Michael Wood

Speaker 10:00

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

Speaker 10:05

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in 1983.

Speaker 10:11

And the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:30

This week our castaway is a surgeon.

Presenter0:33

And his practice extends over about a million square miles. That's about ten times the area of Great Britain. It's mister Michael Wood.

Presenter0:42

Michael, is music important in your life?

Michael Wood0:45

Yes, I think it is.

Michael Wood0:47

I think it's one of the things that, uh, helps one relax when one's away from the job.

Presenter0:52

Have you any musical skill? Do you do you play an instrument or sing?

Michael Wood0:55

No, I don't. I did sing as a boy. Fortunately I was able to give that up when I

Presenter1:01

Voice Frank. Do you have a big collection of discs?

Michael Wood1:04

A fair number.

Michael Wood1:05

Not anything tremendous.

Presenter1:07

What's the first one out of this miserable allowance of eight?

Michael Wood1:11

The first one is A Brahm's Rhapsody.

Michael Wood1:13

played by Julius Ketchin. This was a work that I remember as a boy before I went to school, because my father used to play it, and I remember hearing it as I went to sleep, and this is one of the memories I have of my childhood.

Presenter1:29

I believe you come from a very musical family. There are a lot of you, and all musical.

Michael Wood1:34

Yes, that's right. Certainly in my parents' generation. My father played the piano and the organ and the French horn. And also, because they were a large family, they used to sing quartets and uh other members of the family would play the the cello or the or the violin.

Presenter1:51

But your generation didn't really keep it up.

Michael Wood1:54

We're not very good. We're very good at playing discs.

Presenter1:58

Well, let's have this Brahms Rhapsody played by Julius Kachin, I believe, a friend of yours.

Michael Wood2:03

Yes, I did know him. Hm.

Presenter3:06

Brahm's Rhapsody, opus seventy nine, number one, played by Julius Kachin.

Presenter3:11

What part of the country do you come from?

Presenter3:13

I was born just outside Guildford. But you didn't go to school there.

Michael Wood3:17

Now I went to school at Winchester.

Presenter3:19

What were you best at at school?

Michael Wood3:22

Oh, goodness, uh, nothing very much. Um I think I was best at reading because I had this asthma problem. Did you? I um

Michael Wood3:32

sat up a great deal at night in in arm chairs and uh I learnt to read and read fairly fast, which I managed to do today, and I and I think

Michael Wood3:43

The one thing I learnt at school was how to learn. And that that was partly due to

Michael Wood3:49

doing a lot of reading at all hours.

Presenter3:51

Now, you said you sang when you were at school. You you were indeed in in the Winchester choir and a soloist.

Michael Wood3:56

Yes, I was in the Winster College choir, which was the sort of chapel choir, and once a month then we used to go and sing in the cathedral with the cathedral choir. And um I was a soloist and I don't think I've ever been more frightened in my life and it was an occasion when one wished that one could go through the floor and be swallowed up. But looking back on it now, it it was fun and uh

Michael Wood4:23

I uh enjoyed it. I think that it was something well worth doing.

Presenter4:27

And I know that you've chosen a record by the Winchester Cathedral Choir. Is it one of the items in which you used to sing solo?

Michael Wood4:36

No, in actual fact, what I've chosen here isn't something that I sang, but it's something I particularly like, sung by the Winchester Cathedral Choir, and it's has a nostalgic value for me.

Presenter4:47

What is it?

Michael Wood4:47

Uh

Michael Wood4:48

Well, it's a piece from Felix Mendelssohn called I Waited for the Lord.

Speaker 25:01

He glanced unto me, he had my complaint.

Speaker 25:17

It for the Lord be coming unto me.

Speaker 25:25

We heard a boy complaint We had a boy complaint Oh this the day that

Presenter5:52

Winchester Cathedral Choir I waited for the Lord from Mendelsohn's Hymn of Praise, and the two trebles were St. John Dyson and Barnaby Lane.

Presenter6:02

What did you want to be when you were a schoolboy?

Michael Wood6:05

Well, I think I wanted to be a taxi driver with yellow wheels.

Michael Wood6:12

But that was early on in my school career.

Presenter6:15

Here

Michael Wood6:15

In fact, I'd always wanted to go into the medical profession but I did study architecture first. Why was that? Well, I think my father was advised that I wasn't going to be strong enough to stand the uh medical course.

Presenter6:29

Because of your asthma.

Michael Wood6:30

Yes, at that time.

Presenter6:32

There's a story that the question of your aptitudes, your career aptitudes, were fed into some device of the period and and came up with something rather strange.

Michael Wood6:42

Yes, that's right. I went and did one of these interviews for four or five hours. The top form went uh to get an idea of what you were going to be good at. They sent a very nice report to my father, about twenty pages, and suggested that I should be an estate agent.

Presenter7:02

Well, it took all those hours to decide on something that's possibly a little humdrum.

Michael Wood7:07

Well, yes, I think they thought that I would be good with people.

Presenter7:10

Uh

Michael Wood7:10

Of course, it had the effect of making me even more anxious to do the thing that I'd set on my heart on doing anyhow.

Presenter7:17

Medicine. Yes. Which aspect of medicine appealed to you most? What did you want to be?

Michael Wood7:18

Which aspect of

Michael Wood7:21

I think I always wanted to do surgery.

Michael Wood7:24

And that's what I did do.

Presenter7:26

Where to

Michael Wood7:28

I studied at the Middlesex Hospital in in London.

Presenter7:30

Or just round the corner from Shaw.

Michael Wood7:31

From Jesus

Presenter7:33

Uh you were there, of course, during the war. Were you around here during the Blitz?

Michael Wood7:38

Yes, I was.

Presenter7:38

Uh

Michael Wood7:38

Right.

Presenter7:39

Any nasty episodes you remember?

Michael Wood7:42

Yes, I remember um being on the uh roof of the Middlesex Hospital fire watching and having um one of the V ones coming straight up Berner Street, which we thought was gonna hit us sort of straight between the eyes. And in fact it was tipped over and went into, I think, into Greek Street and did in fact do a lot of lot of damage and we had the casualties in within a few minutes.

Speaker 27:56

Here.

Presenter8:06

After the war, you were already married by this time at the end of the war.

Michael Wood8:09

Yes, I had married in the in the middle of the war in forty three.

Presenter8:12

And you had children?

Michael Wood8:13

Yes, we had two children by the time we went to Africa.

Presenter8:16

Now your wife had been born in Africa, where she'd had an adventurous childhood.

Michael Wood8:18

Yeah.

Michael Wood8:21

Her parents were missionaries.

Michael Wood8:23

and she was born in what was then called the Congo.

Michael Wood8:26

In the first year of her life she was carried in a hammock.

Michael Wood8:30

from the Congo to the Nile, which was a thousand miles on foot.

Michael Wood8:35

So although she doesn't remember it, I think it must have been a very adventurous time.

Presenter8:40

So what did you decide to do when the war was over?

Michael Wood8:44

Well, I had this possibility of staying on in London.

Michael Wood8:48

And um I think having been cooped up here most of the war I also wanted to see a bit of the world.

Michael Wood8:54

and it so happened that a man came to see me.

Michael Wood8:59

who said that a friend of his was a surgeon in Nairobi who was looking for an assistant.

Michael Wood9:05

And to cut a long story short, I did in fact take up this opportunity and I

Presenter9:11

This is what, what here?

Michael Wood9:12

This was in forty-seven, in April forty seven I went out.

Presenter9:16

Travel wasn't easy at that time.

Michael Wood9:19

It wasn't. We had the most terrible journey out there'cause we uh had to go across France to Marseilles.

Presenter9:25

With young children.

Michael Wood9:26

with young children in a very crowded train.

Michael Wood9:30

We ended up on a a yacht that used to belong to King Farouk, called the Cairo, which had certainly never been out of the Mediterranean before.

Presenter9:38

Was that the occasion when the captain of the ship didn't know the way?

Michael Wood9:43

I think he wasn't the only one of doing that away.

Presenter9:46

Uh

Michael Wood9:46

Yeah.

Presenter9:48

Whereabouts in Africa was this captain sort of potentially aiming his craft at?

Michael Wood9:53

Well, we're sort of going down the right-hand side.

Michael Wood9:55

We are aiming from Mombasa, the main port of uh Kenya.

Presenter9:59

How long did that take?

Michael Wood10:00

And it took uh three weeks to get there.

Presenter10:03

This of course was still in in colonial days.

Michael Wood10:06

Yes, I tried.

Michael Wood10:09

You know, I went there for six months and I'm still there after thirty six years and uh I don't think we've made much impression.

Presenter10:15

As an energetic young surgeon you are very welcome, I'm sure.

Michael Wood10:18

Yes, and certainly was plenty to do, no doubt about that.

Presenter10:22

Let's break for your third break.

Michael Wood10:24

What I have chosen is the Bach to Kartranfugen D minor.

Michael Wood10:28

which uh was played at our wedding and always has a great um sentimental value for you.

Presenter11:35

The Dakarta from Bach's Dakarta and Fugue in D minor, played by Helmut Walker.

Presenter11:41

So you were down in in East Africa. Uh I suppose any sort of medical help was

Presenter11:48

useful down there and only available to a small minority.

Michael Wood11:52

Yes, um, the number of sort of doctors per head of the population was

Michael Wood11:57

very scarce and still is.

Presenter11:59

Thank you.

Michael Wood11:59

There's always uh more than can be coped with.

Presenter12:03

So if a tribesman, for example, was savaged by an animal or had a spear stuck in him by an enemy, it was

Presenter12:09

Virtually the witch doctor or nothing, unless you were on the spot.

Michael Wood12:12

Well, this I think is is true in large parts of Africa today, in the bush areas.

Presenter12:18

Did you run into a lot of the witch doctor business that

Michael Wood12:22

Yes, I mean, um

Michael Wood12:24

The what they are now called traditional healers are very widespread across Africa, and they do a lot of good. They're good psychiatrists. I think they understand probably a lot more about the African mentality with its superstitions and so on, than we do.

Michael Wood12:43

And uh we claim really to be just the second opinion.

Presenter12:47

So you can work together.

Michael Wood12:49

Yeah.

Presenter12:49

Yes, indeed, he is.

Presenter12:51

What were the distances like in your patch of East Africa?

Michael Wood12:55

Well, um East Africa is approximately the size of Western Europe. If you sort of draw it in on the map, it's from Madrid to Warsaw and from London down to southern Italy.

Presenter13:06

and most of it pretty rough terrain.

Michael Wood13:08

A lot of it. It goes from the um snowy mountains like Kilimanjaro right down to the beaches of the sea and pretty well every type of land in between, savannah,

Michael Wood13:21

Forest, rainforest.

Michael Wood13:23

So you depending on altitude you get a completely different change in the environment.

Presenter13:27

When you got there, were aircraft in use?

Presenter13:30

Oh yes, they were, but n Not very much. And radio communication, of course.

Michael Wood13:35

Mm-hmm.

Presenter13:36

So you'd get a call by radio that somebody a thousand miles away wanted help.

Presenter13:41

What were the odds of there being a landing strip close at hand?

Michael Wood13:44

Well, what we first did was to put our own radio medical network in. And um it's perfectly true that some of the places didn't have airstrips and we set about making them and we've built over a hundred airstrips in East Africa. And when I say we, it was in fact built by the African people themselves when they understood

Presenter14:06

But they

Michael Wood14:07

what was required in the way of, you know, bringing doctors and nurses in.

Presenter14:11

I believe one was sometimes built in a hurry when there was emergency.

Michael Wood14:15

That's right. I mean, we did on one occasion turn out nine thousand people and build an airstrip in one day.

Presenter14:21

That's a marvelous effort.

Michael Wood14:23

And I remember uh landing on the strip in the evening and uh

Michael Wood14:27

It was in fact not all that smooth and I think I probably landed three times'cause I was thrown into the air and came down again and up again and down again.

Presenter14:35

How long was it before you learned to fly yourself?

Michael Wood14:39

I learnt really um to fly in'fifty five. This was simply because previous to that I was being flown around as a surgeon to outlandish places, and it seemed to me a sensible idea to learn to fly myself.

Presenter14:53

Never knowing what you were going to find, all sorts of injury and all sorts of people. You had an extraordinary experience with a visiting millionaire.

Michael Wood15:02

Yes, that's right. He was savaged by a leopard.

Michael Wood15:06

which I think he'd wounded, if I remember right.

Michael Wood15:08

and this leopard jumped on him and tore his knee open.

Michael Wood15:12

and he was brought down to me in Nairobi.

Michael Wood15:16

I was sent for in the middle of the night.

Michael Wood15:18

He was an extraordinary man, extremely wealthy.

Michael Wood15:22

and uh wanted me to take him back and hand him over to his surgeon in in Mexico City.

Michael Wood15:27

which I did, and I had an extraordinary experience of going with him in especially uh chartered aircraft, as far as Paris, and then uh we went across the

Michael Wood15:38

Atlantic in a sort of double decker aeroplane of those days.

Michael Wood15:42

and then down to Mexico City.

Michael Wood15:44

but quite an experience, and uh I handed him over to his his surgeon.

Michael Wood15:49

And uh he gave me a holiday on the way back.

Presenter15:51

There aren't many patients like that.

Presenter15:55

One patient of yours who was an exceedingly interesting man, Ernest Hemingway.

Michael Wood16:01

Uh

Presenter16:01

What had happened to him?

Michael Wood16:01

What did happen to him? Well, he had this famous crash up at the Murchison Falls where the pilot, who was an extremely competent man, didn't know that they had strung a cable across below the falls. And when he was going round photographing and having a look at the the game in the big pool below the falls, he hit this cable which wrapped itself round a a wing or the tail, I can't remember. And the pilot had to put the aeroplane down very quickly in the bush.

Michael Wood16:30

And apart from being shaken up and so on, they really weren't hurt.

Michael Wood16:35

But they were miles from anywhere, because there weren't any any lodges and camps there at the time. So he was lost, and after three or four days, presumed dead. When we did finally rescue him, after yet another crash that he was involved in, we got him down to Nairobi and he spent an interesting time reading his own obituaries.

Michael Wood16:59

Which as you can imagine amused him very much. Had he been badly hurt? No, he hadn't really been very badly hurt.

Presenter17:06

Your fourth record, please.

Michael Wood17:09

The fourth record is a chorale out of the Saint Matthew Passion by Bach.

Presenter17:14

Why do you choose it?

Michael Wood17:16

I choose it one um because uh I love the music of course, but I I very much remember playing it on a Good Friday.

Michael Wood17:24

playing the whole thing through in Africa, sitting on a veranda

Michael Wood17:28

This was uh also a piece of music that was played by Albert Schweitzer when we went and visited him in uh Lamborani. He played this chorale on the tropicalized piano in Lamborani.

Presenter18:36

The chorale Commend Your Way from Bach's Saint Matthew Passion.

Presenter18:40

Otto Klempere are conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Philharmonia Choir.

Presenter18:46

Tell me, what is a tropicalized piano that you mentioned just now?

Michael Wood18:49

Well, I think it's a piano that's specially treated, so that makes it possible for it to

Michael Wood18:54

To survive under very damp uh wet conditions in the tropics.

Presenter18:59

So you used to go down to see Doctor Schweitzer. Tell me about that little hospital of his. W was it pretty primitive or was it quite sophisticated for its time?

Michael Wood19:08

No, he di he deliberately kept it fairly primitive because he believed that it was better that the patients felt more at home under the sort of village conditions they lived in, rather than sort of putting them in in in concrete boxes. So it was rather like an African village.

Speaker 219:22

Mm-hmm.

Michael Wood19:26

and uh he believed in keeping it that way for that reason.

Presenter19:30

You have a story about the time you showed him the surgical treatment for elephantiasis.

Michael Wood19:36

Yes. Well, th this was a patient that uh had an enormously swollen leg, and um I said that we were doing these operations in Nairobi for reducing the leg to a a more reasonable size, but on this occasion I hadn't gone specifically with any surgical instruments.

Michael Wood19:56

And uh I had to use a whole lot of razor blades to take the grafts with.

Michael Wood20:02

and I put these razor blades together end on in a long pair of forceps and took the graft that way. Not the ideal way of doing it, but patients seem to do reasonably satisfactorily.

Presenter20:14

And I believe it took a lot of razor blade. Yes, I think we used about seventy-five. Oh, dear, that sounds gruesome.

Presenter20:20

Right now you could pilot a plane, but

Presenter20:23

That really wasn't enough. You had to navigate the thing over vast forests, over deserts. You you couldn't follow railway lines.

Michael Wood20:30

Well, sometimes you could. You you could fly towards a railway line and hit it off and then fly down the line, which was sometimes is a satisfactory way of finding your way around in those places, is to hit off a a definite either road or railway.

Michael Wood20:47

North or south, east or west, of the place that you're trying to get to, and then track back into the place you're going to.

Presenter20:54

Did you ever get badly lost?

Michael Wood20:57

Well, yes, I had some anxious moments of uh I didn't didn't get sort of permanently lost, but I remember uh my wife sitting by my side and counting the number of rivers uh which we were supposed to go across and um I think unwisely I took a short cut at one point and then we didn't realize whether we were

Michael Wood21:17

at the right place on the river, whether we were north or south on the river, and in fact we made the wrong choice and went south first of all and didn't find uh the little town where there was an airstrip.

Michael Wood21:29

So we flew back to the point where we'd started from, and then flew north.

Michael Wood21:34

And the thing that was getting a bit worrying was, one, it was about to get dark and two, we were getting short of fuel. So the the lights of the little town eventually were a a a welcome sign and we um managed to get in all right.

Presenter21:47

Was your first plane a single-engine job? Yes.

Michael Wood21:51

Yes.

Presenter21:51

So you were flying over virgin forest. What was the drill if if the engine packed up?

Michael Wood21:58

Well, I don't think there really is much drill, because you have to go down.

Michael Wood22:03

And I think I I had always been told that if you could

Michael Wood22:07

wrap the plane round a tree. It sounds rather um dramatic, but if you could run

Michael Wood22:13

the wing into a tree and therefore spin the aeroplane round the tree, you would stop it. But I think in fact it's very unlikely that one could achieve such a happy result.

Presenter22:24

Yes, it does sound rather unlikely.

Presenter22:27

Could you get weather report?

Michael Wood22:29

No, not really uh of any significance.

Presenter22:33

You have a story about uh bringing back one character who had brain damage and was a bit restless.

Michael Wood22:39

Yes, that's right. Uh this was early on when I was particularly inexperienced and I

Michael Wood22:45

I was by myself and I put him. He was uh kermatase and unconscious. What was his trouble? What had happened to him? He'd been playing cards.

Michael Wood22:53

And uh the man who he was playing with obviously suspected him of having too many aces up his sleeve and hit him with a hammer between the eyes and he'd been unconscious for some time. Unfortunately he started coming to in the airplane. The first thing I remember was being kicked by him as I was flying the aeroplane. I had an awful time.

Speaker 123:00

Uh

Michael Wood23:15

trying to quieten this man down and and keep in control.

Presenter23:19

So, I suppose after that you took an assistant or or a nurse, or?

Michael Wood23:23

Yes, I mean, and we do now always take an S.

Presenter23:26

Obviously there had to be a certain amount of improvisation when you were out in the bush. In your book, Michael, Go an Extra Mile, you tell a story about a rather extraordinary surgical treatment of a man with a badly dislocated hip.

Michael Wood23:41

Oh, yes, that's true. This was a man who'd had his hip out for some months, and therefore it was very difficult to uh you couldn't possibly pull it back into place in this dislocation. So we had to open up the area, the hip joint, and get some leverage on it to get the head of his femur back into the hip joint.

Michael Wood24:00

And um on this occasion the only tool that I could find that was suitable was a tar lever of uh of a car.

Michael Wood24:08

But I mean it's very like uh a bone lever and it all all we had to do was to um clean it up and sandpaper it and then sterilize it, of course. And this in fact did the trip. And uh we were able to pull on his leg and use the uh lever to get the head back into the joint and it did.

Speaker 224:19

Yeah.

Speaker 124:19

Uh

Michael Wood24:27

In fact, work after a lot of

Michael Wood24:29

Oh, work and sweat.

Presenter24:31

I believe you had three men pulling.

Michael Wood24:33

Etc.

Presenter24:34

Rather primitive surgery, but I'm glad it worked.

Michael Wood24:38

Yeah.

Presenter24:38

Yes.

Presenter24:39

Another record maker

Michael Wood24:41

I've got Alfred Brendel playing a piece of List.

Michael Wood24:46

And the reason for this is that

Michael Wood24:48

In this organization, the African Medical and Research Foundation, Mr. Brandel very kindly put on a concert here in Guildford for funds for this organization. And one of the pieces he played during this concert which was put on in Guildford is the record I've chosen.

Presenter26:07

Alfred Brendel playing one of Liszt's pieces from the second year of his Years of Pilgrimage. This was the Canzonetta del Salvatore Rosa.

Presenter26:18

Now you started.

Presenter26:20

Your medical

Presenter26:21

Career in Africa with a single seater plane.

Presenter26:24

And you mentioned us now an organization has grown up from that. Will you tell us about that organization, how it works, and how big it is now?

Michael Wood26:32

Two friends and myself, one Sir Archibald Mackindo, who, of course, very well known in this country, the famous plastic surgeon who did all the work on the RAF traps during the war.

Presenter26:44

We did work with them for a while.

Michael Wood26:45

Yes, yes I did. And um a doctor Tom Rees in America we were all uh reconstructive plastic surgeons had the idea early in uh fifty six, fifty seven.

Presenter26:45

Yes.

Michael Wood26:57

Of trying to start a voluntary agency which incorporated this business of flying.

Michael Wood27:04

To find a way of adding to the medical services, fitting in with the existing government and and mission services. And so we started it then. It was registered in this country, and its first office was in the Royal College of Surgeons, and also in the States. And I started doing the executive end, so to speak, of the work in Nairobi. It started with nothing except the idea.

Speaker 227:34

Yeah.

Michael Wood27:34

And so we had to raise the funds, get ourselves registered as a charity.

Michael Wood27:39

And uh we've now completed twenty-five years and during that period it's grown all the time, starting with this concept of improving the communications using radio and aircraft. But that now is fifteen percent of the of the total and we're involved in many other aspects of medicine, in training particularly, in uh printing medical publications, in medical research, in consultancy, so that we have a staff of two hundred people working in five different countries.

Michael Wood28:13

on a budget of approximately five million pounds.

Presenter28:16

Yes, the five East African countries.

Michael Wood28:18

Yes, Eastern Africa, because it involves one project in Malawi.

Michael Wood28:23

A very big project in uh southern Sudan and then Uganda, Tanzania and and Kenya.

Presenter28:29

And your flying doctor service covers all these five countries. I mean, presumably boundaries are down for medical emergencies.

Michael Wood28:37

Well, this is a problem. Um most of our flying has been done in Kenya and Tanzania, but we do fly to the Sudan.

Michael Wood28:46

And we do fly to Malawi. And there are difficulties of crossing national boundaries, although the authorities are pretty good with us. We get permission on uh on most occasions to be able to do this.

Michael Wood28:58

So that's the sort of area in which we're operating.

Presenter29:01

Yes. I know I'm concentrating on the more romantic side of it, but how many aircraft do you control in the organization?

Michael Wood29:07

Well, it varies very much from time to time. I think we're using seven at the present time.

Michael Wood29:12

Some of them are twins and some of them are single.

Michael Wood29:15

We use mainly Cessna's American aircraft.

Michael Wood29:19

And uh we do our own engineering.

Michael Wood29:21

looking after the aircraft. Some of the doctors fly and we also have full-time professional pilots.

Presenter29:29

Let's get back to music. What's number six?

Michael Wood29:31

Number six is part of Mahler's Symphony Number Two in C minor The Resurrection.

Presenter29:38

And why?

Michael Wood29:39

Well, I was introduced to Mahler by a friend uh some years ago and it was a particularly happy time of my life and uh I really hadn't listened much to Mahler before and I took to this particular piece of music very much and uh it reminds me of those times.

Presenter30:58

Part of the second movement of Mahler's Second Symphony, the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Otto Klempere.

Presenter31:05

Now your other occupations in Africa. You you you took up farming as a hobby?

Michael Wood31:11

Yes, w we did early on enjoy living in the country and we farmed in a small way just outside Nairobi and we got so intrigued by it that we went and farmed in a larger way in Tanzania on the side of Kilimanjaro and we had great fun in breaking a new piece of land, building the houses and s starting from scratch. And this was largely a wheat farm. We also did cattle, we grew uh seed beans and this lasted for about twenty years. I used to get back from Nairobi by plane on Friday evening and I used to go in and work in surgery in a place called Moshe on Saturdays and then the rest of the weekend I'd be on the farm.

Michael Wood32:00

And uh it was a very uh exciting time and beautiful place.

Presenter32:04

Yeah.

Michael Wood32:05

The mountain behind.

Presenter32:06

You also did some rally driving, Michael.

Michael Wood32:10

Yes, I did. Uh that's right.

Michael Wood32:12

It so happened that I had a son in law who was a very good driver.

Michael Wood32:16

And uh I thought I knew something about navigation.

Michael Wood32:20

Navigating the air is rather different than navigating a rally driver, but still

Speaker 132:22

Reddit drive.

Michael Wood32:24

It was very exciting and I I hope to get him started. He's done very well since the famous East African safari.

Michael Wood32:32

Is uh rarely that we took uh part in on numerous occasions, he on numerous occasions, me on two occasions.

Presenter32:38

Which is major.

Presenter32:39

Is it pretty wild countryside?

Michael Wood32:41

Well, in in those days it took us through Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya up to high altitudes down to the sea, and it was five thousand kilometers over three or four days, and you were um driving day and night.

Michael Wood32:55

It was it was exciting, a little exhausting, but fun. It sounds it.

Presenter33:00

Record number seven.

Michael Wood33:03

I've chosen the um

Michael Wood33:05

Chariots of Fire by Ben Gelis. I listened to this of course when the film came out recently and I I find myself playing it rather often. I think it has a sort of um heroic challenge about it and uh although it's unlike any of the other bits of music I've chosen, it was a great film and uh it reminds me of that. And it so happens that one of the um people who have been very helpful to us in the foundation, used to be chairman of the foundation here, was in fact in the nineteen twenty four Olympics, won the bronze medal at the time that Abrahams won the um I think it was a hundred yards.

Presenter34:40

The title music by Vangelis from the film Chariots of Fire.

Presenter34:46

Michael, you have looked after so many people, often in primitive circumstances.

Presenter34:51

I presume you could look after yourself pretty well on a desert island, could you?

Michael Wood34:55

I don't actually think I'd be too hot at it. You could rig up a shelter or something. I think sort of necessity being the sort of uh mother of invention, I would probably get down to it eventually. No, I'm not a a very good uh handyman at all.

Presenter35:08

Would you try to escape? Now you do know about navigation, that's useful.

Michael Wood35:12

I think if I I knew that the distance was more than about a hundred yards, I doubt whether I'd start swimming.

Presenter35:17

Start swimming. Well, I was thinking of building a crop.

Michael Wood35:22

Perhaps if I'd got uh fed up with the the eight discs and I'd played them sufficiently often I might get down to uh making a craft, as you suggest.

Presenter35:32

But what's the last one you're going to play too often?

Michael Wood35:36

Well, um I felt as I might be on the island for a very long time. I'd like to play the funeral march of Beethoven's Eroca Symphony.

Speaker 235:47

Yeah.

Presenter35:47

That seems a sad thought.

Presenter35:50

Might be a release.

Presenter36:52

The slow movement from Beethoven's third symphony, The Heroica,

Presenter36:56

Herbert von Carrion conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Presenter37:00

Michael, if you could take only one disc out of the eight you played us, which would it be?

Michael Wood37:05

I think I'd choose the Decatur and Fugue in D minor.

Presenter37:09

And one luxury to take with you.

Presenter37:11

Any one thing you like that's of no practical use.

Michael Wood37:14

I think I would like to have with me a pair of field glasses, so that I could watch the birds and the trees and perhaps the ships coming to rescue me over the uh

Presenter37:24

Horizon.

Presenter37:26

And one book you have, the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare, already provided.

Michael Wood37:32

Perhaps uh the thing that would would last longest would be a book of poetry, and I would like to take with me the book by Wavell called Other Men's Flowers, which is a selection of the poetry that he liked, and in fact he could quote it all.

Presenter37:49

Right.

Presenter37:50

Other men's flowers

Presenter37:52

And thank you, Michael Wood, for letting us hear your Desert Island Disc.

Michael Wood37:56

Thank you very much, Roy.

Presenter37:57

Goodbye, everyone.

Speaker 138:23

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