Sir Louis Gluckstein

Presenter0:00

This download is the only extract the BBC has of this edition of Desert Island Discs. The presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:08

You served in two World Wars, Louis. As everything, I believe, from

Sir Louis Gluckstein0:11

Private to Colonel.

Sir Louis Gluckstein0:13

Uh yes, yes, I only achieved a a captaincy in the first war.

Sir Louis Gluckstein0:18

acting and uh frequently unpaid. Uh but in the second war I rocketed to the rank of full colonel.

Presenter0:25

Are you a Londoner?

Sir Louis Gluckstein0:26

Oh, yes, yes, I'm a Cockney, born and bred and apart from being at wars and at Oxford, I've spent all my working life in London. Yes. At Oxford you took honours in jurisprudence. You practised as a barrister. Yes, I did. I was called in nineteen twenty two.

Presenter0:39

Yes I

Sir Louis Gluckstein0:42

and practiced as a junior until nineteen thirty nine when I went after the war. Yes, and after the after the war I took silk. I didn't resume my practice, but I did become a venture of Lincoln's Inn. They were kind enough to give me that great honor.

Sir Louis Gluckstein0:58

And I became treasurer last year. Yes. And other facets of your career, politics? Oh, yes, yes. I'm afraid I've been a political animal for upwards of forty years.

Sir Louis Gluckstein1:08

Uh it it becomes a sort of itch.

Sir Louis Gluckstein1:11

And uh once you've got it, you can't get rid of it.

Sir Louis Gluckstein1:15

I fought my first parliamentary seat in 1929 against Norman Burkitt, who beat me. I beat him in 1931 and was in the House of Commons through a very interesting period until 1945, when I was hurled out with a great many better people.

Sir Louis Gluckstein1:31

And uh never got back. And from national government you transferred to local government. Yes, I I I went into local government, which is usually the oth people do it the other way round. Um but I went into the

Presenter1:35

Well then I

Sir Louis Gluckstein1:44

London County Council in 1955.

Sir Louis Gluckstein1:47

and continued as a member until nineteen sixty seven, that on the GLC.

Sir Louis Gluckstein1:53

And then I became an alderman.

Sir Louis Gluckstein1:56

And

Sir Louis Gluckstein1:57

Chairman of the Finance Committee, which

Sir Louis Gluckstein2:00

resulted in the hardest year's work that I've ever had to do.

Sir Louis Gluckstein2:04

And then I was made chairman of the council in 1968. Yes, and I know you have many other activities. In fact, you're at your office every morning at eight o'clock. Well, not quite at eight o'clock, but uh at about twenty past.

Sir Louis Gluckstein2:16

You did rather well as an horseman. Yes, I suppose I did. I rode in the Grand in nineteen twenty-two and um became a member of Leander.

Sir Louis Gluckstein2:25

We'll certainly have the physique for announcement.

Presenter2:28

May I inquire your height?

Sir Louis Gluckstein2:29

Uh I'm exactly two meters. As we've gone decimal, uh anybody listening can work that out for themselves. Six feet. It's six, seven and a half. Seven and a half. A great asset, I should think, for a chairman height. Uh well, it's uh if I may say so, politically every man his own soap box. Uh for outdoor meetings, uh this is uh quite useful.

Presenter2:47

Yeah.

Sir Louis Gluckstein2:50

Um it's not so good to stand in front of a crowd and look at a at a procession. It's better to stand at the back of the crowd. You attract l less comment. Um but for other purposes it's it's quite a useful thing.

Sir Louis Gluckstein3:06

Let's talk about the Albert Hall and its centenary. It is of course a private enterprise, isn't it?

Presenter3:10

Yeah.

Sir Louis Gluckstein3:11

Yes, it is. It's it's to many people, most people, it's a great mystery. Um the ordinary person to whom you'll speak about the Albert Hall thinks of it as something which is maintained by the State or by the local authorities, and very vague about what happens.

Sir Louis Gluckstein3:29

to maintain it. But it is in fact the property of the three hundred and fifty seat holders.

Sir Louis Gluckstein3:35

Who are the descendants or the purchasers of seats from the descendants of those who originally put up the money when the hall was built a hundred years ago? They didn't put up all the money, did they? No, some of the money came from the exhibition, the commissioners for the 1851 exhibition. So that was an exhibition that actually made a profit. Yes, I think it must be quite unique in world history.

Sir Louis Gluckstein3:58

And it made such a substantial profit that they were able to buy a great deal of land, uh, which is uh round Exhibition Road in Kensington now. Yes. Now you are the president of what the council, the committee. It's called the council. The council. Yes. How many people does the hall hold?

Sir Louis Gluckstein4:14

Between six and seven thousand sitting and standing, somewhere nearly five sitting in varying degrees of comfort, and the others standing in the gallery. Yes. Now how many of the seats are still privately owned? Uh twelve hundred and fifty, I think. So that means that uh more or less twenty per cent of the capacity um can't be sold ordinarily at the box office.

Sir Louis Gluckstein4:38

Well, uh the

Sir Louis Gluckstein4:40

The Act of Parliament under which we operate provides that there shall be eighty exclusive lettings.

Sir Louis Gluckstein4:48

under which the seats are taken away from the seat holders, and they are let to the promoter.

Sir Louis Gluckstein4:56

At, of course, an increased rent, because he has thirteen hundred odd seats more than he otherwise would. These are usually, of course, the more attractive features that are going to be taken away, because they command the higher rent. So the private seats only belong to the seat holders some of the time, some of the time, yes. But they have themselves agreed, under the Act of Parliament, which had to be passed by a three-quarter majority of the seat holders, that they would make their sacrifice for the sake of the hall. The freehold of a seat is sometimes for sale. One sees this in the personal columns. Oh, yes, yes. These are freely saleable. They each attract an annual rent of £36. Each seat.

Sir Louis Gluckstein5:40

And there's no embargo or restriction, and then the hall merely registers the sale. There are a number of people who are on our books waiting for seats to buy.

Sir Louis Gluckstein5:49

Does the council promote attractions itself, or does it just act as a very rarely? We don't.

Presenter5:52

Very, very rarely.

Sir Louis Gluckstein5:55

think that it's right that we should um run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. We don't regard ourselves as impresarios. We are merely letting the hall for the best price that we can get. But there are rare occasions when we will join with an impresario.

Sir Louis Gluckstein6:12

and take the burden and risk of a promotion. But it's very rare.

Presenter6:15

What about the famous Echo? Has has that disappeared completely?

Sir Louis Gluckstein6:19

Well, I'm happy to report that the Echo disappeared about two years ago.

Sir Louis Gluckstein6:25

Uh it was defeated by some rather ingenious plastic devices which hang from the roof.

Sir Louis Gluckstein6:34

Uh there are quite a number of them. They look rather like mushrooms.

Sir Louis Gluckstein6:39

Uh they're quite secure, and they're quite light, and they have completely destroyed the exit.

Sir Louis Gluckstein6:45

Even the most meticulous uh critics now agree wholeheartedly.

Sir Louis Gluckstein6:50

that the echo has gone and so nobody any longer gets uh two concerts for the price of one.