Paul Costelloe

Speaker 30:01

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. And, for rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening.

Presenter0:45

My castaway this week is the fashion designer Paul Costello. A mainstay of British and Irish fashion since the 1980s, he recently celebrated his 36th year showing at London Fashion Week, making him the event's longest standing designer. He learned his trade in 1960s Paris, but says he inherited his magic hands, which can tell the makeup of cloth by touch alone, from his father, who ran a successful company making raincoats in Dublin.

Presenter1:13

Paul set up his own label there in 1979, showcasing the quality tailoring, everyday elegance and love of natural fabrics, particularly Irish linen, that would become central to his success. He's been a favourite of British royalty for decades, dressing Diana, Princess of Wales, for fifteen years, but lately he has diversified, putting his style within reach of shoppers who don't have a royal budget.

Presenter1:36

As a child, his treasured outfit was a Roy Rogers cowboy suit, and he did have dreams of becoming a ranch hand in the American West, but in the end, the cattle lost out to the allure of the cutting room. With over 50 years in fashion under his belt, he shows no signs of slowing down. He says, I'm the Clint Eastwood of fashion. I just keep going. Paul Costello, welcome to Desert Island Discs. Thank you. Thank you so much. So perhaps a little bit dirty Harry in attitude there, Paul. You've said there's a tiger in me somewhere that says I'm not going to surrender. Is fashion a fight? Do you need to have an appetite for it?

Paul Costelloe2:11

I suppose because I'm like a lot of creative people, we're never fully satisfied. So you have to keep going to find that crock of gold, which you probably will never find. And I'm still here, and I'm sorry about that for some people. You're probably thinking, why hasn't he retired? Why hasn't he stepped back and allowed young designers? I'm prepared to take anybody on at any stage and say I'm still worthy and I'm still should be making good-looking clothes.

Paul Costelloe2:47

What keeps you going? Ego to some extent. My wife, my family, seven children pushing me on, applauding me or saying, oh God, why didn't you do better? And being part of the London scene, it's still, I still feel I'm very privileged and I'm still enjoying the challenge. Are you one of those people who has Brico ritual

Paul Costelloe3:12

Yes, and generally uh where I show is in in the Waldorf Hotel. So I always slip over with with one or two of my sons for a greasy spoon uh fry up pre-show, yeah, good old fry up at about seven o'clock in the morning or eight o'clock. Yeah, great, I'd recommend it highly.

Presenter3:22

Yeah, yeah.

Presenter3:30

Well, let's dive in then with your first disc. What are we going to hear?

Paul Costelloe3:33

Well, it's Don't Be Cruel by Elvis Presley. My good friends in Dublin, my two of my best friends, came around to my house, which is a beautiful old Dower house. And I used to teach them rock and roll. How old would you have been at that point? Probably about eight or nine. And we had lessons, and Elvis Presley was the man to teach us.

Speaker 13:55

You know I can't be fine Sit home all alone

Paul Costelloe4:01

Can't call a rabbit Please please telephone and don't be crude

Paul Costelloe4:08

The whole is true.

Paul Costelloe4:12

Baby informed that

Paul Costelloe4:15

But something I might have said Please don't forget my past The future looks bright ahead But don't be cruel To who heart is true

Presenter4:28

Elvis Presley and Don't Be Cruel. So Paul Costello, at the time we're talking, the economic forecast for the fashion industry is quite mixed, but one trend that is emerging is that consumers have come out of lockdown saying that they want to buy more sustainable clothing, to buy less but better, as the saying goes. Do you think this might be the beginning of the end for fast fashion?

Paul Costelloe4:48

Unfortunately, probably not. I still think there's that customer out there who wants immediate gratification, then throw it away. We're human beings and in the end of the day, we'll change briefly, but I think we'll probably be back again to some bad, bad habits. You know, they don't just go away overnight. Never expect too much from human nature.

Presenter5:10

Paul, I know that you're also a talented artist and an inveterate sketcher, and I've seen a film of you working with a paintbrush. How do you bring together your artistic vision with the commercial demands of selling a product? Is that tricky?

Paul Costelloe5:23

It is impossible. What I paint is really a complete freedom, complete escapism, whether I'm in a restaurant or in a bar or somewhere. Usually abroad I just bring my pad and I do a quick watercolour whether I'm in India or China or Italy somewhere with a paintbrush. I'm not afraid of colour, I'm not afraid of making mistakes and I enjoy that freedom and it's just like complete utter abandonment.

Presenter5:57

What about that nous, that kind of commercial sense, knowing what the hits will be in any collection and what will sell? Is that something that comes naturally to you?

Paul Costelloe6:06

Uh It is, and I'm very aware of that commercial side, which which is probably I inherited from my father because he was up to a certain period he was very, very successful and he was very smart, and he's always stood behind me.

Paul Costelloe6:19

even though he's been dead for a long time.

Paul Costelloe6:21

It's time for your second disc then, Paul. What are we going to hear, and why?

Paul Costelloe6:25

This is when I was

Paul Costelloe6:26

Stuck in Ireland when I was about 16, 17, my parents had given me up as a lost cause. They sent me down to Waterford, a little village called Cappaquin, to learn farming and piggery. In other words, I worked for a pig factory collecting pigs and grading them, etc., in a little village. It was like something out of a storybook. So Luke Kelly and the Dublin Ells with Raglan Road was such a wonderful story and a wonderful poem as well. And it reflects a beautiful side of Ireland. On Raglan Road.

Speaker 17:07

Of an autumn day

Speaker 17:11

I saw her first and then you.

Speaker 17:19

That eard would weave a snare?

Speaker 17:28

That I might one day rule.

Presenter7:34

RAGLAN ROAD, Luke Kelly and the Dubliners. Paul Costello, you were born in Dublin in nineteen forty five, and you were the youngest of seven children. Your father, William, ran a company making raincoats. Tell me a little bit more about him. He was a bit of a charmer, I think.

Paul Costelloe7:51

He was, he was a very strict man, but he had a lot of respect and he had a wonderful bowl of hat. And when he would go in through the local Allied Irish banks, he would take off his hat to the ladies. And he came from Limerick. His parents had a pub, but I think they drank most of it. So he more or less came up to Dublin and swept the floors of a big store called Splitz's, which is now Brown Thomas's. And I'd always make him his fry on a Saturday afternoon so I could get his car. He would give me his car at the age of 17 without any driver's license or anything. And I would make him his wonderful evening supper, I suppose you could describe it. But it was mainly made of bacon, egg and sausage and then milk, hot milk on top. Unbelievable. Poured on top. Hot milk poured over the bacon, egg and sausage. Yes, I know, exactly. And then he'd give me his keys and maybe a couple of quid and I'd say give him a kiss and I'd go off and I loved him. And he had those magic hands that you've been having.

Speaker 18:45

Wow.

Paul Costelloe8:57

Hey.

Presenter8:57

Tell me about that magic.

Paul Costelloe8:57

Tell me about that magic.

Presenter8:58

Yeah.

Paul Costelloe8:59

I just see him going through the fabrics with this wonderful big thumb. He just knew the quality by hand and I still today I can still tell even with people I go, yeah, there's a little bit of polyester in there, a little bit of visco, a little bit of, and they go, oh no, this is pure silk. I said, sorry, no, no, there are other things in there other than pure silk. So it's again, it's not from knowledge, not from learning. It's from, I thank my Father and God.

Presenter9:27

Your mother Kay was a teacher and she'd come from New York. How did she come to find herself in Ireland?

Paul Costelloe9:32

Her parents were from Kilkenny and she was getting over a love affair in New York and they thought, oh, we need to get her away for a little bit. So they got her on a plane to Dublin. She had relatives in Dublin and my father attended a party in Dublin in Ratgar, which is a very posh area of Dublin. And he was like the well-to-do success of Dublin at the time. And he saw this rather glamorous American woman. They had contact at that point. She went back to New York. And two weeks later, he got on the boat and they got married in St Patrick's Church. And then he brought her home back to Ireland.

Presenter10:20

You said that your mum was quite strict and that you had a bit of a distant relationship with her.

Paul Costelloe10:25

She, well, because my brother, who was Robert Costello, who was also an artist, he had a hole in his heart, so they had to spend a lot of time nursing him, bring him over to London, to Guy's hospital. She had to give him a lot more time, and I suppose I didn't quite understand that part. But, you know, it was fine that way. I always felt I was out in the garden going wild and growing wild.

Presenter10:53

Well, it's time for some more music, and I think, Paul, this might take us back to your childhood, too. What's next? Disc number three.

Paul Costelloe10:59

There was a gang of us, we called ourselves the Animal Gang, and we were a group of about four or five 16 year olds, 17 year olds. And we would go to the rugby hops in those days, like discos. And because the bars didn't close till 10 o'clock, but the discos would end at 12. So by the time we got to the discos, it would be nearly 11. And then to try and find somebody to dance with became quite difficult. And particularly for me, because I was towering over everybody else, and I was a long, ugly string of misery, I suppose. And to try to find somebody for the last dance, I had to work really, really hard. You can dance, you can dance, go carry on till the night is gone and it's time to go.

Paul Costelloe11:50

If he asks If you're all alone, can he take you home?

Speaker 311:56

You must tell him no.

Speaker 111:58

Yeah.

Speaker 311:58

Cause don't forget who's taking you home and in whose arms you're gonna be.

Speaker 312:06

So da

Speaker 112:07

Save a laugh dance for me.

Speaker 312:08

Everlast man

Presenter12:12

The Drifters and Save the Last Dance for Me. So, Paul Costello, we've talked a little bit about your mother. Tell me a little bit about her personal style.

Paul Costelloe12:21

She was very elegant. Even till the day she died, she loved her leg, so she'd always cross her leg and let the skirt ride up. But I think above all, she loved entertaining, and she would always throw a good dinner. And particularly she was part of the American society over there when the American Navy would arrive into Dublin Harbour and she'd invite the members of the crew to come for dinner. in their beautiful black uniforms and stunning looking men. And my sisters would be absolutely in awe of these young men and they were all older than me, so I'd be in bed, but I'd be looking out the window and I'd see them there playing croquet on the back lawn and I'd I could still hear the noise of the croquet balls clicking.

Presenter13:11

Your parents had this substantial property near the beach in Dublin, big garden, and and you know, you said that when your mother was focussed on your brother, you were kind of sent out there to grow like

Paul Costelloe13:20

To grow like a like a plant. With my little red bike and my imagination. Even as a baby, I still remember as a baby being in my pram under a tree watching the rain coming down. So yeah, I was allowed to flow.

Presenter13:34

Yeah, so you sound like a a creative child, outdoorsy, sporty. How did you get on at school?

Paul Costelloe13:41

It was a bit of a disaster. I the one class I excelled in was in painting, in in art class. And I had a wonderful teacher called Miss McDonough who really encouraged me. And I went to classes on Saturday afternoons in in her little studio and she really believed in me.

Presenter13:53

In her

Presenter13:57

Yeah. You have the you know, the trace of a stammer now. Was was that a problem when you were a kid? And if so, how how did it?

Paul Costelloe14:03

And if it's a

Paul Costelloe14:05

Thank you for mentioning that. Appreciate it. And they'll give you a five instead of a four. And I probably didn't have the answers anyway. But I'm self-conscious and I'm not just self-conscious but probably not confident enough.

Presenter14:32

Of course, I can imagine that affecting your confidence. It also seems to be something that's made you push yourself even harder.

Paul Costelloe14:39

Yeah, it does. It because you're you're not fulfilled. You you know you have your weaknesses. You don't have that 100% self-esteem. And in a way, that's why I'm still doing catwalk shows. To prove yourself.

Presenter14:52

Yep, absolutely.

Presenter14:54

It's time for disc number four. What is it and why are you taking it to the island?

Paul Costelloe14:59

Yes, well this is part of my uh journey in France, uh Les Champs-Élysées Jeaux d'Assannes, and I hope it reflects my love for Paris and particularly around the lower end of Champs-Élysées towards the Concorde.

Speaker 315:15

Jean ballad des l'Avenue, le carouver à l'inconu, Javais envie de dir bonjour, à n portequi, nam portequais, et ce futois, je di n porte quai, Il ce fise de té parlais, pour pas privoisé.

Speaker 115:32

Au chams elisé.

Speaker 315:37

Oh, chance lisé!

Speaker 315:40

Hosola Zoo la

Speaker 315:43

I mean

Presenter15:44

Joe Dassan and Les Champs-Élysées.

Presenter15:47

Paul Costello, by nineteen sixty three then, you had bid adieu to the pig factory and you'd started studying at the Grafton Academy of Fashion Design. Was that a defining moment for you? Is that when you decided to follow a career in fashion?

Paul Costelloe16:00

I have to thank my parents. I had to go somewhere, so I did go to the Grafan Academy. And they were very good. I had a lovely teacher who did everything for me, even sold every button for me.

Presenter16:11

Can you is it true that you still can't sewn a button?

Paul Costelloe16:13

Yeah, absolutely. Yep, yep, yep. Dreadful, dreadful. And I can't make a pattern. I'm absolutely shocking. But I've got a good eye, luckily. I know what I want, which which and I'm decisive. So that's a good quality in in a designer. And I won a prize for millinery, oddly enough, which was a big, big broad hat. So and then I went off off to Paris and that's where life really began.

Presenter16:16

Metanal

Speaker 116:23

Yeah.

Presenter16:40

Uh

Paul Costelloe16:40

Yeah.

Presenter16:40

Yeah.

Paul Costelloe16:40

Uh

Presenter16:40

Yes, you were studying at uh the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture. That's like the French equivalent of the British Fashion Council, I think.

Paul Costelloe16:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a very up up market school and a very, very gifted school with a lot of wonderful tailors, etc. But it was way out of my depth. I'd come from Dublin. I was like a lost in a field and I didn't last there very long. You dropped out then by the sense. I did, I did. I just felt I was not up to it at all and they I don't even think they noticed I had gone. Really? Yeah, yeah. It was that type of experience.

Presenter17:02

Sounds good.

Presenter17:10

Yeah.

Presenter17:15

Luckily, Paul, you managed to talk your way into a job with the very hot designer, Jacques Esterel. He was eccentric, he was a performer as well as a designer, and he actually created Brigitte Bardot's wedding dress. What made him take you on, do you think?

Paul Costelloe17:29

He loved Irish music and so he thought, oh well look, we might take him on because he's Irish. And then I ended up on a big, big table on Faubourg Santa Noué with a number of designers from Japan, from many, many countries, including France. And we were given projects each week to design suits for certain clients, ready-to-wear clients. And there'd be a pile of sketches from everybody. And then the client would come in. go to the head office downstairs, he'd make their selection and the ones that got taken, they would get paid. And the designers that didn't get anything taken would not get paid. I'm afraid for a long time I was a skeleton until eventually my work started selling. But it was a very good learning curve and it made me very aware of what is good and what is bad in fashion.

Speaker 118:11

I'm afraid

Presenter18:25

It's time for some more music now. This is disc number five. What is it and why have you chosen it?

Paul Costelloe18:30

Uh

Paul Costelloe18:31

Old Man River, Paul Ropeson. It reflects America of yesterday and of today and reflects that black is relevant and we must respect black lives. And I think that's the great quality of America, is that optimism against the odds.

Paul Costelloe18:51

I get weary and sick of trying, I'm tired of living.

Presenter19:22

Old Man River, performed by Paul Robeson from the musical Showboat, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oskar Hammerstein. Paul Costello, in the early nineteen seventies you worked for Marx and Spencer, first in London and then later in Milan. How did you get on in Italy?

Paul Costelloe19:39

I started work on the Monday without one word of Italian and I didn't work that hard during the day and had my little mini 500 which was for some six feet four and my my legs stretched to the back so I had the back seat was in fact the front seat. So if I if I had two people in the back they had to put their legs over my shoulders. So my my driving was fairly erratic and um

Speaker 119:53

Back.

Presenter20:01

Uh

Paul Costelloe20:06

But it was a great time.

Presenter20:07

So you fell in love with Italian style and the language and lifestyle.

Paul Costelloe20:10

Absolutely everything about Italy is still amazing. I always remember when I lived in Milan and I'd go for a walk on a Sunday and I'd walk down Via della Spica. You'd find 70-year-old women and men looking at these clothes from Armani or Dolce Gabbana and admiring the make. Now no way could they fit into these clothes, no way could they afford them, but they admire and they respect the masters of fashion.

Presenter20:39

After Milan, you moved to New York, and there you started working for a clothing manufacturer called Leonard Sunshine on Seventh Avenue. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. What happened?

Paul Costelloe20:50

I was coming from London with very much high fashion, modern, quite extreme designs. Everything that the Americans didn't want because they even in those days they liked comfort. And so you had to do a lot more trousers and more volume in the hip area and smaller on top. So I was just the wrong fit. So I only lasted there maybe a couple of weeks, maybe three or four weeks, and I was given the boot typical American style. Wow, so you know they just.

Presenter21:20

Wow, so straight out the door.

Paul Costelloe21:23

Straight at the door, you're thrown out.

Presenter21:25

I think you said about the US if you don't make it qu

Paul Costelloe21:28

Quickly there, don't hang on. Exactly, and it's still true today. And I felt that I wasn't going to be the next Ralph Lorne, even though I felt I had the characters and the traits. But I didn't get that chance, so I came back to Ireland and from there's another story.

Presenter21:47

Yes, Paul. In nineteen seventy seven you moved back to Ireland and you set up your own label. It was in partnership with a Northern Irish company called Strailitz. And that was at the height of the troubles, of course. But despite the underlying tensions in the province, you've got very fond memories, I know, of people from many different backgrounds working together in the factory.

Paul Costelloe22:07

Yes, absolutely. Where the for example, the cutting room was definitely Protestant, the pressing line was Catholic and the sewing line was probably a bit a mixture of both. The technical skills were all there. There was probably one of the best factories anywhere in the United Kingdom.

Paul Costelloe22:26

Uh

Presenter22:26

It's time for your next piece of music, Paul. Number six. Why are you taking it with you to the island today?

Paul Costelloe22:32

I'm taking Silent Worship, Ala Jones. It's a wonderful, sad, beautiful song, but it expresses the greatness of England, the greatness of the fields, of the things that are beautiful here, and particularly when I was travelling up to Yorkshire to my son's school, Ampleforth, and I'd visit them. The gardens were always so stunning in these small villages. It's just a very special piece of music.

Paul Costelloe23:00

Did you not hear my lane?

Paul Costelloe23:04

Go down the garden singing.

Paul Costelloe23:10

Blackbird and thrush were silent To hear the allies ringing

Paul Costelloe23:20

Oh, saw you not, my lady.

Paul Costelloe23:25

Out in the garden there.

Paul Costelloe23:31

Shaming the rose and the lily, For she is twice as fair.

Paul Costelloe23:48

Oh, I have nothing to

Paul Costelloe23:54

Oh, she must rarely look at me.

Presenter23:58

Ala Jones singing Silent Worship, adapted by Arthur Somervell from An Aria by Handel.

Presenter24:05

Paul Costello, in nineteen ninety nine you uprooted your business and moved to London. Now over the years I think you've been a little disparaging about Ireland, particularly about the Celtic tiger, that economic boom time in the nineteen nineties. You had your reservations about it.

Paul Costelloe24:22

Yeah, I was kind of jokingly, I called them the Cappuccino Society, because I was travelling back and forth and I could see they're always on their mobiles talking at the airports, making big deals and it wasn't a pretty sight. You didn't like it? I didn't like it. I think Irish, and particularly Irish businessmen, are great, but they're better playing at the low-key and then making great things happen. But in fact, I love Ireland dearly, but it doesn't suit us to be pompous. And success is a bit of a double-sided sword.

Presenter24:59

There is a bit

Paul Costelloe25:00

Too much E.

Presenter25:00

Go in the air, maybe.

Paul Costelloe25:02

Yeah. Yeah.

Presenter25:03

You later said, Paul, that you were being deliberately mischievous with those comments, but they didn't go down very well, particularly because you described the Irish as being a couple of generations out of the bog.

Paul Costelloe25:16

Yeah, and away in fact, I still like that. I still believe we are that far out of the bog. And that's where the best things come from. Of writers, of musicians, sitting in a bar, in a pub, in a bog, whatever. We are much better with the soil on us, on our hands than cleansed. Some people found it offensive, though.

Paul Costelloe25:40

I I I think I've apologized them a hundred times and I will continue to apologize anybody that I've ever upset, but it's only Costello being Costello.

Presenter25:50

Paul, one of your most famous clients was Diana Princess of Wales, of course still regarded as one of the world's most stylish and elegant women. What would she like to design for?

Paul Costelloe26:00

So genteel, so feminine, so warm, so humorous. And I sat in the drawing room, which is at the side of the house looking out onto Hyde Park. Yeah, this is Kensington Palace. And I couldn't believe looking out of the window at Hyde Park, and I am here. It was one of the most amazing experiences in my life.

Presenter26:12

So intending to

Presenter26:25

The Crown is obviously a fictionalized drama, but one element of the programme known for its meticulous attention to detail and accuracy is the wardrobe, which has a whole fan base of its own. I wonder if you've looked out for any of your designs on screen.

Paul Costelloe26:37

Yes, they did a knockoff of of my yellow linen printed uh dress. Not as good as the original I might have. But do you think they pulled it off?

Presenter26:41

Yeah.

Presenter26:46

But do you think it's

Paul Costelloe26:47

Uh not bad, not bad. Okay, yeah, yeah. We'll take that a cautious thumbs up.

Presenter26:49

Okay, we'll take that.

Presenter26:52

Yeah, courses, yeah, yeah, well done.

Presenter26:55

So Paul, there's a very famous photograph of Diana wearing one of your designs. I've got to ask you about it. She's with Luciano Pavarotti. I'm sure you know this picture. He'd given a h a concert in Hyde Park and it had been pouring with rain during the concert. She's totally drenched, but beaming from ear to ear, just glowing in one of your tuxedo sinks.

Paul Costelloe27:05

Okay, it's a bit of a major.

Paul Costelloe27:10

But beam.

Paul Costelloe27:11

Just glow with

Paul Costelloe27:13

She just looked so happy and she just did me so proud and um I'm so grateful to have that image of of of of her and I I'm nearly shedding a tear at this moment because um it was such a special time and um I still cherish

Presenter27:31

Every moment.

Presenter27:33

Let's take a minute for some more music then, Paul Costello, and I think I might have an idea why you've chosen this one.

Paul Costelloe27:39

O Solo Mio reflects Pavarotti, the the the the the wild man for moden.

Paul Costelloe27:50

I guess

Presenter28:49

Or Solomio Luciano Pavarotti and the National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Giancarlo Chiaramello.

Presenter28:56

Paul Costello, you've been married to Anne for almost forty years now. I think you met when you were out taking a stroll.

Paul Costelloe29:03

Roll in Dublin.

Paul Costelloe29:04

It was rainy, of course, typical Dublin weather, and she had a very nice umbrella, but above all, she was wearing a very nice skirt that was buttoned up as one side, but she had it slightly open with ankle socks and very high shoes. I thought, God, she's kind of cute. So I kind of speeded up the walk a little bit and I moved in beside her. I said, I think I recognise that skirt. And then she looked at me, said, Oh, God, I just borrowed it because she borrowed it from Annette Kennedy, who was one of the girls who worked in my shop. I said, Oh, well, it looked really good on you. You know, you look amazing. So one of your designs. One of my designs, yeah, very bold. And she was the eldest of seven children. I was the youngest of seven children. So we kind of hit her off really well. She's given me seven amazing children, six boys, one amazing girl, and was still, I believe, I love her now more than ever.

Presenter29:35

So what if

Paul Costelloe29:59

With

Presenter30:00

Sick.

Paul Costelloe30:00

It all was your plan.

Presenter30:00

And to have a big family?

Paul Costelloe30:02

Well, again, as it comes my father comes back into it. I was I'm I am competitive. Why not have seven? My father had seven, I can have seven, you know. I I always believe I could make a living somehow to s to support them, and from that point of view I I have.

Presenter30:20

Well, Paul, time's almost up. How are you feeling about being cast away from that big family of yours?

Paul Costelloe30:25

Ugh.

Paul Costelloe30:26

Well, I think I could handle it. I've got so many wonderful memories, and I know they will always remember me for better or worse, richer or poorer, and I would thank them for everything they've given me.

Paul Costelloe30:40

Alright.

Presenter30:40

Well, one more disc before we cast you away, Paul Costello. What's it gonna be and why have you chosen it?

Paul Costelloe30:46

Uh The disc is Grace by Rod Stewart, which is an Irish song. It's very sad, but it above all, it's it's r romantic, and I think romance is is foreverlasting.

Speaker 131:00

Oh grace, just hold me in your arms and let this moment linger.

Speaker 131:10

They'll take me out their door.

Speaker 131:13

And I will die

Paul Costelloe31:16

Uh

Speaker 131:16

Uh

Paul Costelloe31:17

Uh

Speaker 131:17

Uh

Paul Costelloe31:18

With all my love, I place this wedding ring upon your finger There won't be time

Presenter31:29

Grace by Rod Stewart. So, Paul, I'm going to send you away to the island now. I am, of course, giving you the books, the Bible, and the complete works of Shakespeare to take with you. You can also take one of your choice. What will that be?

Paul Costelloe31:42

Yeah.

Paul Costelloe31:42

I'll be taking Renard the Fox, which which is retold by Anne Louise Avery. And it's a wonderful story of animals. And I kind of relate to that because I am a little bit of a fox myself, the the way I've lived my life to a certain extent.

Presenter31:57

Well, you can definitely have that. Get in touch with your vulpine qualities. You'll need them, I think, when we cast you away. You can also have a luxury item.

Paul Costelloe32:04

What will that be? That'll be my ever-ending supply of watercolour paper and I'll bring my paint box.

Presenter32:12

Yeah.

Paul Costelloe32:12

Yeah.

Presenter32:12

Well, you can have paper and paint. I am nothing if not generous. And finally, which one of the eight tracks that you shared with us today would you save from the waves if you had to?

Paul Costelloe32:23

Well, it would have to be Grace by Rod Stewart because it is my wife.

Paul Costelloe32:30

My wife is

Presenter32:30

Grace

Presenter32:33

Paul Costello, thank you very much for letting us hear your Desert Island Disc.

Paul Costelloe32:36

Thank you, Harvie. Thank you. Thank you.

Presenter32:52

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Paul. We've cast away many fashion designers to our island, including Stella McCartney, Xandra Rhodes, Catherine Hamnett, and Dame Vivian Westwood. You can find their episodes in our Desert Island Discs programme archive and through BBC Sounds. Next time, my guest will be the vet and broadcaster Professor Noel Fitzpatrick. I do hope you'll join us.

Paul Costelloe33:29

A new fantasy podcast series from BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio Whale.

Speaker 333:36

Beyond the Forests.

Speaker 333:38

Beyond the valleys.

Speaker 333:41

There's another world.

Paul Costelloe33:43

Mabinogi

Paul Costelloe33:45

Lost Legends and Dark Magic.

Speaker 333:48

I know how to get there.

Paul Costelloe33:49

Where?

Speaker 333:51

The Otherworld.

Paul Costelloe33:56

An epic battle across the frontiers of reality.

Speaker 134:00

I think this is likely to end in disaster.

Paul Costelloe34:03

Step into the other world. Subscribe to Babinogi, Lost Legends and Dark Magic on BBC Sounds.