reasonably well, so I think I could look after myself. So you'd be resourceful as far as building a hut and living off the land's concerned? Yeah.

Val Doonican15:35

Okay.

Presenter15:39

What about the psychological side, isolation, continued loneliness?

Val Doonican15:42

Mm.

Presenter15:43

I don't know how I'd be after a long time, you know, but I certainly could stand for quite a while. I'm much more inclined to want to be by myself than I am with close people. I think, I don't know whether lots of people in show business are like this, whether they see so many people so often, you know, that they like to get away from it all. I don't know, but I do. Would you try to get away? Would you try to make a raft and escape? I don't think I would. I think that'd be like going back to 1946 again. Right, record number seven. Number seven is one of my favorite songs in recent years, which is Scarborough Fear. And it's sung by what I think is the greatest talent in show business, Simon Ngarfunk.

Speaker 416:33

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?

Speaker 416:41

Parsley Sage Rosemary and Tom Killy.

Val Doonican16:43

Yeah.

Speaker 416:49

Free mount

Presenter16:53

Simon and Garfunkel, and what's your last record?

Presenter16:56

Well, number eight is uh by Charlie Bard.

Presenter17:00

I think that uh Charlie Bird, if ever I wanted to be anybody else in show business, I think I'd be Charlie Bird. Because

Speaker 417:06

Yeah.

Presenter17:07

I played the guitar for a long time and tried to sort of get good at it, you know, and

Presenter17:13

Charlie Bird to me got good at the guitar the way I wish I could. You know what I mean? He plays the most beautiful music in the most acceptable way. It's got ever I think it it would appeal to any sort of musician or the general public or guitar players or anybody else. And as I say, I'd love to be able to play the guitar like Charlie Bird. What's he playing here? Oh, it's so hard to say. I say it's...

Val Doonican17:32

Yeah.

Presenter17:33

I can't even pronounce it. Espreaíis deserta, I think it's called.

Presenter18:06

Charlie Bird playing as Praeas Desertas or however they pronounce it in Brazil. If you would take only one of the eight records you played as, which would it be? I think I'd take the Scalbro Fair one.

Presenter18:18

Simon and Garfang.

Presenter18:19

And your one luxury?

Presenter18:22

Well, if I may, I'm going to sneak in in and I'll have a few luxuries all rolled into one. I'd like to bring my guitar if I may, and if you wouldn't mind putting some manuscript paper and a pencil in the case when I come back, and in the meantime, I'll practice my arrangement by copying all these records down.

Val Doonican18:32

Yeah, can

Presenter18:36

All right, we'll add a few strings as well. And. One book apart from the Bible and Shakespeare? This is terribly easy, Roy, because I'm sure you have people on here who are terribly well-read people, and I'm the very opposite. I'm not read at all. I read very, very little, so if you can just give me the biggest book you can find with loads and loads of writings by lots of people, I'll just make up for lost time. We'll see what we can find, and thank you, Val Dunikan, for letting us hear your Desert Island disc. Thank you, Roy.

Presenter19:03

Goodbye everyone.