Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Desert Island Discs
Presented by Roy Plomley
Britain's best post-war novelist, author of Lucky Jim, whose sixteenth novel won the Booker Prize.
Eight records
It certainly evokes mine early adolescence to me very clearly. Meant a lot to us, me and my pals, at I suppose around the age of eleven and twelve and so on. And we all trooped down to see them and they appeared at the Stratum Astoria for the stage show.
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
In conversation
Presenter asks
Have you ever indulged in the daydream of being a solitary castaway on a desert island?
Not a solitary one, no a castaway, perhaps.
Presenter asks
Do you think you could face up to being a solitary castaway?
gregarious, you know, hopelessly dependent on my fellows. And after about 24 hours of saying, well, how nice it is to be here. I start, you know, nosing round for a saloon bar or something of the kind, I'm sure.
Presenter asks
How much does music mean in your life?
Well, it's all of course got to be a secondary interest. I'm a complete amateur, but it does mean quite a lot to me in different ways. I mean, not just as an entertainment, of course, a time filler background thing. And also um It's something I take very seriously. When occasion affords.
Presenter asks
The recording
Timestamps play the recording from that turn
Speaker 1
BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne, and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast. This is the only extract the BBC has of this episode, and for rights reasons, the music is shorter than on the original broadcast. The presenter is Roy Plumley. I hope you enjoy listening.
Kingsley Amis
How do you do, ladies and gentlemen?
Kingsley Amis
Our castaway this week is a very well-known novelist. Perhaps the most widely read of his books is the outstandingly successful Lucky Jim. Here is Kingsley Amos.
Kingsley Amis
Mr. Amos, have you ever indulged in the daydream of being a solitary castaway on a desert island?
Presenter
Not a solitary one, no a castaway, perhaps.
Presenter
Next question. Do you think you could face up to being a solitary castaway? I don't think I could. This really arises out of the first question, or the answer does, because I'm far too.
Presenter
gregarious, you know, hopelessly dependent on my fellows.
Presenter
And after about 24 hours of saying, well, how nice it is to be here.
Presenter
I start, you know, nosing round for a saloon bar or something of the kind, I'm sure.
Presenter
How much does music mean in your life?
Presenter
Well, it's all of course got to be a secondary interest. I'm a complete amateur, but it does mean quite a lot to me in different ways. I mean, not just as an entertainment, of course, a time filler background thing.
Presenter
And also um
Presenter
It's something I take very seriously.
Presenter
When occasion affords. Do you play any instrument yourself? Only the gramophone, but I do that with great assiduity.
Presenter
Did you have any set plan in in selecting our eight records?
Presenter
But I felt that um
Presenter
One I suppo uh I suppose one should be as
Presenter
Catholic as possible, but I did try to reflect what I just said in my choice.
Presenter
But one doesn't choose one's music merely by
Presenter
It's married.
Presenter
Or even its appeal to mood, but it it can have all sorts of other uses. It can remind you of things you've done, places you've been, and so on. What's the first one? Well, the first one is um
Presenter
Perhaps musically not all that respectable, but it's
Presenter
It certainly evokes mine.
Presenter
Early adolescence to me very clearly.
Kingsley Amis
Yeah.
Presenter
We're doing this program chronologically, are we?
Presenter
Uh yes, I think it might be a right be a notion.
Presenter
It's by um an organization called Troyes and His Mandaliers.
Presenter
Uh who um
Presenter
Meant a lot to us, me and my pals, at I suppose around the age of eleven and twelve and so on. And we all trooped down to see them and they
Presenter
appeared at the Stratum Astoria for the stage show. We've been waiting for that for a long time.
Presenter
This is uh this is called uh Moonlight Kisses.
Speaker 2
The tender passion of that night of moonlight Jesus
Speaker 2
My only happiness is when I dream you're getting me a k
Do you play any instrument yourself?
Only the gramophone, but I do that with great assiduity.
Presenter asks
Did you have any set plan in selecting our eight records?
But I felt that um One I suppo uh I suppose one should be as Catholic as possible, but I did try to reflect what I just said in my choice. But one doesn't choose one's music merely by It's married. Or even its appeal to mood, but it it can have all sorts of other uses. It can remind you of things you've done, places you've been, and so on.
Presenter asks
We're doing this program chronologically, are we?
Uh yes, I think it might be a right be a notion.
“Not a solitary one, no a castaway, perhaps.”
“gregarious, you know, hopelessly dependent on my fellows.”
“I start, you know, nosing round for a saloon bar or something of the kind, I'm sure.”
“Well, it's all of course got to be a secondary interest. I'm a complete amateur, but it does mean quite a lot to me in different ways.”
“Only the gramophone, but I do that with great assiduity.”