Rod Hull

Rod Hull0:00

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

On our desert island this week is the comedian, scriptwriter and emu owner Rod Howe.

Presenter0:38

Welcome ashore, Rod. Thank you very much, Roy. Welcome ashore, Emil.

Presenter0:43

He said thank you very much as well in the English language. Yes, he never talks, does he? No.

Rod Hull0:44

Me lang

Presenter0:48

He doesn't. He he curled his beak up. Is is that's a sign of friendship? Uh I don't think so, no. Um it it depends how far yeah you see that at.

Speaker 40:55

Um

Rod Hull0:55

Yeah.

Presenter0:57

That means he likes you, Roy, that does. So you're right. I hope you're right. Yeah.

Rod Hull0:57

I'm not sure.

Rod Hull1:01

I heard

Speaker 41:01

Uh

Rod Hull1:01

Yeah.

Speaker 41:01

Yeah.

Rod Hull1:01

Yeah.

Presenter1:06

Give him his script back. I'm sorry about that, right? Sorry about that, listeners. He won't expect to choose any records, will he? No, no. Chew them or choose them.

Presenter1:17

Chews. Oh, chews. I thought it was because he does chew things. He likes to chew a record. Yes.

Rod Hull1:20

He likes to tour records too.

Presenter1:23

You've chosen eight. I is music a big thing in your life? Yes, it is. It is indeed. Yes. Did you have any plan for choosing?

Rod Hull1:27

Yes, it is. It is indeed.

Presenter1:31

Um oh stop it. Get up, Emu. Now pack that up. That's a very serious interview, this is. Sorry, Roy. Um did I have any plan of choosing them? Well actually I began to choose them when I was twelve.

Rod Hull1:38

But I saw it.

Presenter1:41

It was about some

Presenter1:43

What, nineteen forty seven when I first spoke when I was about that age.

Presenter1:47

And I hadn't got EMU then. Well, you you weren't born then, were you? No, no, it wasn't born EMUs, just shaking his head. No, and I was um I thought, well, that wouldn't be lovely to be on that programme. It's long been an ambition of mine to be on Desert Island Disc, and I'm so pleased to be here.

Rod Hull1:51

Some f

Speaker 41:52

Yeah.

Rod Hull1:52

Yeah.

Presenter2:02

Thank you. Are you are you choosing nostalgically or or what? I suppose, yes I am in a way. Uh and I'm also choosing uh pieces of music which mean a lot to me in my work, in in fact. What's the first one? It's a rather rousing piece actually. It's by my favourite composer. I have more of his music than anybody else's. It's by Vaughan Williams. And it's the Overture to the Wasps.

Presenter3:25

That was the Overture to the Wasps by Vaughan Williams, Sir Adrian Bolt conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Speaker 43:32

Uh Yeah.

Presenter3:32

Now how do you feel about the prospect of a spell on a desert island? Been looking forward to it for ages. It's all right for Emu. He can bury eggs in the hot sand. Did you hear that? Stop it. Yes? Is Emu a a lady or a gentleman? I I've never been game to look, to be quite honest. So you can tell by his feet. Would you like to look at his feet? Oh, stop it. I'm sorry about that. That's all right. You can see now. I didn't realize he could kick.

Speaker 43:57

Uh

Speaker 44:00

Yes, alright.

Speaker 44:01

Okay,

Presenter4:04

Yes, quite so hard. What would you be happiest to leave behind?

Presenter4:08

Leave behind him.

Presenter4:13

Oh, stop it. I'm sorry. Just a minute. I shall be a minute. When you get to your feet.

Speaker 44:14

Uh

Rod Hull4:17

Uh

Presenter4:18

Yeah, you're not.

Presenter4:20

Yeah, choose your second record.

Presenter4:23

As quick as light.

Presenter4:24

Oh, yes. Now on his second record. Sorry, boy. He looks very peaceful now. He's calm. He's quite peaceful now. Give him the strip. Yes, yes. I don't think I'd better do it. You do it.

Speaker 44:29

It looks

Speaker 44:30

Yeah.

Rod Hull4:31

It's quite a peaceful note.

Rod Hull4:33

Yeah. Uh

Presenter4:36

There. Now this second record actually I've chosen, again it's another piece of music which to me is very descriptive and it's also very English. Uh in fact it's by Malcolm Arnold and it's the fifth one of his English dances. I th I think he wrote about eight didn't he in that bracket. But I particularly like like number five. It has a certain oh majesty I think.

Rod Hull4:36

There.

Presenter5:59

That was the fifth of Malcolm Arnold's English dances, the composer conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra. What part of the country do you come from, Rob? I come from Kent. Hm. What did you do when you left school?

Presenter6:11

When I left school I became an engineer. I really wanted to be in show business, but that wasn't sort of on. Quite soon you were caught up in National Service. You went into the R Air. That's right. What sort of work did you do there? Well I continued with my engineering work because at that stage I was training to become a lighting engineer and I went into the Air Force and I w went to Cranwell fortunately for a while.

Speaker 46:30

Mm, hello.

Presenter6:35

And then when I left I was virtually fully fledged lighting engineer and so I upped and offed it over to the Antipodes and became a lighting engineer over there.

Rod Hull6:45

Yeah

Presenter6:48

Well at this point let's break off for number three. For number three. Um Dickens has long been a favourite author of mine because I think he really captured a certain part of English life and I think it's been captured even more by people like Lionel Bart and Carol Reed when they put Oliver onto the stage and in fact onto the screen.

Speaker 47:10

In this wonderful morning, such a sky you never can see over time.

Speaker 47:30

Hello the money is Jack on the broad

Presenter7:37

Who will buy from the soundtrack of Oliver? So you decided to go to Australia and you carried on being a lighting engineer in Australia? Yes, I did actually. I went to a television station and said I'm a lighting engineer and they promptly gave me a job.

Rod Hull7:45

Yes, I

Presenter7:54

operating the follow spot, which is not quite w what I was trained for but but I did it and that meant working up in the grid which is high above the television cameras and operating spots on people like ballet dancers. Well the next step was I found myself in front of the cameras. How did that happen? Well I fell out the grid. Quite true. Sorry about that. I began to see that the script was needed for this particular programme or that one, so I began writing and I said well I'm not really a lighting engineer at all, in fact I'm a script writer.

Speaker 48:10

And being a

Rod Hull8:16

Uh

Speaker 48:16

Yeah.

Speaker 48:19

Sorry about that.

Presenter8:33

Which was a lie. But that gave me a job and gave me a start in the business. Yes, you began in in children's shows uh as Constable Clot, I believe. Yeah, how did you know that? Oh, we have ways and means. Oh, yes, I did. Um, I began as an idiot policeman who never did anything right, caught the wrong man, and turned round and walked into the door and fell down steps if there were steps to fall down, and and that led to me being Constable Clot.

Presenter8:58

That you weren't around in those times. Keep quiet email. Yes, just keep quiet. And Constable Clot had his own show and

Presenter9:08

And that sort of began things. And you were writing scripts for people. Did you write for anyone we know?

Rod Hull9:09

Yeah.

Presenter9:13

Any visiting Englishman or whatever? Yes, I did. Um, people like Willie Rushd, Frankie Howard, I wrote for Normal Wisdom.

Rod Hull9:15

But yes, I

Presenter9:20

And then Warren Mitchell as Elf Garnett came over, mm and we struck it off quite well. You were doing cabaret too? We did yes, I did cabaret with Warren, didn't I? Didn't I do cabaret with Warren? And that's uh that's where Emu came on the scene, in fact.

Speaker 49:24

Yeah.

Presenter9:35

Stop it. Why did Emil throw your glass of water in the waste paper basket? Because he wanted you to know that's where he came on the scene. Nice. That's quite right. Don't do that in here. It's not allowed. I'm sorry about that. Yes.

Rod Hull9:50

It does get

Presenter9:51

Don't touch the microphone! I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. Let's have another record. What for? Oh yes, let's have another record'cause we're on the desert island, you see. Actually, well I'm going back to to my favourite composer here, Devaughan Williams. And um I think being on a on a desert island, we have lots of time to sit and just be tranquil.

Presenter10:12

And I know of no other piece of music that conjures up this to me more than the third movement of Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. Five.

Speaker 411:02

Yeah.

Presenter11:20

The closing passage of the third movement of the Vaughan Williams' Fifth Symphony, Sir Adrian Bolt once again conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Presenter11:30

Stop it! I'm sorry. Of course we're quite used to this because we have EBC, you see. EBC, you see? Yeah, E-Mus broadcasting curve is very used to that. You have microphone trouble there, too. We don't have microphones. We have to shout.

Rod Hull11:39

Yeah.

Rod Hull11:40

He's very used to that.

Presenter11:48

I came back to Australia. You were doing a daily breakfast time show. Yes, I was. If you took an early breakfast, that is. If you took an early breakfast at seven o'clock in the morning that went till half past eight. What was it called?

Presenter11:59

It was called The Super Flying Fun Show.

Presenter12:03

Folks. You unlocked the studio and cooked your breakfast. That's quite right. Yes. I I couldn't see a programme going out at seven o'clock in the morning to half past eight every day in the morning, live, working. So I played the whole programme as if nobody was watching. I was the caretaker.

Presenter12:22

And I was I used to pick up the milk outside the front gates and bring it in and switch on the cameras and whistle to myself and cook eggs and bacon, but really on the set every morning for my breakfast. Emu was actually hatched on that show, wasn't he? Did you hear that? He mentioned your name. There, he's just taking a bath. Looks happy. Yeah, he does. First time. Yes.

Rod Hull12:39

Yeah.

Presenter12:42

Yes, Emmy was on that show and I can remember the very day he was born his

Presenter12:49

I'm sorry, that's your script, Mr. Plummer.

Rod Hull12:52

Getting excited to see.

Presenter12:54

Yes, well, uh we I was sent an egg actually. An E-muse egg yes, an E-muse egg, yes, that's right. And somebody sent it to me and thought it would be of educational interest to the viewers. Get up!

Presenter13:08

So I said, well, this isn't really that kind of programme, so we'll leave it over here on this radiator.

Presenter13:14

And it hatched over a period of about three weeks. It got bigger and bigger. In fact, I got the props people to make the egg a bit bigger every day. When it got about the size of a

Presenter13:24

a large chair. I shoved it into my bed and covered it up with bedclothes. And the next thing it was hatched and he was out. How much does he weigh?

Presenter13:33

£10. Would you like to hold him? Because he's quite nice. I just try to hold him because

Speaker 413:35

Yeah.

Rod Hull13:35

Nice.

Presenter13:38

Isn't that lovely? Isn't that nice? Stop it! Yes. And it's all muscle, isn't it? It's all muscle, yes.

Rod Hull13:39

Yeah, I'm just

Speaker 413:46

Alright.

Speaker 413:48

Tall masses.

Presenter13:50

But

Speaker 413:50

Uh

Presenter13:50

I I did. I enjoyed that very much.

Presenter13:52

I've never been quite so intimate with an emu. All those purple feathers. Does he fly?

Presenter14:00

No, it doesn't fly and it doesn't make a noise. Does he snap at everybody? No, no. In fact, he's he he rather likes you. Let's have another red.

Presenter14:11

Yeah.

Rod Hull14:13

That's a slight

Presenter14:14

Number five. Actually, I've I've chosen quite an odd one for number five. I've chosen uh virtually a sound effects record because

Presenter14:22

They fast on this desert island.

Presenter14:24

and locked off from the rest of the world, nothing would

Presenter14:28

endear me more to Kent, which is where I was born and which is where I now live, than to hear the sound of a skylark.

Presenter15:11

The song of the Skylark, and I'm sure it was a Kentish Skylark. When did you come back from Australia, Rock?

Rod Hull15:14

Yeah.

Presenter15:16

I came back in about nineteen seventy. Why? Because you were doing very well out there. Yes, we were. It was a combination of things, actually. We were doing as you say, we were doing very well and we were known all over the place. But y y you tend to wonder how, you know, what the value is, and plus the fact I was missing Kent.

Presenter15:35

and uh and the cricket and the football. So I decided to wrap it all up and come back home. What did you do when you got here? Well, I walked round several agencies for a long while, knocking on the doors, trying to sell scripts which I'd written in

Presenter15:48

Ozzy. Nobody seemed to want to know about it until I came to I think which must have been the very last agency. And then, that's right, I thought I'd take you. I thought I'd take Emu with me because I've never taken Emu before to any of these do's. So I sat in the waiting room with Emu. I you were in a suitcase at the time, weren't you? Yes. And the the wo girl behind the desk said, Miss Ralms will see you now. So I said, Oh, well I'm just going to go to the loo. And um and I went into the loo and

Presenter16:17

I sort of got Emu out the suitcase and walked in and conducted the whole interview as if I had to bring Emu with me because I had nowhere else to to leave him. And he wrecked, didn't you? You wrecked the place from start to finish. The desk was upturned and papers were flown out the window and vases of flowers tipped up and phones ripped off the wall and poor Miss Routes was on the floor saying oh I think we can use you that's where it started. What was the first job? My first job in fact was to do two days at the Opera House at Blackpool with Rolf Harris over Christmas of that year and I did it and I got immediately signed up by Dickie Huron in fact to do the summer season and it all carried on from there. Pantos, summer seasons, a royal variety performance. Yes, yes. And overseas, Las Vegas, Canada, Western. Yes, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Holland. And at Christmas time you started in your own pantomime which you wrote.

Speaker 416:58

Mana

Rod Hull16:58

Law

Rod Hull17:00

Yeah, that's what Pam

Rod Hull17:03

Yeah.

Rod Hull17:04

Yeah.

Speaker 417:04

Yeah.

Rod Hull17:07

Where?

Rod Hull17:11

Christmas.

Presenter17:15

He wrote, I'm sorry, yes. Nearly an awkward moment.

Rod Hull17:16

He wrote that.

Rod Hull17:18

Yeah.

Speaker 417:18

It's nearly an awkward moment.

Presenter17:20

Emu in Pantoland, yes he had his name in the title, not yours. Yes, get up, you fool. Uh yes, I put the pen in his beak and he just wrote it. Uh'cause you see, he'd heard about pantomimes like Mother Goose and Puss in Boots. But he's there's never been one about an Emu. Never before. Trailblazing, isn't he, Really?

Speaker 417:20

Even

Rod Hull17:29

Yeah.

Rod Hull17:35

Never before.

Presenter17:39

Well, you can call it that if you like. Record number six. It's my first introduction to serious music. Uh it's not really serious, it's it it's it's just very pleasant to listen to. It's long been a favorite of mine. It's Champson des Matin by Elgar.

Presenter18:53

Elgar's Champson du Matin, conducted by the composer in nineteen twenty seven.

Presenter19:00

Stop it. It's spinning water all over the place. Sorry about that. Just having a glass of water for viewers. If he's thirsty, let him have some.

Rod Hull19:06

Glass of water viewers.

Presenter19:10

Rod, there's a there's a classic theme in fiction of the ventriloquist who was taken over by his doll. Yes. Oh, he combed your hair, too. Yes, he's combing my hair at the moment, viewers, listeners.

Presenter19:21

Summit oh gold, I'm sorry. The classic theme in fiction of the ventriloquist was taken over by his Darlow.

Rod Hull19:22

Stop it and fool.

Presenter19:28

A puppet here by his puppet. Do you ever feel you're being taken over by email?

Presenter19:33

Me be taken over by him.

Presenter19:39

Oh, startling!

Presenter19:41

Oh! I'm sorry about that, Mr. M. Now I'll pass the microphone down to you. Stay where you are. Oh, no, just a minute. Oh!

Rod Hull19:44

Yeah.

Rod Hull19:45

Bye.

Presenter19:48

There we are.

Presenter19:50

No. I was going to ask if you would like another record. Well, I think I have another glass of water first. Thank you very much.

Presenter19:58

Hmm.

Presenter19:59

Yes, I'll have another record. Shall we have another record in you? Because we must we mustn't forget we are on a desert island and it's long been a v an ambition of Roddy's to be here. And what we're very patient with him, aren't you? I have to be. Yes.

Rod Hull20:09

Yeah.

Speaker 420:09

What makes

Rod Hull20:11

What have

Presenter20:12

I get puffed out and all.

Presenter20:16

Actually I thought if I was gonna go to a desert island

Presenter20:19

I'd like to take something of the moment.

Presenter20:22

And one particular record, which means a lot, is um Minnie Ripperton's version of Loving You.

Speaker 320:28

No one else can make me feel the colours that you bring.

Speaker 320:36

Stay with me while we grow And we will live each day in springtime Cause loving you Is easy cause you're beautiful

Speaker 320:52

And every day of my life

Speaker 320:55

Is filled with love in you.

Presenter20:59

Minnie Ripperton, loving you. Now we come to Wasn't that pretty? Wasn't that pretty? Yes, I enjoyed it. And it brings tears to my eyes, it does sometimes.

Rod Hull21:01

What the

Rod Hull21:02

Yes, I enjoyed it.

Presenter21:05

Now you're on this island. Could you look after yourself? Could you build a hut? Me? Yeah. Of course. Very good at building huts and things. Horticulture? Agriculture? Don't know about that. I can grow things, though.

Presenter21:19

Would you try to escape? Never. I've been looking forward to getting there for thirty years. What's your last record?

Speaker 421:23

Yes.

Presenter21:25

Again, it's a great favorite. Um I spent many Christmases in the tropics and

Presenter21:30

And it's never quite the same. You always think of an English Christmas. And nothing conjures up to me more than this next record.

Presenter21:37

It's a sort of Dickensian, almost poor Christmas of a waif in the street to me.

Presenter22:43

The first Noel from Victor Healy Hutchinson's Carol Symphony, The Pro Arty Orchestra conducted by Barry Rose. If you could only take one disc, which would it be? Run, Rabbit, Run. That's a great help. Chris, that was on my original list when you were twelve. We'll let you have that one as well.

Rod Hull22:58

Was it when you were twelve?

Presenter23:04

And one luxury to take with you. My pianola.

Presenter23:07

and an unlimited supply of piano rolls.

Rod Hull23:07

I don't know.

Presenter23:10

That we can arrange. One book apart from the Bible and Shakespeare and and we don't allow big encyclopedias either. I was going to take Dickens, but I think the best book for me to take would be my Boy's Own Annual of nineteen twenty six. That was a good year.

Rod Hull23:24

That was

Presenter23:25

You remember it well, do you? Soup. It tells you lots of things in there about how to live on the desert island and trabbing birds and things like that. Oh, well, you say you should. No, but I I just thought it would be sea. Well, that's all we have time for today, viewers.

Rod Hull23:34

Yeah.

Speaker 423:38

Yeah.

Speaker 423:40

The B B C

Presenter23:44

Be here next week on Desert Harden Discs! Out!

Rod Hull23:56

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