Oliver Ford

Speaker 20:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty 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 seven, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:32

This week our castaway is the decorator, Oliver Ford.

Presenter0:36

Now, someone in your job must know something of most of the arts. In your case, does that include music?

Presenter0:41

Not a great deal. Do you do you play an instrument or or sing? Well, no, I don't sing. Wh when I was young I learnt the violin. I attempted to learn the violin, but I think my parents paid the teacher to leave the town so that I could give it up.

Presenter0:56

Do you have music playing when you're at your drawing board? Never. I think it's very distracting. It's the one thing I hate about American hotels, wherever you go they have piped music.

Presenter1:05

Did you find it a hard job to narrow your choice of discs down to eight?

Presenter1:09

Terribly hard job.

Speaker 11:11

What was

Speaker 11:12

We might be able to do it.

Presenter1:13

Okay.

Presenter1:14

Records which are associated with people.

Presenter1:17

And therefore I'd be able to think of the people as the records were being played, or situations. What's the first one you've chosen?

Presenter1:24

The first one I've chosen is Aquarius, which is the favorite record of my sister.

Presenter1:30

Night.

Presenter1:31

Devoted to my sister. I very rarely cheat in life, but when I was very, very young

Presenter1:38

My sister and I entered a painting competition.

Presenter1:41

I got frightfully bored with my painting half way through. My sister finished it.

Presenter1:46

for me, and I won the first prize, much to her annoyance, and she won no prizes whatsoever. So you owe her a great deal. A great deal, yes, she said.

Speaker 11:46

Or maybe

Speaker 11:54

This is

Oliver Ford1:54

Top.

Speaker 21:54

Uh

Speaker 11:54

The way of

Oliver Ford2:01

This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius The age of Aquarya

Oliver Ford2:16

What is it?

Presenter2:27

Aquarius by the Button Darn Brass.

Presenter2:29

Are you a Londoner, Oliver? Well, I've lived in London for many, many years, but actually I was born in Hampshire. As a boy, what was your ambition? Well.

Presenter2:39

I suppose it was to be in the design field.

Presenter2:42

My father had a chain of shops in Somerset.

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Because by the time I was of an age they had moved to Somerset. And he had a chain of shops um in the leather trade.

Presenter2:55

And uh even in those days I was designing shoes and various other things like that. Not that any of my shoes ever went into production, but uh I was always interested in designing. What did you do when you left school?

Presenter3:09

Well, when I left school I went into the RAF. The war was on. The war was on then, yes. And uh I went into signals and I became a wireless operator. And after a year or so I transferred to the SE rescue.

Presenter3:22

Did you have an eventful one?

Presenter3:24

Yes, I suppose it was eventful. My first operational service in the Air C rescue when we had an operational call.

Presenter3:32

I went out.

Presenter3:34

to the ship at the double.

Presenter3:36

Um and it was the duty of the wireless operator also to help with the navigation. And of course I had all the charts spread out at my side. I nearly had a nervous breakdown when I was plotting one of the plays when I found we were in the middle of a minefield. So I immediately asked why we were in the middle of a minefield, thinking I had made a mistake. And they said, Oh, there's no problem at all. The mines are always much deeper than the draft of this boat.

Presenter4:01

I wasn't at all confident that they had all been laid at the same depth, but I was safe.

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But I nearly got court-martialed because I became so violently sick in the small little ship I spent the entire time

Presenter4:14

But on the outside I missed the recall signal.

Presenter4:18

And they had to send L C Rescue out to find us.

Presenter4:23

Whereabouts did you serve? Was it round the British Isles? Mostly in Scotland. I was stationed at Stranra at one time, but mostly in Montrose, and I finished up at Kelshot. Mm-hmm. Well, I see one of the records you've chosen is the R. A. F. March, so this seems a good place to put it in, doesn't it?

Presenter5:22

The Royal Air Force marched past by the central band of the Royal Air Force. What happened to you when you were demobilized?

Presenter5:28

Well, I was interested in theatricals when I was in the RAF and did stage design for the local RAF Dramatic Society.

Presenter5:37

And

Presenter5:38

It was a natural thing when I came out that I wished to be a stage designer.

Presenter5:43

But really to be a designer of any kind one has actually to work with the materials and learn how things are made.

Presenter5:50

moved, etc., and the practicability of things. And so therefore I went to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden as a stage hand and I learnt a tremendous amount there. Shifting scenery? Actually shifting scenery, yes. Did you work anywhere else apart from the Royal Opera House? The Arts Theatre Club in London and Repertory Company in Scotland. Did you do any designing? A great deal in Scotland at the Reperture Company, but there there I did most things. I was stage director, stage manager.

Presenter6:18

Scene shifter as well as scene designer. Let's have another record. Watch number three.

Presenter6:23

Or to remind me of the days that I worked as a stage hand at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, I would like to hear Dame Eva Turner singing the aria from Jurundot.

Presenter7:24

Dame Eva Turner singing Inquesta Reggia from Turendon. So the theatre wasn't all that you thought it was going to be. What was the next step?

Presenter7:33

Well, I I went home to Bournemouth to my parents.

Presenter7:36

And they were

Presenter7:39

As always, extremely understanding.

Presenter7:41

And they said, Would I like to go to the Southern College of Art? And uh.

Presenter7:47

I went there on a full-time course studying interior decoration, architecture and all the allied fields to that. How long was the course? Well, the course in actual fact is a seven year course. Was it? Yes, but I I did four full years. And after that I worked and did part time. What happened to you? What work did you do after that four years?

Presenter8:09

I worked at um a department store in Bournemouth, uh called Harvey Dicho's, where I went to apply for a job. I had by that time got my first diploma, but not the national diploma, so I had a certain amount of qualifications. I I uh went passing by one day, I went in and asked to see the managing director. I asked him for a job.

Presenter8:30

And he seemed to

Presenter8:32

Like me, or my face fitted at that precise moment, and I was employed as and from the following Monday. I was employed as nothing to begin with, and then one day they asked me to dress a window, which was successful, and then after a while I became display manager to them. And from that I became a decorator, for which I was studying. Later you studied in Paris? Yes, I did. Uh I studied with a famous man called Boudin, who was one of the greatest decorators.

Presenter9:00

As it happened, they were looking for a person to groom as their managing director when they opened their branch in this country. So they took me on straightaway, trained me, and a year or so later I came to England and opened up their first branch in this country. And then after a while you went off to the Bahamas? Well, I think in everyone's life there comes a point when one has to be an employee or an employer.

Presenter9:24

And I decided that.

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I would like to be an employer and be a decorator in my own right.

Presenter9:31

And uh I decided to go to Bahamas, which was a good place to go. And you were handy, of course, for American commissions. Yes. Most of my clients in the Bahamas were Americans. As the Americans

Presenter9:41

loved the idea of importing an English decorator into America, so there was a tremendous amount of snob value about it.

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Let's break for record number four.

Presenter9:51

Well, for record number four.

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Thinking of my parents and their wonderful support and help they gave me all through my difficult years and up

Presenter10:00

till a few weeks ago when my mother sadly died.

Presenter10:04

I'd like little old lady. Little old lady passing by, catching everyone's eye.

Speaker 110:06

Yeah.

Oliver Ford10:11

Yeah.

Presenter10:14

Uh

Oliver Ford10:14

You have such a charming manner

Presenter10:16

Ah

Oliver Ford10:18

Sweet and shy.

Presenter10:20

Little old bonnet set in place

Presenter10:24

And the smile

Oliver Ford10:24

I'll on your m

Presenter10:28

Norm

Oliver Ford10:28

Perfect picture in your lavender and dream.

Presenter10:33

Hey

Presenter10:34

Little Old Lady sung by Turner Leighton.

Presenter10:37

Most of your jobs now were on a freelance basis. You were hired to do one particular thing, like decorate the interior of a house.

Presenter10:45

You design gardens, too? Oh, yes, I love gardens. It was, of course, a very great hobby.

Presenter10:50

But now I it's taking me over.

Presenter10:53

To reconstruct a period garden must be great fun.

Presenter10:56

It's great fun. It's a tremendous challenge because it does mean a great deal of research. One can always design the garden.

Presenter11:03

But it's the planting of it, if one

Presenter11:06

Looks into the history of plants. So many plants have been introduced into this country within the last hundred years, and there were very few.

Presenter11:13

Natural tons.

Presenter11:15

You can't suddenly put a rhododendron in an eighteenth century garden when they were only introduced in the nineteenth century. Of course. You've also designed several state banquets. Yes, four in all. For King Hussein, King Faisal, the President of uh Pakistan.

Presenter11:30

to name but three. The most beautiful I think was the one I did for the President of Pakistan.

Presenter11:37

This was done completely in gold lame. The whole of the room was draped in gold lame, and green and white being the national colours of Pakistan.

Speaker 211:46

Yes.

Presenter11:46

And the center piece down between the horseshoe table.

Presenter11:51

was done as

Presenter11:53

A pater garden.

Presenter11:55

uh with greenery

Presenter11:57

and white carnations representing the flags of Pakistan.

Presenter12:03

You're decorator to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Yes, I have that honour, yes. You have just redone the the exterior of Clarence House.

Presenter12:12

Yes, I have. It's I think it must be the first time it hasn't been done just in cream. I've done it in two colours, and picking out the coin stones and the various architectural details which I think

Presenter12:23

were lost when it was all in one colour. It's now two shades of honeysuckle in actual fact is the name of the colour.

Presenter12:29

All the architectural details are in the light colour, and the background is slightly dark.

Presenter12:34

And the one other thing I achieved

Presenter12:37

was that the standard mast always had what appeared to be a rusty nail sticking out of the top.

Presenter12:43

And I was informed by the Department of the Environment that in actual fact it was a lightning conductor. And I suggested that as it was a royal residence, we put a crown on the top. So at least for nothing else, I have crowned the standard basket patterns.

Presenter12:59

Let's have record number five.

Presenter13:01

Record number five is for me.

Presenter13:04

I think this sums up my life.

Oliver Ford13:07

What kind of fool am I?

Oliver Ford13:12

Who never fell in love

Oliver Ford13:15

It seems that I'm the only one.

Oliver Ford13:19

That I have been thinking of.

Oliver Ford13:22

What kind of man is this?

Oliver Ford13:26

An empty shell

Oliver Ford13:29

A lonely cell in which an empty heart must dwell.

Presenter13:35

What Kind of Fool Am I from Stop the World I Want to Get Off sung by Anthony Newley.

Presenter13:41

Now you decorate houses. It seems to me that if one is decorating a new house, or or doing up an old one, it's an opportunity to go and mess about with wallpapers and coloured charts, look around the stores, be extravagant, great fun. Why should one hire somebody to do that for you?

Presenter13:58

Look at the

Presenter13:59

It's a very good question in actual fact. I think if you're going to employ a decorator, don't employ a decorator to decorate for you. Employ a decorator as a coordinator.

Presenter14:09

This is truly what a decorator's job is. You don't ask for a free hand. No, I hate being given carte lanches.

Presenter14:16

Otherwise I'm creating something for myself, and not for the person.

Presenter14:20

that um has employed me.

Presenter14:23

With an old house, once again, you have to do a lot of research, historical research. This is is a hobby of mine. I love doing research into old houses. In the course of that sort of work, have you made any exciting or interesting discoveries? Quite an exciting one of uh of uh a year or so ago, working on the National Trust House in Hampshire. I wanted an electric light plug put in

Presenter14:46

The panelling above the chimney piece in what is now the dining room, but used to be the hall.

Presenter14:53

Um so I gave instructions to the electrician.

Presenter14:57

And a few days later the work was to be started, and my telephone at the office rang, saying that when they had drilled the hole in the panel they saw what appeared to be some gilt shining behind.

Presenter15:09

So I immediately went down to the house. We removed the panel and found behind the original eighteenth century wind indicator. Now it was in beautiful condition. A wind indicator has rods which goes completely through the house to the weather vane on the top of the roof. And

Presenter15:28

Indicates by a needle which way the wind is blowing. It was a fascinating find.

Presenter15:35

I really haven't had anything exciting. I've never found a Rembrandt in the attic yet, but I'm full of expectations. Yeah.

Speaker 215:41

Good.

Presenter15:42

Next record.

Presenter15:46

To remind me of my housekeeper, who's been with me for twenty years, and is a very, very great friend,

Presenter15:54

And to remind me of all the staff.

Presenter15:56

at my workshops, who I still hope will be busily beavering away whilst I'm stranded. I'd like Jerusalem.

Presenter17:02

Jerusalem, sung by the Royal Choral Society with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. You've had a contract job, Oliver, for about fifteen years now. You're design consultant to the Dorchester Hotel, London. Yes, this, I suppose, is the biggest job I've ever had in my life.

Presenter17:19

It's a very comprehensive job because I'm responsible for

Presenter17:23

Everything in the hotel that is visible to the public, and that covers matchpo cases,

Presenter17:29

Uniforms

Presenter17:31

Decor, everything that can be seen by the public. Obviously, you're responsible for the.

Presenter17:35

Decor of the lodges and restaurants and other public rooms. How many of the suites and bedrooms are individually designed? Oh, every one. Really? The hotel was standardized at one time. We are breaking away from this now and making every scheme an independent scheme. I was impressed to find that you design

Presenter17:54

the carpets and have them specially made.

Presenter17:57

Each

Presenter17:58

of the corridors has an entirely different design, a different color scheme, and uh I think there are

Presenter18:07

of some thousand square yards on each corridor.

Presenter18:11

You've designed houses and rooms all over the place. You've spent millions of pounds of other people's money. Tell me about your own house. How do you like to live?

Presenter18:21

I have got a very pretty Queen Anne house in the Oxfordshire village.

Presenter18:26

It is not a show house. It's quite a simple, but I think very charming house. It has its own original eighteenth century panelling in the dining room and its rush ceiling.

Presenter18:38

I don't know, it's it's full of charm and character to me, and of course it has the great advantage that it had no garden. The previous

Presenter18:46

The people that owned it had not done anything to the garden, so I was able to recreate a garden. It's a Queen Anne garden. It's a Queen Anne garden. Lovely. Yes.

Presenter18:54

Another record

Presenter18:56

Well, my next record

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Going back many, many years now reminds me

Presenter19:02

of Kenneth Williams.

Presenter19:04

In the fifties, Kenneth and I met when I was doing my stage design.

Presenter19:09

And I stayed with him and his parents one Christmas. And I suppose he is responsible for teaching me

Presenter19:16

All I know about perspective.

Presenter19:19

because he is in his own right a brilliant draftsman.

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So to remind me of Kenneth when I'm on this island.

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I'd like.

Presenter19:28

Part of Hancock's half hour.

Presenter19:31

The one, if I can, possibly please, where he is an aircraft mechanic.

Presenter19:38

H. M. Hancock calling control tower, leveling out at 1800 miles per hour.

Presenter19:44

Everything going to plan. Fine and plain, tell the designer Chaffee.

Presenter19:49

Yeah.

Oliver Ford19:49

Yeah.

Presenter19:50

Taking her up to 2,400 miles an hour.

Presenter19:57

Hank off to the control tower. Something strange is happening. There's a peculiar knocking sound on the windscreen.

Speaker 119:57

Uh

Oliver Ford20:05

Seems to be coming from outside the plane.

Oliver Ford20:08

I'm slowing down to 1800 miles an hour.

Oliver Ford20:11

We'll slide cockpit open to see what's wrong.

Speaker 120:15

Good evening.

Speaker 120:22

It's a nice cold here.

Speaker 120:27

What's that?

Speaker 120:29

I taken a cold out here. Can I come in?

Presenter20:32

Tony Hancock and Kenneth Williams.

Presenter20:34

With what degree of foreboding do you look on your sojourn on this desert island? I don't think the loneliness would worry me,'cause I'm very much of a a loner. I don't mind my own company at all. Now you know a lot about building construction.

Presenter20:49

Apart from designing a hut, could you build one?

Presenter20:51

I think so. I think I could make a very nice Palladian villa out of cocoa nut shells. What about food?

Presenter20:59

Oh.

Presenter21:00

Fishing? Uh fishing I like, and uh that I could cope with. Would you try to escape?

Presenter21:05

Oh yes, I think I would, yes. Yes.

Presenter21:08

And with all my SUS skill.

Presenter21:10

Experience

Presenter21:12

I might be able to build a boat. Your last record.

Presenter21:15

My last record is a a record which always brings tears to my eyes.

Presenter21:20

I'm so tired of people knocking this country. I'm filled with hope for it. It's a very glorious country.

Presenter21:28

So may I have a land of hope and glory.

Presenter22:31

Land of Hope and Glory recorded at the last night of the Proms.

Presenter22:35

If you could take just one disk, which would it be?

Presenter22:38

I think it will be the last one land of hope and glory.

Presenter22:41

And one luxury to take with you.

Presenter22:43

Well it's a very strange.

Presenter22:45

thing I'd like to take, but could I take a collection of orchids?

Presenter22:49

Yes, you are an orchid grower. I love growing orchids. And given the tropical island, I might be able to breed orchids and create a new strain altogether. A hut with orchids around the door. And a lady in hut, if you don't mind. I beg your pardon. And one book apart from the Bible and Shakespeare and a big encyclopedia. That's not difficult at all.

Speaker 223:02

Up there.

Speaker 123:02

Gopa

Presenter23:09

I'd like a book on the flora and fauna.

Presenter23:12

Of the area in which I have been stranded. Shall be done. And thank you, Oliver Ford, for letting us hear your desert island discs. Thank you very much indeed for inviting me. Goodbye, everyone.

Speaker 223:30

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Island Dists archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.