Ronnie Corbett

Ronnie Corbett0:01

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.

Presenter0:27

This week, our castaway is the comedian, Ronnie Corbett. Ronnie, have you ever imagined what it must be like to be a Robinson Crusoe?

Presenter0:35

No, I haven't really, no. But as I sit here and think now, um I'm sure I'd be totally uh kind of useless at it. I mean it's not something I would enjoy. You don't think you could pose it? Don't think so. I'd like a bit of piece, you know, now and again for it to order, but I mean that kind of piece would be. Any one compensation you can think of? Uh.

Presenter0:52

I don't think so. I don't think there's anything I hate enough to want to hide myself away from it like that. Yeah, good. Now we've heard you sing on occasion. Do you have any other musical skills? Do you play an instrument? Um I play the piano a bit. Yes, um from Dodge? Uh

Ronnie Corbett1:03

We have

Presenter1:05

Yes, certainly from dance. I don't play by ear and I've got a dreadful memory, so I play entirely by dance. Not terrible well, but enough to give myself pleasure and tolerant friends play here.

Presenter1:16

How did you set about choosing your eight records?

Presenter1:20

Well, I thought um I thought of uh you know my life and I thought of uh

Presenter1:27

Records that were not only milestones but were the most highly evocative of the memories of parts of my life that you know were worth remembering from my own point of view. Yes, what's the first milestone? The first milestone is strong childhood memories. It is, you know, the Glasgow Office Choir singing, my cool silo, I'm Shady Real. And it's sort of twofold because I was sort of brought up on Glasgow Orphus Choir concerts in the Asher Hall, Edinburgh, and Sir Hugh Robertson.

Presenter1:56

This particular hymn was also sung at the christening of my brother and my sister, Andy myself, who I don't remember that. But so it has strong family and childhood and Scottish and Edinburgh associations for everything actually. And my dad loves this as well.

Presenter2:30

The road of square of red in the game of chance.

Ronnie Corbett2:34

Oh sweet.

Presenter3:01

By Cruel Silo and Shady Rill by the Glasgow Orthey Esquire. What's your second record? The second record is another Usher Hall memory, really. It's Isabel Bailey singing, I know that my Redeemer liveth from the Messiah. I mean, it's really from very much the same area of my life, but I mean,

Presenter3:18

It was very important because I was happy at home and in Edinburgh and

Presenter3:24

These sort of early years when my dad used to take us, the three of us, all to the very long, the very long Messiah in the middle of New Year's Day. I mean, when we were very young, it was a little bit long, but we all used to go and look forward to it. And then we went to the rather light-hearted concert in the evening, which all the solutions used to give. And it's just this beautiful voice of Isabel Bailey singing.

Presenter3:46

The traveler.

Presenter3:47

You know, super piece of music and it's from the same part of my life.

Presenter3:51

for much the same reasons, but they're very important. I'd like that as well for Mike.

Speaker 34:24

Sure.

Presenter4:52

Isabel Bailey.

Presenter4:54

Now obviously you come from

Presenter4:56

A musical family. Was there a theatre background in the family as well? No, not at all. Yeah, there's nobody, uh, nobody before me, to my knowledge, in the theatre. How did it all start? Where did you get the virus?

Presenter5:07

Well, I uh

Presenter5:09

The first thing I ever did was with the Church Youth Club.

Presenter5:14

St. Catherine's and the Grange Church Youth Club in Edinburgh and they put on a pantomime and I played a part in it and it's about the first thing I'd ever done that I felt I had a modicum of flair for because almost everything I'd done prior to that I had no flair for at all. I mean I hadn't been bright at school and I'd certainly not been any good at sport.

Presenter5:33

And I I felt comfortable enough to consider I had a flair for it. What did you do when you left school? Did you go to the theater straight away? No, I didn't. No, because of one's

Ronnie Corbett5:40

Mm-hmm.

Ronnie Corbett5:41

No.

Presenter5:44

kind of rather cautious upbringing.

Presenter5:47

Uh in Edinburgh.

Presenter5:49

And it's a very cautious tone, to have a cautious upbringing in everybody's doubly cautious. Yeah, my mum and dad thought I should go into something more secure. In an ideal world, they would have loved me to be in a doctor or a minister.

Ronnie Corbett5:53

Thank you.

Presenter6:01

But we ended up with the civil service and I was a permanent civil servant in as much as the civil service thought I was permanent. Well, I was worked in the Department of Agriculture issuing animal feeding staffs coupons when they were rationing feeding stuffs for animals, you know, sending out coupons for proteins for farrowing sos.

Ronnie Corbett6:10

Do I know?

Presenter6:21

That sort of thing. How long did you stay doing? I did it at about 10 or 11 months before I went off to do my national service.

Ronnie Corbett6:23

I did

Presenter6:27

Yeah. And um I knew when I did my national service pretty surely that I wouldn't go back to there and probably not back to Edinburgh. Yeah. Did you have any chance to do any entertaining or get mixed up in any theatrical enterprises in the RAF? In the RAF. I did really. I uh

Presenter6:45

I used to sort of be a bit of an organising sort of thing o on the camps or the camp concerts and the plays that we used to put on occasionally.

Presenter6:54

I would have produced one or appear in one and I also had the fortune to meet in the RAF Edward Hardwick, who was Sir Cedric Hardwick's son, who was also about the same stage as me in thinking about going to the theatre and who he had come from a theatrical background and he was very kind and indeed his mother.

Presenter7:13

It was very good to me. Um and they kind of uh

Presenter7:18

Helped me in my early stages in the theatre and thinking about the theatre. How did you visualize yourself? Did you want to play?

Presenter7:25

character parts or did you think of comedy straight away?

Presenter7:28

No, I visualized myself quite wrongly really. My first ambition was to play extremely sort of

Presenter7:35

Light.

Presenter7:36

Comedians rose, stylish like comedians rose on our

Presenter7:42

Jack Buchanan, or you know, that kind of era of the theatre interested me. But then, of course, I realized later on I had to come to terms with myself and come to the truth that I wasn't built for that sort of thing. So, I probably went into a down a broader line of comedy, you know. What was your very first professional appearance? The very first professional appearance was in a film called You're Only Young twice, which was a bridley play called What They They, and I paid a student at Mask University, and that was the first money I ever earned.

Presenter8:13

Right, well we got you started. Let's have record number three. Well it's the opening medley to Noel Card's Cabriat. I mean and he had been such a tremendous influence on me, on my thinking about the theatre. I suppose he's been a tremendous influence on almost everybody who's thought about going to theatre. And at this time I've been fortunate enough to be taken to the Café de Paris to see him opening Cabrie. I think it was the first Cabri act actually he'd ever done. I mean prior to going to America with the act I think. And I was taken there by Edward and his mum and it was a thrilling, exciting evening and

Presenter8:53

Wonderfully entertaining and as always superbly professional and I'd like like to have the memory of that with me if I might.

Presenter9:05

Whatever

Speaker 49:06

Spring breaks through again, time may lie heavy between But what has been is past forgetting

Presenter9:21

Dance, dance, dance and lady, youth is beating to the rhythm beating in your mind.

Presenter9:31

Noel Gard.

Presenter9:33

Now, you started your career with a job in that film. Did you find that work came fairly regularly? Uh, not really, no. I um.

Presenter9:42

Well, very, very irregularly, really. How did you keep going between engagements?

Presenter9:48

Well, fortunately we go back to the Hardwick family again because Edward's uncle worked for a catering firm.

Presenter9:55

And I used to ring them up every time I was out of work, outside the catering department it was called, and they always slotted me into a job in a cafeteria or a bar or a snack bar or for the moment I was out of work I went and did a casual job. Yes, well that was a handy. Yeah. Well then what started to happen professionally? Then I uh well I did little sort of summer shows, concert parties during the summer and places like Cromer and Ilfrakum.

Presenter10:21

and the winter of the little short pantomimes at Bromley and Derby and places like that and slowly it began to come together. But the first note of semi-security struck when I started working in nightclubs.

Presenter10:33

Worked in a nightclub called Winston in London. We used to have a little sort of floor show review type thing. Dan La Rue was there at the time and I started working there with Dan. You did a lot of work as a comedian's labourer, don't you? That's true, yes. Yes, yes. You worked with Harry Seacomb. Harry Seacombe.

Presenter10:54

It's not much of a labour when you're working ahead of you.

Ronnie Corbett10:55

Yeah.

Presenter10:58

Jimmy Tarmach, I worked with Dickie Anderson. Michael Medlin, he was doing his series. And Crackerjack? Crackerjack, that was, yes. I did a few years of Crackerjack before Ethel Crowley did it. And um.

Presenter11:10

That was very enjoyable, but I had also the feeling it never quite worked because I wasn't.

Presenter11:15

I'm not extremely fond of having flower put over my head or pouring a lot of things up the back. And of course you've done some West End shows. I've done two West End, you can safely say disasters. I was in The Boys from Syracuse, which rather sadly ran for only about three months, and I was in Twang, which really ran for.

Ronnie Corbett11:32

Yeah.

Presenter11:33

So that's something still to come, a West End success. A West End success, yes. Let's have break on number four.

Presenter11:39

Record number four is Mel Torme singing with the Alpella Greeny Strings, I believe, because I have the record at home. I met a million dollar baby in a five and ten cent store. Why? Why? Well, first record player I ever bought, 19 pound portable set, and the first long-playing record I ever bought, when I was in Pantomime and Derby.

Presenter11:58

And I took that record player and this record everywhere with me, dressing rooms, bedroom in the digs and everywhere.

Presenter12:05

remember it and um

Presenter12:07

It brings back memories of my first record player.

Speaker 412:11

It was a lucky April shower

Speaker 412:18

It was the most convenient do

Speaker 412:27

I've found a million dollar baby

Speaker 412:33

In the five and ten cent store

Presenter12:40

Mel Tommy.

Presenter12:42

Right, Ronnie, you were doing very nicely.

Presenter12:45

What was the big break?

Presenter12:47

The big break was, I suppose, David Frost asking me to take part in the Frost Report on BBC. How did that happen? Well, David had seen me in Winston's club and had seen me at Daniel Rouge, where I moved on to after Winston's. Danny opened his own club and rang me up one day and said, you know, I'd seen you in the club and I'm going to do the series for BBC television. Would you like to be in it? Or I would like you to be in it. And strangely enough, had Twang been a success, I doubt very much if I could have.

Speaker 313:11

Yeah.

Presenter13:16

Taking part in it because um

Presenter13:19

And was it on that series that you met Ronnie Barker for the first time? Yeah, that's right. First time. Well, I had actually met him once, sort of just briefly, socially, but we'd certainly never worked together before. Well, that led to your own TV show. That's right, yes. So that's me over here. Yes. Corbett's Folly. Corbett's Folly, yes. And you won half the Television Performer of the Year award. Yes.

Presenter13:41

Yes, very fashion, it should have been a quarter really, because Tommy Cooper's the other half, obviously, Tommy Cooper and I.

Ronnie Corbett13:45

Uh

Presenter13:47

Make half each and now the two runnies and now the two runnies.

Presenter13:51

For sure that I'm being with Ronnie B now for me.

Presenter13:54

What else is in the book? Well, I'm going to Yarmouth for the summer, the Britannia Pia Yarmouth.

Ronnie Corbett13:56

Yeah.

Presenter14:00

for the summer season and come back in in the autumn

Presenter14:04

I do some of my own shows for BBC and Ronnie does some with his own. We do independent ones in the autumn.

Presenter14:12

Break on number five, please.

Presenter14:14

Record number five is Frank Sinatra singing I Wish I Were in Love Again.

Speaker 414:27

The sleepless nights, the daily fights, the quick toboggon when you reach the heights. I miss the kisses and I miss the bites. I wish I were in love again. The broken dates, the endless waits, the lovely

Presenter14:49

Frank Sinatra. Let's go straight into record number six. Yes, um the overture to a London uh production of Gentleman Fur Blonde.

Presenter14:58

London Castle and Conduct Bandon Insworth. Why? Well, that's got very strong associations because it was at that time that I was

Presenter15:07

stepping out with my wife, I believe. The romance sort of started when Anne was in the show.

Presenter15:15

Uh so I've heard the overture an awful lot and uh

Presenter15:19

I remember her being super in the show and uh

Presenter15:23

I love the music and I I love the show and I loved every new turn.

Presenter15:27

I'm very happily married to an answer. It's lovely. So I'd like to take that with me if I might.

Presenter16:05

The overture to gentlemen prefer blondes.

Presenter16:08

A memory of the days when

Presenter16:09

Mrs. Corbett was Ann Hart.

Presenter16:12

Now, you're on this island, Ronnie. How could you manage? Could you look after yourself? Um, I'm not terribly practical with sort of building or do it yourself or anything, although I suppose I would, you know, be able to weave a few leaves and things into a roof or a bed or a sheet or something like that. But I might be able to cook all right myself. Know anything about cultivation?

Presenter16:29

Uh n no, not very much, no, not

Ronnie Corbett16:30

Yeah.

Presenter16:33

Really? Although I have a g bit of a garden, so I might know a little bit about it, but uh but if you if you had to do all these things. If I had to do, I'd prefer to yes, tell my hand.

Presenter16:41

Have a go here.

Presenter16:42

What about escaping? Would this become an obsession with you? Would you work towards that? I think it would, yeah.

Presenter16:48

Yeah, so I think um

Presenter16:51

I would be um

Presenter16:52

Concentrating a good deal of my thought and devising a method of getting some sign to signal somewhere or

Presenter16:58

Creating some sort of craft that would get me somewhere, or you know, I mean, I'm sure I couldn't I couldn't stay there very long, I'm sure I couldn't. Do you know anything about small boats or navigation? Um.

Presenter17:10

No, I think if I sat down and tried to remember a bit about navigation I might, I once navigated myself over the channel, which is a star.

Presenter17:19

In an aircraft? No, in a small boat. I'd taken a boat with a friend of mine. We took two of us, took it to.

Ronnie Corbett17:22

Yeah.

Presenter17:26

From Kew Bridge to Cannes, actually, across the channel and through the canal to France. So I've got a little bit of it. I can get.

Ronnie Corbett17:30

The map.

Speaker 317:30

Yeah.

Ronnie Corbett17:30

Yeah.

Presenter17:32

I got from one side of the channel to the other and into Le Have and down the... Once you were in the canals you were all right. Once I was in the canals, I was all right. That's our record number seven.

Presenter17:43

Yes, it's Anthony Eulie or Tony Euli thinking it's the talk of the town.

Speaker 317:51

I can't show my face

Speaker 317:55

Can't go any place

Speaker 317:59

People stop and stare.

Speaker 318:03

It's so hard to bear

Speaker 318:08

Everybody knows you left me

Speaker 318:15

It's the taco

Presenter18:20

Anthony Newtie.

Presenter18:22

Which brings us already to your last record. Yes. What's that? Well, it's um.

Presenter18:27

Sergio Mendez in Brazil 66 singing Upa Neguino.

Presenter18:31

They're a very current sort of favourite of the home and well I think it's they're about

Presenter18:39

For me, the most exciting sort of

Presenter18:42

current music that is recorded and I've worked with them and they're smooth and professional and lovely and

Presenter18:49

It's just terribly contemporary noise for me and.

Presenter18:52

means home now with the two children and Anne and it's just a very very no noise in our house you know and I would like to take that with me.

Speaker 419:03

What's the change on the

Speaker 319:05

Yeah. What fans in my face is here?

Speaker 419:11

So she went to Posish B.

Speaker 419:22

Double tap dot dot double

Presenter19:28

Upa Neguino.

Presenter19:30

Sergio Mendez and Brazil 66. If you could take just one record out of the eight, which...

Presenter19:37

I suppose it would be as well very singing, um

Presenter19:40

My name my idea, my idea, my name.

Presenter19:42

And one luxury to take with you?

Presenter19:45

And probably a bag of golf clubs.

Presenter19:47

What's your hand to get? Oh, dear. Ah. All right, thanks.

Presenter19:53

Thank you, I've got to be honest.

Presenter19:55

Admiral.

Presenter19:57

If you were allowed to choose one male companion to share your exile, I'm not saying you would be allowed to, but if.

Presenter20:04

Who would you choose?

Presenter20:06

Well, that's terribly difficult.

Presenter20:09

I suppose it would be my brother, really.

Presenter20:12

I say I hope it didn't turn reluctant. I mean, he knows me, if he doesn't mind my sentencing to show my life on the desert, he knows me very well and knows all my.

Presenter20:23

annoying habits and I know his and he's a big, capable, stoutly built chap and uh

Presenter20:29

You would be able to teach me the golf as well. And one book apart from the Bible and Shakespeare. One book, I suppose it would be a handbook on tropical vegetation. I think that would be quite handy. What you can eat and what to avoid at all. 30 Throwers version of the Tropical Islands. I'll see what we can find. And thank you, Ronnie Corbett, for letting us hear your desert island disc. Thank you very much, Ralph.

Presenter20:54

Goodbye everyone.