Jane Grigson

Jane Grigson0:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive.

Jane Grigson0:05

For rights reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in 1978 and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:31

On our Desert Island this week is a writer of books on food and how to cook it, Jane Grigson. Jane, how important is music in your life?

Jane Grigson0:40

I couldn't pretend that it was a dominant part of my life.

Presenter0:44

Do you listen to records a lot?

Jane Grigson0:46

Not a great deal. I listen to them occasionally.

Jane Grigson0:49

And then they mean a great deal to me when I do listen to them.

Presenter0:52

Have you any musical skill yourself, to play an instrument?

Jane Grigson0:54

No, but I used to sing.

Presenter0:56

Hmm.

Jane Grigson0:56

And that's why I've chosen mainly singing records that take women to the desert island.

Presenter1:01

Where did you sing? In in in a choir or

Jane Grigson1:03

Well, I started off at school when I sang in the choir.

Jane Grigson1:06

And then when I went to Cambridge

Jane Grigson1:08

I

Jane Grigson1:10

joined the

Jane Grigson1:11

Cambridge University Musical Society, which was really the sort of

Jane Grigson1:16

Astounding musical experience. The first astounding musical experience I had because having grown up during the war,

Jane Grigson1:23

in a country school.

Jane Grigson1:26

And just having heard the radio, I had really very little knowledge of what music.

Jane Grigson1:32

could feel like when you were actually in the middle of it. And I went along to this first meeting of the this huge choir there were about three hundred people in it and we were handed copies of Bach Mass in B minor.

Jane Grigson1:45

And I just sat down and opened it and looked at it and saw a lot of parts written down and knew the one I was supposed to be singing.

Jane Grigson1:52

And then Borizoud waved his baton, and suddenly all these mouths opened, and I was middle in the middle of this incredible sound which um

Jane Grigson2:03

was really one of the greatest experiences of my life, I think, to be suddenly in the middle of the Bach mess in B mine and with it all going on all round you, and I just sat in total silence for the first three meetings and then suddenly took courage.

Presenter2:16

Did you have any plan in selecting your eight records, apart from the fact that we're going to hear quite a lot of vocal ones?

Jane Grigson2:22

Not really. I thought I would choose records that had meant a lot to me during my life.

Presenter2:27

What's the first one?

Jane Grigson2:28

Well, the first one was Schubert, because that was the first composer I really

Jane Grigson2:31

came across as a child. My father used to sing Schubert on Sunday evenings. My mother used to play the piano.

Jane Grigson2:37

And

Jane Grigson2:39

I listened in amazement to these delightful songs, and then when I was about nine, my father said.

Jane Grigson2:45

For a birthday treat, would you like to go to Peter Pan or Lilac time?

Jane Grigson2:49

And I chose lilac time.

Jane Grigson2:51

And

Jane Grigson2:52

This again was perfectly entrancing. I think it's a really terrible show, but at nine years old it was absolutely perfect.

Jane Grigson2:59

So that was really Schubert became

Jane Grigson3:02

The composer I knew best'cause I've known him longest.

Presenter3:04

And what Schubert item of utterance?

Jane Grigson3:07

I've chosen the Shepherd on the Rocks, because I heard that again at Cambridge.

Speaker 13:17

Peace I fish here It's difficult me to see

Speaker 13:37

To see you.

Jane Grigson3:48

Closed in tears and no

Jane Grigson3:55

Speak with all the un

Presenter4:12

Schuberts

Presenter4:13

Shepherd on the Rock sung by Krister Ludwig.

Presenter4:16

What part of the country do you come from, Jane?

Jane Grigson4:18

I come from the north east of England, from Sunderland.

Presenter4:21

Did you go to school there?

Jane Grigson4:22

No. I went well, I did for the early part of my life. And then I went over to Westmorland to the school that the Brontees were at in Casterton it was called. It was Cowan Bridge in the old days, and that was the one that Charlotte Bronte wrote about in Jane Eyre.

Presenter4:37

We were happy at boarding school.

Jane Grigson4:38

No.

Presenter4:39

Yeah.

Presenter4:40

And you went the favourite to read what?

Jane Grigson4:42

Let's read English.

Presenter4:43

W with a view to what?

Jane Grigson4:46

Well, I really wanted to work in art galleries and to work with paintings, as my mother had

Jane Grigson4:50

been an art student and had taught me quite a lot about painting when I was a child.

Presenter4:54

And when you came down?

Jane Grigson4:56

I went first. Well, I had a sad period when I couldn't find a job.

Jane Grigson5:01

And I learnt to type and then I got a job in an art gallery in Cambridge.

Presenter5:06

How long did you keep that?

Jane Grigson5:08

Oh, I think about a year and a half, two years, and the gallery gently folded.

Presenter5:10

Yes.

Jane Grigson5:14

Yeah.

Presenter5:14

Oh dear.

Jane Grigson5:14

Oh dear. Had wonderful paintings, lovely. But um I think really there wasn't the money in Cambridge to buy them.

Presenter5:23

Do you paint or or sculpt yourself?

Jane Grigson5:25

No, no, not at all. It all comes out in cooking, I think.

Presenter5:28

And after Cambridge well.

Jane Grigson5:31

Then I went to London and worked in an art gallery in Bond Street.

Jane Grigson5:37

Watercolours this was, English watercolours, which I thought very stuffy at the time.

Jane Grigson5:42

I was longing to rip everything off the wall and hang up Ben Nicholson's.

Jane Grigson5:49

I was a very junior person in the firm and um however I learned quite a lot about watercolours and I'm very glad I did now.

Presenter5:57

Then what happened?

Jane Grigson5:57

Well, then I tried to get into the Victoria and Albert Museum, which was a constant state of my life for about four years.

Presenter6:02

What particular job did you want then?

Jane Grigson6:04

Well, I wanted to go into either the textile department or the silver department. I'd been very interested in silver since I was about sixteen. We had a marvellous collection of silver in the Sunderland Art Gallery, which I had been allowed to handle and look at and study. And I thought really that silver, or Peps textiles, would be my life's work.

Jane Grigson6:24

But um the Victorian Albert Museum didn't agree.

Speaker 16:25

Museum

Jane Grigson6:27

And um I didn't have any luck at all trying to get in. I think it was the worst period of my life. I don't never remember feeling so depressed. So, what was the next

Presenter6:34

So what was the next step? What happened?

Jane Grigson6:36

Well, after my fifth attempt, I was so upset that my father went along and, much to my dismay,

Presenter6:43

Much to

Presenter6:45

To the Victorian Delta.

Jane Grigson6:46

To the Victoria and Albert Museums for one of the people who'd interviewed me and.

Jane Grigson6:50

said, What other training should she have? What qualifications hasn't she got that she could have that would help her to get a job with you? And they said, Well, it's very difficult.

Jane Grigson7:01

Why doesn't she go into publishing? There's quite a nice job going with a new firm. They were producing some illustrated encyclopedias.

Jane Grigson7:08

And so my father came back and said, Well, try it. So, full of woe and dismay, I went off and tried this.

Presenter7:14

Hmm.

Jane Grigson7:15

And that was that, really.

Presenter7:17

Well they were in the literary world, yes. So let's have record number two. Watch that.

Jane Grigson7:18

So let's have a look at the

Jane Grigson7:22

with the Sanctus from the Bachmas in B minor.

Presenter7:26

To take you back to Cambridge and the first impact of music

Jane Grigson7:28

To take the first impact of this extraordinary sound.

Presenter8:31

The opening of the Sanctus from Bach's Mass in B minor, conducted by Otto Klempere.

Presenter8:37

So you were in the publishing world. What was your job? What did you have to do?

Jane Grigson8:41

It was a very humble job. I rushed around trying to find photographs to illustrate these encyclopedias and

Jane Grigson8:49

I was very lucky because the man I was working for.

Jane Grigson8:54

was a man who had been influencing my life in all sorts of ways since I was about sixteen through his books, and this was Geoffrey Grigson.

Presenter9:00

the poet and literary critic and publisher, um whom you eventually married, of course.

Jane Grigson9:06

Yeah.

Presenter9:08

Did you continue to work together for a long time?

Jane Grigson9:10

We've worked together ever since.

Presenter9:12

So a married lady. You began translating.

Jane Grigson9:15

Yes, this was really when I went to live at Broadtown with Geoffrey and

Presenter9:19

Broadtown near Wiltshire.

Jane Grigson9:20

Near Wiltshire, in Wiltshire. And I had to earn some money. And so this was the obvious thing to do. I'd done a certain amount in a very small way when I was working in a publishing firm.

Presenter9:22

Hmm.

Jane Grigson9:33

And I continued with this.

Presenter9:35

In fact, you won a prize as a translator.

Jane Grigson9:37

Yes, I was really very pleased about that because it was a translation of Becca's of Crime and Punishment, and it was the first book in

Jane Grigson9:45

Europe

Jane Grigson9:46

to recommend the abolition of capital punishment, eighteenth century.

Jane Grigson9:51

And he was the father in law of Manzoni, the Italian novelist.

Jane Grigson9:54

And he had an enormous influence on penal reform and at that time, when I was translating the book,

Jane Grigson10:01

There was the great question of abolishing capital punishment in England, with which

Jane Grigson10:05

Geoffrey and I were very much in sympathy, and to be able to translate this book was ready

Jane Grigson10:11

A very wonderful thing.

Presenter10:12

From the Italian

Jane Grigson10:13

From the Italian, yes.

Presenter10:15

Now, you began to go to France for the summer, you and Geoffrey.

Jane Grigson10:19

Yes. That was after our little girl was born. We'd always been to Italy before then because I'd learned Italian when I was much younger and

Jane Grigson10:27

We always went to see the paintings in Italy. Then Geoffrey thought we should have a more domestic sort of holiday, suitable to a baby, who wasn't very strong, he thought. And so we went to France, and he had had a letter when he wrote a book about

Jane Grigson10:41

uh prehistoric painted caves, he'd had a letter from a man living in France who said, I think you would very much like the village I live in.

Jane Grigson10:48

It's a very strange village. It's built on a cliff and it has cave hizes.

Jane Grigson10:52

And I'd luckily filed this letter in a more efficient way than usual, and so when we decided to have a holiday in France, I found the letter and we wrote to this man.

Jane Grigson11:01

and said could we rent a cave for the summer?

Jane Grigson11:04

And he wrote back and said, Well, as a matter of fact, there's a cave underneath mine.

Jane Grigson11:08

So we went there, and we went for a month, and we stayed for two months.

Jane Grigson11:13

and one very merry afternoon, after a very good lunch and a lot of wine,

Jane Grigson11:17

Somebody said, Well, there's a little house for sale. Why don't you um think about buying it?

Jane Grigson11:22

And so we're feeling very

Jane Grigson11:24

Happy in the sun, and very happy with the wine, we went and saw it, and we decided to buy it.

Presenter11:29

And you've spent every summer since?

Jane Grigson11:30

And since then we've spent every summer there it was in in fact we didn't finally buy it till nineteen sixty three.

Presenter11:37

And, like so many of us, I presume, you were seduced by French food.

Jane Grigson11:41

Oh, totally

Presenter11:42

So cooking took on a new dimension.

Jane Grigson11:44

Cooking took on a new dimension, partly because I didn't have to do so much, because you could buy such lovely food in the shops.

Presenter11:50

Hmm.

Jane Grigson11:50

And the ready made food you bought was so delicious.

Presenter11:53

Was it then that you decided to write your first book?

Jane Grigson11:57

No, I decided somebody else should write it to tell me about the food that I didn't know about.

Jane Grigson12:02

And in fact it was the friend who'd where he'd become a friend who'd first written to us.

Jane Grigson12:06

And I said, Why don't you write the book?

Jane Grigson12:08

And he said, Well, yes, he would.

Jane Grigson12:11

And so we found Michael Joseph who were willing to publish it.

Jane Grigson12:14

And then his life became a bit patchy and difficult, and I thought this book is not going to get off the ground and told the publishers.

Jane Grigson12:22

Bioduct.

Jane Grigson12:23

And they said, What nonsense It's an interesting subject. You go and write it.

Jane Grigson12:27

And so I said, Well, I don't know anything about it.

Presenter12:29

Yes.

Jane Grigson12:30

This will find out.

Presenter12:32

And the book is called Sharkutri, Everything There Is to Know About the Pig and How to Cook It.

Jane Grigson12:36

Yeah, about

Jane Grigson12:38

But oh dear.

Jane Grigson12:39

Not really.

Jane Grigson12:41

A lot of things about how to cook the pig from a French point of view and a certain amount from an English point of view.

Presenter12:46

It is amazingly well researched. I mean, apart from the squeals, there's everything that you could possibly want to know about pigs.

Jane Grigson12:54

Well, I stood in shops and looked at all the food and decided the things that I didn't know about and asked questions and all the charcutiers around us in France are so friendly, and they have these extraordinarily

Jane Grigson13:09

Clean and resourceful shops and kitchens, and they're delighted for you to go behind the scenes and watch them at work.

Jane Grigson13:17

And they were very generous with their information and we just tasted everything we could.

Presenter13:23

Yes, well there can't be any harm in that. Let's have another record.

Presenter13:28

What next?

Jane Grigson13:29

Well, a record I have to take of the desert island is a record that has my husband reading three of his poems on it. There are a number of other poets on it too.

Jane Grigson13:39

But the one I'm interested in is Geoffrey Brigson.

Presenter13:42

We shall only have time for one poem on this occasion, of course.

Jane Grigson13:45

Well, I think

Jane Grigson13:47

Of the three

Jane Grigson13:49

The one about the Hollow Stone is the one I shall have to choose. It's so sad.

Jane Grigson13:53

And

Jane Grigson13:55

It moves me very much.

Speaker 213:56

Looked for the hollowed stone.

Speaker 213:59

On a wrong height on the Darn.

Speaker 214:01

Considered death considered dying alone.

Speaker 214:05

discovered no sign of the stone.

Speaker 214:08

Encountered a bull where I expected the stone, Grazing head down, raised a bull eye as if I were a stone.

Speaker 214:16

With heifers.

Speaker 214:17

by no means alone.

Speaker 214:19

In the last light

Speaker 214:21

discovered the stone in a wild copse under the down.

Presenter14:25

Geoffrey Grigson reading Hollowed Stone. Was it as a result of your book on charcuterie that you went to The Observer as their cookery writer?

Jane Grigson14:34

Yes, yes, it was.

Presenter14:36

How long have you been there now?

Jane Grigson14:37

Ten years.

Presenter14:38

That's on a lot of articles every week.

Jane Grigson14:40

Oh, no, no, not every week. No, at first they were perhaps every month, every six weeks, very irregularly.

Presenter14:41

Yeah.

Jane Grigson14:48

Sometimes they've been every week, sometimes every fortnight.

Jane Grigson14:52

It's dependent on the editor and

Presenter14:54

Now, before you print a recipe, I presume you have to try it.

Jane Grigson14:58

Oh yes.

Presenter14:58

Do you work in your own home?

Jane Grigson15:00

Yes, I do. Yes, and I have a very

Jane Grigson15:02

old kitchen, which is in some ways very inconvenient.

Presenter15:06

An old kitchen, an old an old house.

Jane Grigson15:07

Yeah.

Jane Grigson15:08

Yes, it is. It's a seventeenth century house. Is it? Right in the country. It's a farmhouse. Well, it's on a r it's on a rather main road these days, but it is in the country and it's got a big garden at the back.

Presenter15:10

Is it right in the country?

Presenter15:11

Whoa.

Presenter15:16

Is your husband i is Geoffrey a gourmet? Does he really appreciate what you're doing and and criticise?

Jane Grigson15:22

Yes, he does. He's very critical.

Jane Grigson15:25

Please

Presenter15:27

Does he cook himself?

Jane Grigson15:28

Oh, there oh well.

Presenter15:28

Oh yeah.

Jane Grigson15:29

He prides himself on his scrambled egg and his omelets, but he doesn't cook them very often himself. He does sometimes.

Presenter15:34

Mm-hmm.

Presenter15:37

Yeah. And and you have a daughter?

Jane Grigson15:39

And we have a daughter. She's a great cook, and she's very calm, and everything always works. She never has a flop, which I find irritating.

Presenter15:45

This of course is is a great thing, that to be a good cook you must retain your cool.

Jane Grigson15:50

A sort of neurotic coop.

Presenter15:55

Record number four.

Jane Grigson15:58

That is, um, Nellilotya, I think.

Jane Grigson16:01

Cool water.

Presenter16:02

Why?

Jane Grigson16:04

I like the rhythm of it very much and I like the way she uses her voice, the way she presses on the notes or

Jane Grigson16:09

Comes down very lightly. It's quite unexpected.

Jane Grigson16:13

I should like to have been able to sing like that.

Jane Grigson16:18

Oh keep on moving then, don't you listen to him then He's a devil, not a man He sprays the burning sand with water

Jane Grigson16:32

Daniel, you see that big green tree Where the water's running free Is waiting there for you and me

Presenter16:46

Nelly Lacha

Presenter16:47

Now your first book was Charcuterie, and then the most comprehensive book on on fish cookery. Here I'm with you, I love fish, and I think you've covered just about every variety that I've heard of.

Jane Grigson16:54

But I think you've covered it.

Jane Grigson16:57

Well, yes, I started off with our market in France and the enormous varieties of fish that came every Wednesday afternoon.

Presenter17:05

We're terribly restricted in this country, aren't we? We don't bother with so many fish that are about.

Jane Grigson17:07

I think

Jane Grigson17:10

No, I don't think so. I I've stood at at this tall Montoire encountered.

Jane Grigson17:16

Thirty five, thirty nine different sorts of fish one could buy.

Presenter17:20

And you've written a book on mushrooms.

Jane Grigson17:21

Oh yes.

Presenter17:22

Uh we need books on mushrooms. Most of us are rather nervous about them.

Jane Grigson17:26

Yes, I think

Jane Grigson17:28

This is perhaps a shame, though prudent.

Jane Grigson17:31

I think we don't have this very well organised as they do in France. Once again, it's a book that started off in France, where we

Jane Grigson17:38

Picked a lot of mushrooms and where everybody picks mushrooms, everybody goes out into the woods on Sunday in the autumn.

Speaker 117:44

Hmm.

Jane Grigson17:45

And the whole

Jane Grigson17:47

The place is crackling with feet.

Jane Grigson17:50

as people go quietly forward step by step with their eyes down.

Speaker 217:53

Yes.

Jane Grigson17:54

not saying very much in case other people should hear them.

Presenter17:57

Come on, please don't

Jane Grigson17:58

Prepare.

Presenter18:00

and a book on English food.

Jane Grigson18:03

Yes.

Presenter18:04

What's your own favorite meal?

Jane Grigson18:06

Money no object.

Presenter18:08

Reasonable amount of money.

Jane Grigson18:10

Can I have lobster?

Presenter18:12

Yes, yes. That that would be it, would it?

Jane Grigson18:15

Lobster termido, yes. I think or

Jane Grigson18:19

If I couldn't rise to lobster I would have stuffed squid.

Jane Grigson18:24

I think it would have to be fish.

Presenter18:26

Right, let's have another echo.

Jane Grigson18:28

When we were in France.

Jane Grigson18:30

About five years ago a friend introduced us to a French singer called Guy Bayard.

Jane Grigson18:35

who sings folk songs, among a lot of other things.

Jane Grigson18:38

And we bought this record.

Jane Grigson18:41

which has got really some of the most attractive of the French folk songs on it, but what we particularly love is a poem by the great French poet Rensard, who was born just a mile or two from our village.

Jane Grigson18:54

and whose house we often drive by.

Jane Grigson18:57

He is a poet that my husband has translated.

Jane Grigson19:00

And he's one of the first French poets I ever read, when I was at school.

Jane Grigson19:04

And I love this poem because although it was written

Jane Grigson19:07

in the sixteenth century.

Jane Grigson19:09

It's very much of today.

Speaker 119:21

Car top length.

Speaker 119:24

Aje mouillet, nouferon?

Speaker 119:27

The voice is the Guise, of those who pour down, among those bottled, the more crying of the Gliese.

Presenter19:39

Gui Bayard singing a setting of Ronsaurs When We Are In Church.

Presenter19:44

Now, you've written, what, half a dozen cookery books. Now, who buys them? There are great mounds of cookery books in all the bookshops. Um Yes, I wonder that myself sometimes. Is it the housewife? Is it are they bought for presents?

Jane Grigson19:57

I think

Jane Grigson19:59

I think a lot of them are bought for presents and I think this is what publishers hope for as they want to bring them out in time for Christmas with very pretty jackets on them.

Presenter20:06

The research for the books and articles must be fascinating because it means digging out old recipes going back what

Jane Grigson20:11

Yeah.

Presenter20:12

sixteenth century books and that sort of thing.

Jane Grigson20:13

Absorption.

Jane Grigson20:15

There's all even earlier sometimes.

Presenter20:17

Is there any copyright in a recipe?

Jane Grigson20:19

No, there's only a copyright in words.

Jane Grigson20:21

And I think, of course, then then the usual copyright laws apply. The Americans are trying to.

Jane Grigson20:28

produce a copyright in recipes, but this leads to some very foolish situations.

Jane Grigson20:34

Because people will claim their copyright in a recipe like souffle.

Jane Grigson20:39

Rosouffle was invented in the eighteenth century.

Jane Grigson20:42

Anything you do to a souffre is just a frill.

Jane Grigson20:45

I think cookery is bound to be continual plagiarism.

Presenter20:49

Are turning the pages of of just one of the books that we've got here at random. Um there's something cooked in cream, something fried in butter. Now what about those of us who are trying to watch our weight?

Jane Grigson20:58

Trying to watch our weight.

Jane Grigson21:01

Well, there are also quite a lot of recipes where you don't have to use cream and butter, and I'm not a very good person, being rather large myself, to tell anybody how to get slim. My solution is to just eat less of things.

Presenter21:15

On to record six.

Jane Grigson21:17

Record six is Horowitz.

Presenter21:18

Mm-hmm.

Jane Grigson21:19

I think

Jane Grigson21:21

The um

Jane Grigson21:23

Dreams of childhood.

Jane Grigson21:25

is a record I would just have to take with me, because I should like to.

Jane Grigson21:28

sit every day and think about all the children in the family and the children I've known and my own daughter.

Jane Grigson21:35

And I think this will be a very suitable record for that.

Presenter22:37

Horowitz playing dreams from Schumann's Scenes of Childhood.

Presenter22:42

Jane, any good cook must.

Presenter22:45

Essentially, be a practical person. I think, how good do you think you would be at at campfire cookery?

Jane Grigson22:50

Well, I don't know how I'd manage with rubbing the two sticks together.

Presenter22:53

Can be done.

Jane Grigson22:53

I'm sure, yes.

Jane Grigson22:55

I've usually found

Jane Grigson22:57

in life with practical things. But when I've had to do something I have been able to, and I think I should be able to cope.

Presenter23:02

Of course you like gardening. You've done quite a lot of gardening.

Jane Grigson23:05

No, I've done very little.

Presenter23:06

Ready?

Jane Grigson23:06

Oh yes, I'm a great organiser of other people in the garden.

Presenter23:09

Ah yes.

Jane Grigson23:09

That was a

Jane Grigson23:11

Geoffrey's the great gardener. He's a marvellous gardener.

Speaker 123:12

Yeah.

Presenter23:12

But you know how he does it. You can cultivate.

Jane Grigson23:15

Oh, yes, I should I should have a very good

Presenter23:18

Would you try to escape?

Jane Grigson23:19

Oh no, I'm much too frightened of the sea.

Presenter23:22

Very sensibly.

Jane Grigson23:22

Very sensibly. I have a great respect for the sea. I grew up too near it to play about with the sea.

Presenter23:27

We've got to record 7.

Jane Grigson23:30

The boat said.

Presenter23:31

What midside?

Jane Grigson23:33

Magic flute, as much as I can get from one record.

Jane Grigson23:38

But it would have to include the overture and the

Jane Grigson23:42

Duet about love.

Presenter23:43

Which do we play now?

Jane Grigson23:44

I think the duet.

Jane Grigson23:54

Before I go to thee.

Jane Grigson24:03

Peace.

Jane Grigson24:05

So

Jane Grigson24:09

So here's the thing.

Jane Grigson24:14

Feel by what is the tree?

Jane Grigson24:21

Here's the thing.

Jane Grigson24:26

Favourite.

Presenter24:46

The duet by Mannon from the first act of the Magic Flute, sung by Gundela Janowitz and Walter Berry.

Presenter24:53

Which brings us now to your last record.

Jane Grigson24:56

Benjamin Britton. Serenade for tenor horn and strings. Very difficult to choose any section of it,'cause I love it all. I think perhaps the tennison for the horn playing.

Jane Grigson25:08

The wonderful poem

Presenter25:10

The Splendor of Old

Jane Grigson25:11

Yes, this was the marvellous thing about Benjamin Britton. He

Jane Grigson25:15

chose such magnificent poems to set to music.

Jane Grigson25:24

The splendor pulls on gospel, and stories are eternal.

Speaker 125:31

Yeah

Speaker 125:33

I'm sorry.

Jane Grigson25:35

The long light shapes across the lake.

Speaker 225:38

Across the lakes It's in glorious.

Jane Grigson25:41

Oh boy, I'm a little bit more.

Speaker 125:46

Yeah.

Speaker 225:48

Yeah.

Presenter25:49

You blow.

Presenter25:51

Oh, set the wild echoes flying.

Presenter25:58

Answer it goes on.

Jane Grigson26:02

Ah

Speaker 126:05

Time time

Speaker 126:13

Yeah.

Speaker 126:14

No.

Presenter26:21

Nocturne from Britain's Serenade for Tenor, Solo, Horn and Strings, Peter Pearce, Dennis Brain and the New Symphony Orchestra of London. If you would take just one disc out of the eight, which?

Jane Grigson26:35

My husband reading his poems.

Presenter26:37

And one luxury to take with you?

Jane Grigson26:40

My typewriter and paper. I should rush and write down all the things I could remember, I think.

Presenter26:44

Hmm.

Jane Grigson26:45

in case I was going to be there for a very long time, then I would have something to read.

Presenter26:47

Then I was

Presenter26:49

and perhaps a book on desert island cookery as well.

Jane Grigson26:53

And one

Presenter26:53

And one book to take with you, one book of someone else's, apart from the Bible and Shakespeare and big encyclopedias.

Jane Grigson26:58

I would take a book my husband wrote about

Jane Grigson27:02

Our Life in France.

Jane Grigson27:04

or notes from an odd country.

Presenter27:06

Notes from an odd country

Jane Grigson27:07

Yes.

Presenter27:08

And because of your great interest in art, let's have one painting that you would like to have.

Jane Grigson27:12

I think that's the worst question you've asked me.

Jane Grigson27:17

I think in the end I would take a painting by Ben Nicholson.

Jane Grigson27:20

of playing cards.

Jane Grigson27:22

which once used to hang in our sitting room, and which we sold.

Jane Grigson27:26

Because we needed the money very badly, the school fees.

Presenter27:28

Yeah.

Jane Grigson27:30

And I'd like it better.

Presenter27:31

Right. And thank you, Jane Griegson, for letting us hear your Desert Island Discs.

Jane Grigson27:33

Thank you.

Jane Grigson27:37

Thank you, Roy.

Presenter27:39

Goodbye, everyone.

Jane Grigson27:49

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