Quentin Poole

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Disc's Archive. For rights' reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen seventy, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:29

Our castaway this week is certainly the youngest of the 1,053 guests whom I've invited ashore since I devised this programme many years ago. He's 13 years old. He's the head chorister of King's College Chapel, Cambridge, and his name is Quentin Poole.

Presenter0:45

Quentin, have you ever daydreamed about being a Robinson Crusoe?

Quentin Poole0:49

No, I haven't, in fact.

Presenter0:51

How would you like the idea if it wasn't for too long?

Quentin Poole0:54

I think it'd quite be quite pleasant, actually.

Presenter0:57

It'd be a change in school.

Quentin Poole0:58

Yeah.

Presenter0:59

That's true. What would you be happiest to have got away from?

Quentin Poole1:02

People.

Presenter1:03

Not all people.

Quentin Poole1:04

Um, just about, al almost, apart from my family, I think just about everyone else.

Presenter1:09

Too many people.

Presenter1:11

What's the first record you've chosen?

Quentin Poole1:14

Um The Planets by Holtz.

Presenter1:16

Why'd you choose that?

Quentin Poole1:18

Um I don't know, I just like it. I went to um performance of it in Birmingham, which I thought was very good, and that's where I really caught on to it.

Presenter1:28

Which part of it shall we hear?

Quentin Poole1:30

Um Mars, the first movement.

Presenter2:26

Mars from the Planets by Holst Sir Adrian Bolt conducting the New Philharmonia Orchestra. What's your second is, Quentin?

Quentin Poole2:33

Um Henry Purcell's sacred music at the English Court, done by King's College Choir, was recorded abroad when on one of the choir tours.

Presenter2:42

Yeah.

Quentin Poole2:43

Conducted by David Wilcox.

Presenter2:44

Where did you record it?

Quentin Poole2:45

In Holland.

Presenter2:47

And watch the piece that you're singing.

Quentin Poole2:49

Remember not, Lord, our offences

Presenter3:50

Remember not, Lord, our offenses.

Presenter3:53

A purcell anthem by the King's College, Cambridge Choir. Now King's College is one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture in the country. How far does it date back?

Quentin Poole4:03

About five hundred years.

Presenter4:06

Receive thirteen cent.

Quentin Poole4:07

It's a a little a little more than that.

Presenter4:10

Here.

Presenter4:11

Henry the Sixth established it, didn't he?

Quentin Poole4:13

Yes, that's right.

Presenter4:14

when His Majesty also decided how big the choir should be.

Quentin Poole4:18

Yes, there's to be sixteen choristers, twelve choral scholars to be taken from the undergraduates of the college, and two volunteers which usually come from the other colleges in Cambridge.

Presenter4:24

Here.

Presenter4:30

Quite a small choir, as choirs go.

Quentin Poole4:32

Yes, that's true.

Presenter4:34

The chapel is still mainly candle-lit, isn't it?

Quentin Poole4:38

Well, when it was cleaned and restored about two years ago, they designed a new candle which had underneath it an electric light, which are turned on sometimes. The candles are lit for the choir on the weekdays, but on Saturdays and Sundays, they usually light the candles of the congregation as well.

Presenter4:59

Yeah.

Presenter5:00

Now apart from the building itself, there are some beautiful things to see inside it.

Quentin Poole5:04

Certainly, yes has the Reuben's painting at the altar, and also the altar front, which is cloth woven with semi-precious jewels and gold embroidered.

Presenter5:15

Is that very old?

Quentin Poole5:16

I don't know. I'm afraid I can't tell you.

Quentin Poole5:19

There are some very modern um designs, the the cross on the altar and the two candlesticks and the candelabrum on the walls each side in in the choir.

Quentin Poole5:30

which have um a row of candles round the outside. They they are very modern.

Presenter5:35

There.

Presenter5:36

No, the Coral Scholars are undergraduates. The school was originally part of the college.

Quentin Poole5:43

That's right, yes.

Presenter5:44

How close is the school to the college now?

Quentin Poole5:46

About half a mile takes about ten minutes to get from school to chapel.

Presenter5:51

Yes. You walk in crocodiles.

Quentin Poole5:53

Yes, that's right.

Presenter5:54

How many boys are there in the school?

Quentin Poole5:56

There are approximately two hundred eighty-five boarders, of which twenty-four are concerned with the choir, sixteen choristers and eight probationers who will come into the choir when others leave.

Presenter6:08

Yes. How do you how do you feel about being a boarder? Was it something of a wrench to start with?

Quentin Poole6:14

Well, it was a bit being torn away from being at home all the time.

Presenter6:18

How old were you then?

Quentin Poole6:19

I was eight when I first went

Quentin Poole6:22

But, uh, you settle down and forget it usually with all your friends around. You don't you don't seem to realize the loss after a bit.

Presenter6:30

Your family come to see you, of course.

Quentin Poole6:31

Yes, they come out four times a term.

Presenter6:35

And election to the choir, of course, is by audition.

Quentin Poole6:38

Yes, the the um when you're about seven or eight the boys come for auditions at the school.

Presenter6:46

Yes. At what age can a boy become a member of the choir?

Quentin Poole6:49

The actual choir, the singing choir? Well, um, it varies quite a lot. There's it's usually the youngest is about nine and a half or ten.

Presenter6:50

Yeah.

Quentin Poole6:59

And some people don't even get into the choir until they're eleven.

Presenter7:02

Hm. At what age did you get in?

Quentin Poole7:04

I was about nine and a half.

Presenter7:07

At nine and a half you can't provide much in the way of volume, can you?

Quentin Poole7:10

No, that's true.

Presenter7:11

Let's have your third record, Benton. What's that?

Quentin Poole7:13

Um s uh Ciciliano from the E-flat Bach sonata for flute and harps chord.

Presenter7:18

Yeah.

Presenter7:20

Why?

Quentin Poole7:22

To remind me of my flute playing, really. Because I learned the flute at school.

Presenter8:29

The slow movement from the Bach flute sonata in E-flat

Presenter8:35

Max Sans Larier playing the flute and Raphael Puyana at the harpsichord.

Presenter8:42

Quentin, what part of the country do you come from?

Quentin Poole8:44

Well, I was born in Surrey.

Quentin Poole8:47

And then when I was one, uh my father became presenter of Coventry Cathedral, so my my family moved to Coventry and I've lived there ever since.

Presenter8:56

Yes. So obviously your father is interested in church music. Is your mother musical too?

Quentin Poole9:00

She takes an interest in what I do, but she doesn't actually play any instrument or anything herself.

Presenter9:06

Have you brothers and sisters?

Quentin Poole9:07

I got two brothers and two sisters.

Presenter9:09

Are they musical?

Quentin Poole9:10

The young sister is definitely musical, she plays a lot of piano, she's just gone to college.

Quentin Poole9:16

Just begun college.

Quentin Poole9:17

Um she plays a lot of the piano, and slightly the clarinet, but the others aren't so musical.

Presenter9:23

When did you start having lesson?

Quentin Poole9:26

When I was about seven.

Presenter9:28

On the piano.

Quentin Poole9:29

Yes, it was on the piano just before I came to King's. It was a preparation for my teaching at King's.

Presenter9:35

Yes. And then you started the flute.

Quentin Poole9:37

Yes, I started the fruit about a year after I came to King's.

Presenter9:41

Mm-hmm. Is there a service in chapel every day?

Quentin Poole9:45

There's a service every day except for Monday, but the Wednesday service is sung by the men only, and on the first of the month we have a 10.30 matins as well as the 3.30 service at Evensong.

Presenter9:59

Yes, and of course you have rehearsals every day.

Quentin Poole10:02

Yes, there's a rehearsal for the boys every morning.

Quentin Poole10:05

Except on Sunday when it's a longer practice, and also a rehearsal

Quentin Poole10:10

Before the service every day, except on Sunday, when we don't have one.

Presenter10:15

Apart from music, what are your best subjects?

Quentin Poole10:18

Drama

Quentin Poole10:20

English and maths, I'd say.

Presenter10:22

Yes. For drama, that's another activity. You're fond of acting.

Quentin Poole10:25

Yes, I'm very fond of that.

Presenter10:26

What's the latest part you play?

Quentin Poole10:28

Pros I played Prospero in the last school play, The Tempest.

Presenter10:33

Are you good at games?

Quentin Poole10:35

Reasonably, I play squash and a little rugger. I don't really like football at all.

Quentin Poole10:41

I don't really like cricket.

Presenter10:42

There's a picture of you in the Radio Times wearing a a tailcoat and carrying a topper. That's what you call the Eatons, is it?

Quentin Poole10:49

Yes, well it's basically an Ethan suit, but the gown means that we represent part of the college.

Presenter10:56

Yes.

Quentin Poole10:57

We were it on our way.

Quentin Poole10:59

Uh to and from chapel and also we wear the collar we wear the collars in the services.

Presenter11:05

Mm-hmm.

Quentin Poole11:05

Over the Cassocks.

Presenter11:08

Now you're thirteen. You now move on to your public school.

Quentin Poole11:11

Yes. At the end of this term I'm leaving.

Presenter11:14

And what are you doing?

Quentin Poole11:14

I go to King's Canterbury.

Presenter11:16

Another musical school of course.

Quentin Poole11:17

Yes.

Presenter11:18

Will you go back to King's as an undergraduate, do you think?

Quentin Poole11:20

I want to, yes, I want to be a choral scholar and sing in the choir again.

Presenter11:24

And what do you want to be? Do you want to make music your career?

Quentin Poole11:26

Yes, I do.

Presenter11:28

Let's have record number four.

Quentin Poole11:30

Vaughan Williams C-Symphony the first movement.

Presenter11:34

Why?

Quentin Poole11:35

Reminds me of boats, and I like that. I like making them as well, models of them.

Presenter12:39

The opening of the Bourne Williams C Symphony, Andre Preven conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

Presenter12:47

Because of its broadcast and recordings, the King's College Chapel Choir is probably better known abroad than any British choir ever has been.

Presenter12:55

Um, I suppose the big event of the year is the famous Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. How many will you have taken part in now?

Quentin Poole13:02

This um i this has been my fourth this year's.

Presenter13:06

Do you know how many Christmases that service has been broadcast on Christmas Eve?

Quentin Poole13:10

No, I'm afraid I call it ten minutes.

Presenter13:11

Well, I've been doing my homework. It was first broadcast in 1928, but it wasn't broadcast the next year. But every year since it's been on the air, even during the war, although during the war, for security reasons, it wasn't announced where the service was coming from. Although everybody, of course, knew perfectly well.

Presenter13:29

Now you're head chorister. What are the duties of the head chorister?

Quentin Poole13:33

Well, the head chorister and the second senior chorister share the duties of looking after the boys while walking to and from school and crossing the roads and this sort of thing and keeping them orderly while they're in the so-called crocodile and this is shared by both of them so that there's not too much strain on one person.

Presenter13:54

You talked of the pursal record you played, having been recorded on tour in Holland. The choir goes overseas every year.

Quentin Poole14:02

Yes, it has done, um, ever since I joined it, anyway.

Presenter14:05

Where have you been? Which countries have you been to?

Quentin Poole14:07

I don't

Quentin Poole14:08

I've been to Germany, Holland.

Quentin Poole14:11

France, Switzerland.

Quentin Poole14:14

Um I think that's about all. And uh one year we did sing some concerts near Cambridge at various churches.

Presenter14:24

King's College is to become co-educational in the near future. So when you go back to King's as an undergraduate, do you think it likely there might be girls in the choir?

Quentin Poole14:34

I don't think that that it's likely that there will be any girls in the choir, at least not with Mr. Wilcox around.

Presenter14:40

Well, let's have record number five.

Quentin Poole14:42

The third movement of Mozart's G major fluke concerto.

Presenter14:47

The float again.

Quentin Poole14:48

Yes.

Presenter15:48

The beginning of the third movement of the Mozart flute concerto in G major.

Presenter15:53

The Vienna Symphony Orchestra with the soloist Hubert Barwasser.

Presenter15:58

Now let's go straight on to record number six.

Quentin Poole16:01

Vaughan Williams, an Oxford Energy, done by us in Cambridge.

Presenter16:07

Yes, well this is very decent of a Cambridge College to acknowledge the existence of the other place really.

Presenter16:14

The Oxford Energy.

Speaker 316:16

Why faintest thou?

Speaker 316:19

I wandered till I died.

Speaker 316:23

Rome on, the light we sought is shining still.

Speaker 316:28

A tree yet crowns the hill.

Speaker 316:32

Our scholar travels yet beloved hillside.

Presenter17:20

The closing passage of the Vaughan Williams Oxford Elegy.

Presenter17:24

The King's College Choir, Cambridge, with the Jakes Orchestra and John Westbrook as the speaker.

Presenter17:31

How well could you look after yourself on a desert island?

Quentin Poole17:34

Fairly reasonably, I think.

Presenter17:36

Feel good with your hands.

Quentin Poole17:37

Yes, I think I'd be good enough, anyway.

Presenter17:40

Done some camping out

Quentin Poole17:42

Um, yes, I have once or twice, and I've been on a barge and the canals.

Presenter17:45

Yeah.

Presenter17:46

Would you try to escape? Suppose you found you could construct a reasonably seaworthy raft.

Quentin Poole17:54

It would depend upon the mainland where I was heading for. I'd probably build a fire anyway on top of the the highest point, in case of passing ships or planes, keep that burning.

Presenter18:06

Some very sensible planning before you start rushing into anything. Let's have your seventh record.

Quentin Poole18:12

Um Deep Purple from a record by the scholars.

Quentin Poole18:16

called Songs of Love.

Presenter18:18

Yes, who are the scholars?

Quentin Poole18:20

They're the choral scholars from King's Choir.

Presenter18:23

Yes, and this is their form of light relief.

Quentin Poole18:25

You could call it that, yes.

Presenter18:57

Deep Purple sung by the scholars. And now we come to your last record. What's that?

Quentin Poole19:02

Um The Facade by William Wilton.

Quentin Poole19:06

The recording done by Cleo Lane and Annie Ross, um and the instrumental ensemble directed by John Dankworth.

Presenter19:13

Yes. Which part are we going to hear? Which part?

Quentin Poole19:15

Um, a third one, Mariner Man.

Quentin Poole19:21

What are you staring at, madam and mom? Wrinkled as season and old as the sea? Those trains run over their tails if they can. Snorty and sporty like warpers.

Presenter19:30

The burly, the whirly gig wheels of the train, as round as the world and as large again, running half the way over to Babylon, down through fields of clover to gay Troytown, puffing the smoke as grey as the curl on my forehead, as wrinkled as sands of the sea. But what can that matter to you, my girl? And what can that matter to me?

Presenter19:52

An excerpt from Fassade by William Walton and Edith Sitwell with the voices of Cleo Lane and Annie Ross. If you could take just one of the eight records you've chosen, which would it be?

Quentin Poole20:04

Um the last one, facade.

Presenter20:05

That's all.

Quentin Poole20:06

Yeah.

Presenter20:07

And one luxury to take with you, any one thing that's of no practical use.

Quentin Poole20:12

Oh, I think my my flu.

Presenter20:15

Yes?

Quentin Poole20:16

And

Quentin Poole20:17

Well, if possible, some music to go with it.

Presenter20:19

Yes, of course.

Presenter20:21

and one book apart from the Bible and Shakespeare which are already there.

Quentin Poole20:26

Oh, I should think, um, a bound volume of select Agatha Christie.

Presenter20:30

Your favorite Agatha Christians bound together.

Quentin Poole20:32

Yeah.

Presenter20:33

Right. And thank you, Quentin Poole, for letting us hear your Desert Island Discs.

Quentin Poole20:37

Thank you very much.

Presenter20:38

Goodbye everyone.

Speaker 120:46

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Islandists Archive.

Speaker 120:50

For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio forward.