Annie Nightingale

Annie Nightingale0:01

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

Presenter0:04

Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast. Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island. For rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening.

Presenter0:43

My castaway this week is the broadcaster Annie Nightingale. Always forward facing, she's remained at the sharp end of popular culture for over half a century, searching for new music, spearheading new movements and supporting emerging artists, from David Bowie and Ian Dury to Acid House, Breakbeat and beyond. As well as breaking artists, she's known for breaking boundaries. She was a music journalist when the BBC created Radio One, their all male response to the hugely popular pirate radio stations of the sixties. She called them out on their sexism in print and they finally gave her a show, becoming Radio One's first female DJ in 1970.

Presenter1:22

50 years later, she remains their longest-serving presenter and has won a host of accolades, including a CBE in this year's New Year's Honours List, which she describes as the coolest big up ever. She says, I didn't get on the radio to be famous. I only wanted it as a medium to get the music out there. It's like calling someone up on the phone and playing the record for them to say, Hey, I just heard this. What do you think?

Presenter1:47

Annie Nightingale, welcome to Desert Island Discs. Thanks, Darvin. Thank you so much for joining us. So you spent fifty years at Radio One. Has the role of a DJ changed over that time?

Presenter1:58

It it hasn't yet it ha

Annie Nightingale1:59

Listen.

Presenter2:00

Yeah.

Annie Nightingale2:00

I think you would agree that we are there because of our love and passion and enthusiasm about music. And so in that sense it hasn't changed the ways of doing it and the technology.

Presenter2:07

So now

Annie Nightingale2:11

I've obviously changed immensely in the social attitude, but basically I think it's a very simple thing.

Presenter2:18

And of course your hunger for new music, that's remained the same throughout your life. And that's not the case for everyone, is it? What are you looking for when you're listening to new music?

Annie Nightingale2:26

Well, I have to quote John Peel because he put it best, which is you want to hear something you've never heard before.

Annie Nightingale2:32

And I couldn't put it better than that. Something that surprised you.

Annie Nightingale2:36

And the more music we have, it gets actually more difficult. You get people saying, Oh, it's all been done before, or that was a copy of something else and people get very jaded. They lose that excitement of finding the freshness in new music, which somehow I seem to have been able to to hang

Presenter2:54

Jonsu

Presenter2:55

And is that what it's about? It's a feeling, that excitement.

Annie Nightingale2:57

Thrill, it's absolutely so exciting. I actually get a physical sensation. I get shivers up and down my legs when I hear something that becomes very successful. And that is why this thing about wanting to play it to somebody else and say, Is it just me? Do you like this as well?

Presenter3:16

I think we're better dive into the music then, Annie. I mean, how on earth have you chosen your discs today?

Annie Nightingale3:21

All very, very different means. The first one, because I think young people know music, they cut through all the.

Annie Nightingale3:29

I don't know the publicity and the promotion and stuff. So my first disc is by Billie Eilish, who was introduced to me by a 13-year-old girl. And I think she and her brother Phineas, once in a lifetime, talent. Come here.

Speaker 33:44

Say, spit it out.

Speaker 33:47

What is it exactly? You're paying is the amount cleaning you out. Am I satisfactory? Today I'm thinking about.

Speaker 33:55

Things that are deadly the way I'm thinking you dumb like I wanna drown Like I wanna handle Step on the glass, stifle your tongue Bury a friend Try to wake up Cannibal class, killing the sun

Speaker 34:15

I wanna

Presenter4:16

And maybe

Presenter4:19

Billie Eilish and Bury a Friend. So, Annie Nightingale, you've spent your life in radio. What part did it play in family life when you were little?

Annie Nightingale4:27

Absolutely huge. Uh I grew up in um

Annie Nightingale4:32

World War II and post-World War II and all I had was the radio and all I had was the BBT and so it was children's hour and it was music and it had such an effect on me. The first word I tried to say was music but I said music because I didn't know how to say it. And violins I am still scared of because they affect me so much. So you were very sensitive to music then? Very sensitive. Got exactly the right word there. I was sensitive to music overly much.

Presenter4:59

So you were very sensitive to music then. Very sensitive because.

Annie Nightingale5:06

And there are tunes I can't listen to now because I get too emotional about them. I've been DJing at the festival in the Isle of Wight in the middle of massive storm of people dancing in the rain and I was so

Annie Nightingale5:21

So emotional about that and the music that I'd be in tears over it just because we were sharing that. I mean, that's ridiculous.

Annie Nightingale5:31

Yeah.

Presenter5:31

Yeah, that's just how I've I've always been. You were the only child of Basil and Celia, and you said you couldn't have had a more suburban, semi detached experience in in post war Twickenham. What kind of neighborhood was that to grow up in?

Annie Nightingale5:44

Well, it's now quite posh, but it didn't seem to me then. But I was an only child, but not only that, my father's on a four.

Annie Nightingale5:53

And none of the other three had any children. So

Annie Nightingale5:58

It was a bit like having five parents. And it was like the Mad Hasses Tea Party every time you went to their house. Would you like some more tea? Have you got enough cake? Are you warm enough? I mean, they were wonderful, you know, we're kind of eccentric. And I'm sure those people have an influence on you that you don't realize for a long, long time.

Presenter6:17

Yeah, what about your dad? Because he inherited his father's wallpaper business, but it wasn't something that he enjoyed.

Annie Nightingale6:23

No, it wasn't. And my father should never have been made to do it. He was not happy. My mother was not happy with him. They were unhappily married. You know, that's how

Presenter6:34

The way it was.

Annie Nightingale6:34

Yeah.

Presenter6:34

And prior to her marriage, your mother had trained as a chiropodist with Dr. Scholl, I believe. She'd had the opportunity to go and work with him, I think, in the States.

Annie Nightingale6:42

He wants to take her to America, is what she used to tell me.

Annie Nightingale6:46

And her mother said, No, you can't go.

Annie Nightingale6:49

Now I used to say, why didn't you just go?

Annie Nightingale6:53

Because I felt that, you know, she'd had missed opportunities. They had to bring me up a small child during World War II. And at the end of that, my mother had lost her confidence in becoming a working woman again. And that, I feel very strongly, I think that's influenced my life, of wanting to encourage women to feel confident and to carry on working and have that fulfilment.

Presenter7:16

Annie, it's time to hear your second disc today. What have you chosen and why?

Annie Nightingale7:19

Wow, this goes back a long time. So this is a song from musical called Gypsy, which I think appeared on Broadway 1959, 1960. And I had a friend who went to New York and brought the album back to me. And I played it. I mean, I knew every single song on it. And the main singer in it was Ethel Mermaid. It's a very, very strong voice. And there's a song on there which really got to me.

Annie Nightingale7:48

And what it did for me was it sparked a feeling of: yes, you could go out and do things you want to in the world.

Speaker 47:55

Some people sit on the butts.

Speaker 47:58

Got the dream, yeah, but not the guts.

Speaker 48:02

That's living for some people, for some humdrum people I suppose Well they can stay and rust

Presenter8:09

People eyes upon

Presenter8:29

Ethel Merman singing Some People from the musical Gypsy, composed by Julie Stein, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and performed by the original Broadway cast. So Annie Nightingale, I want to ask about your time at school. Now, your parents weren't Catholics, but you attended a Catholic school. How did you get on there?

Annie Nightingale8:47

Well, I was sent to a convent when I was five.

Annie Nightingale8:50

And I think they sent me there because they thought it turned out nicely spoken young girls. I went crazy with it. There were statues everywhere of Jesus and pictures of Jesus. We didn't have pop stars then. So, you know, Jesus was a pop star, Virgin Mary is a pop star. We collected pictures of them.

Annie Nightingale9:09

We collected rosaries. We'd have them blessed by the local priest. They were our pop stars. And I think my parents were somewhat alarmed. So I was on my way to becoming a nun by the time I was seven, eight or nine. So that and the fact that I had become so obsessed with telling the truth. We had this jingle, it's better to die than tell a lie. And I'd had to tell some little white lie and I thought that was it, it was all over for me. I think my parents realised I was taking it all terribly seriously. So then I took an entry exam to a school called Lady Ellen Hollis, which is very partial and very academic. And I won a scholarship there, which was probably just as well because my parents have never been able to afford it.

Presenter9:54

So you were off to public school. Your reputation there apparently was flighty. What did that mean in practice? Well, yeah.

Annie Nightingale10:00

I was very keen on movies. I would go miles to see movies on my own. I was very keen on music. And very close to me was a place called Eelpie Island. Now, this was notorious. It was very influential. It was on a little island in the Thames. And I wasn't actually allowed to go, but the influence is there. And people like the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, everybody went and played there. And that and a coffee bar in Richmond called Loberge.

Presenter10:10

Yeah.

Annie Nightingale10:31

That's where my life changed. I became this beatnik. I saw real teenage rebellion.

Annie Nightingale10:37

And that is why they did not consider me Oxford material at school and vaguely disapproved of me.

Presenter10:45

It was interesting when you were introducing the track by Ethel Merman, you described the feeling of music making you feel brave. Did you feel like that as a teenager when you were taking in all of these incredible artists who were playing in a club, you know, in touching distance of where you were growing up?

Annie Nightingale10:59

Well, yes, I mean there were massive influences early on, BBC radio. That's all there was. Then we discovered Radio Luxembourg and that changed everything for us. R ⁇ B, that's Domino and Little Richard. And I was listening to that on my own and so were a whole generation all over the UK, including four guys in Liverpool.

Annie Nightingale11:22

And that music was not being played on the BBC. It was our secret world and it was incredibly exciting.

Presenter11:30

Annie, it's time for your third disc to day. What are we going to hear next?

Annie Nightingale11:34

Well, obviously most people say, oh, you're going to do Desert Islanders, which Beatles track you don't have.

Annie Nightingale11:38

It's impossible.

Annie Nightingale11:40

So I've gone for a John Lennon track, which he made after the Beatles. I mean, I feel I'm almost apologise, you know, as if it matters, but they changed my life, The Beatles, and I'm in depth to them. And so I'm going to say sorry, Paul and Ringo and George, to choosing a John song. Every time you hear an opening moment of it, it lifts you up. I like upbeat positive music. And so that's why this is Instant Karma.

Speaker 412:10

This calm is gonna hit you.

Speaker 412:14

Yeah

Speaker 412:18

You better get yourself together.

Speaker 412:22

But it's only gonna be dead

Speaker 412:26

I don't worry

Speaker 412:30

I'm in the voice of love.

Speaker 412:34

Whatever you try to

Speaker 412:38

Yeah.

Presenter12:41

Joan Lennon and Instant Karma. So Anna, you'd set your heart on becoming a journalist. You took a course in central London, though you spent most of your time hanging out in Soho. What was it like at the time?

Annie Nightingale12:53

Well, this was realizing my bohemian life and

Annie Nightingale12:57

I mean the people who really lived it properly, I I hadn't got the nerve to go that far. I was still the suburban ex-school girl at Hart. I didn't know much about life. And

Annie Nightingale13:08

Doing this journalism course right beside Broadcasting House. I never imagined in a million years that I would end up working at the BBC. The BBC was a kind of remote, rather foreboding building, and the music led me to Soho. I used to hang out at a coffee bar that had a wonderful duke box. And the people there were hardcore Soho people, sex workers, and so on. And my innocence kind of, I think, protected me. You know, they were kind of respectful for my innocence, but it helped me grow up.

Presenter13:41

While you were working as a trainee journalist, you met your first husband. He was married at the time, but the two of you set up home in Brighton and then subsequently you got married and you got a job. You were the only woman working on the Evening Argus where you began reviewing records. So this would be the early sixties. And your column was called Spin With Me. Tell me about this.

Annie Nightingale13:59

Tell me about this.

Annie Nightingale14:01

I don't think I'd say that. Well, I was a general reporter and I'd done everything and they'd said they wouldn't have me because I hadn't got the right background.

Presenter14:02

Well, I was a j

Annie Nightingale14:10

But it's just as well they gave me an opportunity because it was the most wonderful training you could have. You didn't think at the time covering things like Paris council meeting or council meetings covering court reporting, but I was learning so much. To make something out of one paragraph is much more difficult. The big stories are themselves. But I still didn't know what was coming. I was thinking I'm 19 and my life is ebbing away. So, you know, I'm quite impatient person and you don't know what might be around the corner. I tried to hang on to that. But I think, you know, you have to believe in yourself and try and follow your dreams.

Presenter14:49

Time for your next disc, Annie. Tell us about this one. What are we going to hear next?

Annie Nightingale14:53

Well, this represents a big important time in my life and in music because I was a journalist and had a record column. I had access to be able to interview people. All the bands toured and they all came to Brighton. So I had a very good opportunity to go and interview them and meet them. And that is how I met the Beatles. And I was able to interview Dusty Springfield in Brighton, where I live. And I went backstage after the show. And Dusty said, oh, this is Vicki Wickham. And I went, oh, you're the very person I want to meet. Because I knew that Vicky Wickham was the editor of Ready Steady Go, the first really brilliant pop TV show that brought Motown, it brought black music to us, which we'd never heard before. And why it changed me was I was part managing a band.

Annie Nightingale15:44

And I said to Vicky, oh, I'd love to get our band on Register to Go. So she said, well, bring the record to me in London. So I did. And they went, well, okay, we'll think about that. But actually, we're looking for a presenter for a new show, a sister show, to Register to Go. Would you be interested?

Annie Nightingale16:01

Woo!

Annie Nightingale16:02

Imagine, yes. So suddenly I was involved in that world and it was produced by the same people that made Ready Study Go and I used to go every week to this live show and you'd be in the studio, in the audience and Stevie Wonder would be a metre away from you or the Supremes. It was unbelievable. Anyway, every Friday night after Ready Study Go we would go to Soho and have dinner and after that we went to the Ad Lib Club and this is where you would hear this Motown music being played but this is one which again the words got to me and it was by the Marvellettes and it's called Too Me Efficiency.

Speaker 416:45

My father once told me something, and every word is true.

Speaker 416:50

Don't waste your time on a fellow who doesn't love you, girl.

Speaker 416:55

The only message you

Speaker 416:58

Only grievous. Don't worry about him. Let him go.

Speaker 417:04

Do it all the coffee Two minutes in the sick Two big fish in the sick I said short one, tall one Found one Too many fish in the sick

Presenter17:16

The Marvelettes and Too Many Fish in the Sea. Annie Nightingale, in your autobiography you describe hanging out at the Beatles Apple studios and there was quite a lot of hospitality on offer. How hedonistic was it down there?

Annie Nightingale17:29

Well, they have this office, the White Building, Georgian Building in Salvo.

Annie Nightingale17:34

And created this company. All the carpets were apple green, and it was very smart and elegant.

Annie Nightingale17:40

They began to sign other artists, and I thought they've already helped me.

Annie Nightingale17:46

How could I give something back to them?

Annie Nightingale17:48

And so I would interview all the bands that they'd signed. And so I started to spend more time there, and I was accepted.

Annie Nightingale17:55

But I also knew that

Annie Nightingale17:58

They had a kind of

Annie Nightingale18:00

Code that sort of wants striking you out, you know, you let them down, you break that trust, and that's it. It's over. And I thought that was perfectly fair. I knew about John and Yoko before it was announced and had a newspaper column. And this was hugely big news at the time. And I thought, well, I'm not going to say anything. I won't break their trust. But if that story breaks, then they'll think, oh, yeah, it was your fault. And it wasn't. So when they did go public, it was a great relief because sometimes, you know, it's not good to be in the right place at the right time. And I wasn't hanging out there the whole time, but it was an extraordinary atmosphere. Laura McCall would come in there and Jimmy Webb, the songwriter. People just appeared. And I took my son to the Apple Christmas party. And John Lennon was Father Christmas, and Yoko was Mother Christmas. They did extraordinary things. And I felt very, very privileged to be.

Presenter18:54

He allows in.

Presenter18:55

It's time to take a break for some music, Annie. Disc number five. What is it and why have you chosen it? This was.

Annie Nightingale19:00

1969, so it took me years before I could persuade May they wanted to let me have a go. So I was still writing my music column.

Annie Nightingale19:09

And then this record came along and it was at the time of the first moonshots and so we were all obsessed with space and this tune came along called Space Odyssey by David Bowman.

Annie Nightingale19:22

I'd never heard anything like that before.

Annie Nightingale19:24

And by this time the Beatles the cracks were beginning to show. One would begin to be aware that they wanted to go their different ways and that they were not going to last that much longer. And everyone was saying, Oh, so

Annie Nightingale19:37

What group is going to follow the Beatles? And I thought it's not going to be necessarily another band.

Annie Nightingale19:44

It's this guy David Bowie. I was absolutely convinced.

Speaker 419:51

Uh This is ground control to make your tongue You've really made the grave

Speaker 420:02

And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear Now it's time to leave the capsule if you're dare

Presenter20:09

Now it's time.

Presenter20:11

Leave that

Speaker 420:17

This is Major Tom to Ground Control.

Presenter20:22

David Bowie and Space Oddity. It still gets to me. I mean, just fantastic. Annie Nightingale, when they set up Radio One in 1967, as you say, it's this all-male line-up. You went and knocked on their door, but you were rebuffed. What did they say to you? Oh, yes.

Annie Nightingale20:37

Uh

Annie Nightingale20:38

I mean, rebuffed is the word, Lauren, that is the word. They said, uh no, absolutely not. And I went, Well, uh, why?

Annie Nightingale20:49

Because I hadn't actually really experienced sexism until then. I'd never experienced this at all of no, you can't.

Annie Nightingale20:56

And so I said, why? And then they came out with this wonderful line. They said, our disc jog is a husband substitutes.

Annie Nightingale21:05

Which I thought was still known things to say.

Annie Nightingale21:11

And

Annie Nightingale21:12

I thought that that sets up a lot of assumptions that

Annie Nightingale21:16

All the women pop fans were housewives at home doing the ironing and and they would sort of say to me, Why was a woman?

Presenter21:26

What a bit do. But they were bewildered. In nineteen sixty nine, a new controller at Radio One, Douglas Muggeridge, arrived and asked Derek Taylor, the Beatles publicist, if he could recommend a female DJ, and he said you. What do you remember about your first broadcast?

Presenter21:42

Uh hmm.

Annie Nightingale21:43

Was the disaster

Annie Nightingale21:46

It was a complete disaster. I still didn't know what was going on technically. So there was this, I mean, sort of the vinyl in those days. So this record was going round and round. And I thought, well, it's not doing anything. So I'll press the stop button. And it didn't stop. It ground slowly to a halt. So, you know, I brought the network to a halt on my very first show. And I thought, well, that's it. You know, you had your chance. You've been pestering them all this time and now you've blown it.

Annie Nightingale22:17

And they were very forgiving and let me carry on.

Presenter22:20

You were the only woman and you would remain so for the next twelve years until nineteen eighty two when Janice Long arrived. What was the atmosphere like at the place at the time you joined?

Annie Nightingale22:29

You know, it was all boys. They were very competitive with each other. So.

Presenter22:31

Uh

Annie Nightingale22:34

I was kind of extraneous really. I don't know what they thought of me really, but it was kind of locker room humour. I wasn't really... I didn't feel very involved with them.

Annie Nightingale22:43

Yeah, most of them. Johnny Walker was always very kind to me.

Presenter22:43

Young man

Presenter22:46

I know that you said you you did endure chauvinistic attitudes from engineers in the studio from the studio next door, they would criticize the music while you were playing it out so you could hear it in your headphones. I mean that must have been difficult to handle.

Annie Nightingale22:56

Yeah.

Annie Nightingale22:58

Now that must have

Annie Nightingale22:59

At hand door

Annie Nightingale23:01

Yeah, and I felt that the technical guys were waiting for me to fail.

Annie Nightingale23:07

There was very much, I felt, like the woman driver. I think actually the BBC.

Presenter23:07

Those

Annie Nightingale23:11

also wanted it to fail.

Annie Nightingale23:13

I think they thought, okay, we've got to do this pop radio and we'll give it a year. And I think they were.

Annie Nightingale23:20

You would be quite happy if it had not worked out. So, you know, huge pressure on all of the people who worked in Radio One to make it happen. So they made their DJs super famous. You know, 20 million listeners. There was no commercial radio, so they had no.

Presenter23:24

Yeah.

Presenter23:36

Come on.

Annie Nightingale23:37

Competitors

Presenter23:37

You've been so encouraging and supportive to me and many other women who've gone on to follow in your footsteps, Annie. I wonder who supported you during that period, because that must have been difficult at times.

Annie Nightingale23:48

Well, I suppose your friends, your family?

Annie Nightingale23:52

I had some very good producers and you could pour out your worries and your troubles to them and say, oh yeah, I'm so worried I made a mistake. You play the record at the wrong speed. You play 33 instead of 45. Or you played the wrong album verse and it's got the swearing on it. It was all live. So there were a lot of mistakes that could be made and I made a lot of mistakes. But then I began to feel as the 70s happened, there were these programmes in the evening called Sounds of the 70s with John Peel and others. And I didn't see myself as being the daytime DJ. I wanted to be there to play the music that I cared about, not to become a celebrity. And I could feel that these daytime guys were, or guys were being groomed to be big service stars because the radio one needed them to be. I said to the boss, I said, can I be on in the evening? And it was the best question, the best decision I ever made.

Presenter24:50

It's time to go to the music annie disc number six.

Annie Nightingale24:52

Well, obviously I've had this long career. I've witnessed changes in music which have been incredibly exciting. And one of the biggest step changes ever was rap and how that took over America and the world and has brought about people who become so important like Beyoncé.

Speaker 425:20

Got me losing

Speaker 425:22

Freedom, where are you? Cause I need freedom too. I break chains all by myself. Won't let my freedom ride in hell.

Speaker 425:34

I'ma keep on running cause the winner don't quit on themselves

Presenter25:46

Beyonce and Freedom featuring Kendrick Lamar. Annie Nightingale, your first marriage had ended in nineteen sixty eight and you had two young children, Alex and Lucy, to look after. How did you manage?

Annie Nightingale25:58

Well, I bring them with me whenever possible. When I was doing a Sunday afternoon, Sunday evening show, they would come to broadcasting house. They couldn't do it now. And I'd go, Okay, run around, have fun, don't do anything terrible. And then we'll drive back and then we'd do rehearsing times tables on the way home. And I had to have help. We had opairs and people, probably the same age as me. And so I'd go, Oh, there's this great gig, must take this as a gig. And then we had to find somebody else to be the babysitter.

Annie Nightingale26:28

For them, because I wanted them to have a good time as well.

Presenter26:31

Tell me about your approach as a journalist, balancing your own personal feelings and morals with covering stories. You mentioned earlier not spilling the beans about John and Yoko being a couple. How do you strike that balance when it comes, for example, to getting a great interview but not invading someone's privacy?

Annie Nightingale26:51

Well, I'm chicken. I'm glad you asked me that. I realised in my very, very early days going out on the breaking story with a microphone, trying to get a quote from somebody. It's a very tough job. And it got to the point where I was being pressured by Fleet Street to write things about people that I wasn't comfortable with. And I went, I can't do it. I can't. So that's why my... involvement with the BBC, I'm forever grateful for because the BBC was not saying, right, you've got to go and shop somebody and tell us the inside story of their marriage breaking up. I knew I couldn't do that. So it saved me. It saved my, you know.

Annie Nightingale27:31

It just did because I was not good at that and I didn't want to be good at it either.

Presenter27:36

You're a very private person, too, as well, Annie. Why is that important to you?

Annie Nightingale27:43

I don't know really. Um you don't want to hurt other people, I guess.

Annie Nightingale27:49

You might talk about somebody else and they go, How could you say that about me? And you think, I I didn't mean it in a bad way. Perhaps because I appreciated all that, when it came to me to be in the public eye, if you like, I was more conscious of

Annie Nightingale28:03

Yeah, the damage that it

Presenter28:05

I wonder if it's an important discipline as well to hold something back because, you know, as a broadcaster, you've got to go on. And no matter what's happening in your personal life, it's your job to show up and do your job for your listener or your viewer.

Annie Nightingale28:17

Absolutely, I could not have put that better. Actually, if you're feeling ill, it's a great thing to be on air because all your symptoms you got through or something will go away because it genuinely takes it away while you're on air. I think the concentration level is so important that you can actually blot out anything else in your life. And that is a kind of escapism. And I've always found that if I was going through a bad time in my personal life, then once I was on air, it's a magic that takes over and you're with your listener.

Presenter28:47

Annie, we've got to take a break for some music. This is your penultimate disc.

Annie Nightingale28:52

So this is a little different. It's actually introduced to me, I think, by Robert Fripp.

Annie Nightingale28:57

who's a dear friend, and I think he introduced me to Eric Sarty and there's this series of pieces called Etoi Xenopides. And when I couldn't become a dancer, which I would have loved to have done, but didn't I don't have the physique for it, and I could waft around.

Annie Nightingale29:14

To this and then when my last relative died, my Uncle Bill and I organised this funeral. And this was my most daring thing to have played at this funeral. And people came up to me after they said, oh, very good. Really like the music. And it's a beautiful piece.

Presenter30:33

Erik Sati's Genopedie, No. One, performed by the Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Peter Breiner. Annie Nightingale Every radio station refreshes its line up from time to time, but you're still at Radio One, the longest serving DJ there. What's your secret, I wonder?

Annie Nightingale30:51

I don't know. I'm deeply grateful for the continuing opportunities to do what I love doing. Young music is for young people and as they grow up and they grow older, they have other things come into their lives. But for me, it carried on. What's going to come next? And I feel if I can help anybody get a foothold on the ladder of recognition because there's so much music now. You can make music at home and your bedroom and you can put it on all these different digital platforms. But who is going to take notice of it? And so I know what it means to get your tune played on national radio. So Vicki Wickham, who I mentioned earlier, I said to her, I owe you so much. She said, pass it on. And I think that's true. And if I've been able to do that, then great.

Presenter31:37

Just one more disc before you go what's it gonna be?

Annie Nightingale31:40

So the story about this is it's an old song.

Annie Nightingale31:44

Given a punk cover by Sid Vices. So it was a song called My Way. I was never very keen on it. I could see that it had a very strong lyric. Sid Visches came along and deconstructed it completely and I loved it. Why it's resonated more recently is this, that friends of mine are Prama Scream and the wife of their guitarist Andrew Innes, her name is Alison and her birthday of mine are the same day, April 1st and we tend to hang out together and do something. So a few years ago, Prama Scream would play at the London Palladium on April 1st and we sat in a royal box and at the end of their set the going out music when everyone leaves the theatre was Sid Visit's version of My Way and I thought it fitted so beautifully.

Speaker 432:34

Who got a car?

Speaker 432:37

Yeah, oh yeah

Speaker 432:40

All of my artworks and all

Speaker 432:45

Much more than this I did yeah

Speaker 432:54

They're one time

Presenter32:57

Part of Sid Vicious's My Way, and we couldn't play the whole thing because in the true spirit of punk, not all the lyrics are playable on Daytime Radio 4.

Speaker 433:02

The truth

Presenter33:06

Annie Nightingale, it's time to send you off to the island. We'll give you the books, the Bible, the complete works of Shakespeare, and a book of your choice. What would you like to take with you?

Annie Nightingale33:07

Uh

Annie Nightingale33:15

I said, you know, I'm a big Shakespeare fan, so I'll enjoy Shakespeare. I think the book I would take would be Catch 22. Just classic.

Presenter33:22

Just made me laugh.

Annie Nightingale33:24

Yeah.

Presenter33:25

What about a luxury item for pleasure or sensory stimulation?

Presenter33:29

I think a saxophone.

Presenter33:31

Ah. Can you play?

Annie Nightingale33:32

Uh no, but I could learn.

Annie Nightingale33:35

And it would catch the sunlight, so it might act like an SOS.

Presenter33:40

And I love the sound of it. And finally, the most difficult question of all for you, Annie, if you had to save just one of these eight discs from being destroyed by a tropical storm, which would you go for?

Annie Nightingale33:51

I think because of what was to become the longevity of his career and all the things he did and the changes that he made, the thrill that I got and I still get from first hearing of Space Odyssey, it would be that. I never get tired of hearing it.

Presenter34:07

And it's kind of about a castaway, too, so it's perfect. Annie Nightingale, thank you very much for sharing your desert island discs with us.

Annie Nightingale34:14

Thank you, Lauren, very, very much.

Presenter34:28

I'm sure that Annie will master the sacks by the time she's rescued by a passing ship. I hope you enjoyed our conversation. She was the only female presenter of the old grey whistle test for a number of years, and her predecessor, Bob Harris, also features in the Desert Island Disc's back catalogue, including a host of musicians that Annie knew or championed, including Paul McCartney and Ian Jury. They're all available to listen to via our website or on BBC Sounds. Next time, my guest will be the writer, actor, and producer Sharon Horgan. I do hope you'll join us.