Bertice Reading

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. For rights reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen eighty four, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:30

On i Desert Island this week is the actress and cabaret singer Bertise Redding.

Presenter0:35

Bettis, how would you feel about a spell on a desert island?

Bertice Reading0:39

I think it would be just the most marvelous thing I could think of. I mean, if you could make it here with all these people, it must be marvelous to be by yourself for a while. Now you have eight discs with you. Do you play discs about the house a lot? Oh, when I wake up in the morning I immediately have music. I can't live through the day without music.

Presenter0:57

You have a big collection?

Bertice Reading0:58

Oh, yes, I have about three thousand.

Presenter1:01

That is a lot.

Bertice Reading1:03

Hm. Collected over the years.

Presenter1:04

Did you have any plan in in choosing? I mean, are you planning nostalgically or what?

Bertice Reading1:10

Well, some of them are nostalgic. Some of them have meanings because the people who are singing them had a special purpose in my life. And some of them are just music that I just like to bask in and things that I could play over and over and over again.

Presenter1:22

Where do we start? What's the first one?

Bertice Reading1:24

Well, I thought that since as as a little girl I started by dancing and ballet and all these sort of things. I also took piano lessons and I love classical music.

Speaker 31:33

Uh

Bertice Reading1:36

And I would like to start with the Delirium Waltz drafts.

Presenter2:41

The Delirium Waltz by Josef Strauss, played by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Carrier.

Presenter2:49

Whereabouts in the United States do you come from?

Bertice Reading2:51

I was raised in uh Chester, Pennsylvania.

Presenter2:54

Not far from Philadelphia.

Bertice Reading2:55

Yes, about eighteen miles. Same place as Ethel Waters came from.

Presenter2:58

In that same little tone.

Presenter3:00

There's an alarming story, Bertice, that you were born in a lavatory. How did that come about? I wasn't born in a lavatory. I was born

Bertice Reading3:07

Born in a toilet.

Presenter3:09

There is a difference.

Bertice Reading3:12

Take

Presenter3:12

Before no doubt

Bertice Reading3:13

Melanie.

Bertice Reading3:15

No, I mean, I actually my mother didn't realize and I just dropped out and made a big splash into the water.

Bertice Reading3:21

Uh

Bertice Reading3:22

They thought I'd always be weak and sick and I'd never be strong after having fallen into that cold water. And I'd never looked back, I never lost a pound, and uh here I am. I think everybody should be born in the toilet.

Presenter3:33

Toilet.

Bertice Reading3:35

Are you one of a big family? I'm only one. Were you good at school? Yes, I was a very good student, A student, all the time, all the way through. And you learned dancing?

Bertice Reading3:44

Well, at that time it was very popular. If your family had any kind of money at all, you had to show off by sending your daughter to dancing school and they took tap dancing. That was very popular at the time. And you had to take ballet and acrobatics. How old were you when you started dancing? I was three. Three? Yes. Did you appear in public as as a child? Well, yes, because Bilbo jangles Robinson.

Speaker 13:53

Yeah.

Bertice Reading4:08

came to the dance studio one day to pick out a little girl to be his uh shadow in his show. And he picked me out because I was so little and chubby and I could tap.

Bertice Reading4:17

And uh I got all the steps of Shirley Temple before she got them, because he was also his student.

Bertice Reading4:22

And um

Speaker 14:22

Please.

Bertice Reading4:24

I became very into it till I was about fourteen, and then I stopped because I realized that I was getting fatter. I'm not fatter, but

Bertice Reading4:30

when you dance in little short skirts and things and I I got embarrassed.

Presenter4:34

Were you travelling with Bo Dangles Robertson as a child?

Bertice Reading4:35

Yeah.

Bertice Reading4:36

Yes, I did.

Presenter4:37

All over the state.

Bertice Reading4:38

Yes, doing uh theatres.

Presenter4:40

So what about school? Did you just do school as and when?

Bertice Reading4:43

Well, in those days you did school half a day in the morning, and they usually had a tutor for you.

Presenter4:49

Yeah.

Bertice Reading4:49

But most of the time when I was with Bill Robinson we did summer things.

Bertice Reading4:54

And uh that was very interesting for me.

Presenter4:57

Yes, surely.

Bertice Reading4:57

And then you didn't have to do schoolwork in the summer.

Presenter5:00

Were you on the road with a production show, with a whole show, or just with Bill Robinson?

Bertice Reading5:04

Well, it was a production show really because uh everyone was in his show.

Presenter5:08

Mm-hmm.

Bertice Reading5:08

And, um, he was the the big boss and everything, yes.

Presenter5:13

Let's have your second

Bertice Reading5:13

Yeah.

Presenter5:14

Record.

Bertice Reading5:15

My second record

Bertice Reading5:17

I guess uh I go back to the influences that uh

Bertice Reading5:20

I really didn't even realize that they were influences at that time, but, of course, that wonderful woman, Billie Holliday.

Bertice Reading5:27

And um

Bertice Reading5:28

To know her was to love her, and I loved her.

Presenter5:31

You did know her.

Bertice Reading5:31

Yes, I did, and she was a wonderful lady, and I love her singing.

Bertice Reading5:37

Crazy, he calls me.

Speaker 35:38

I say I'll go through fire

Speaker 35:42

And thou goes through fire.

Speaker 35:46

As he wants it, so it will be Crazy cause me

Speaker 35:56

Sure, I'm crazy, crazy in love You see.

Presenter6:03

Billy Holiday, crazy he calls me.

Presenter6:07

Now you had to leave uh Bill Robinson's show, of course, to go to college.

Bertice Reading6:11

Well, I when I was a little girl, I was doing this with Bill Robinson. I became ill and I had streptococky infection. And being so much around doctors and nurses and people who were ill during that period, I decided that I wanted to be a doctor to help people.

Bertice Reading6:27

And so that's what I studied. That was my main idea in my life, was to be a doctor.

Presenter6:31

What went wrong with that?

Bertice Reading6:32

Well, when I got to school I was in my second year pre med at Misericordia College in Dallas, Pennsylvania, when my mother took ill, and there was no one at home to look after her, so I had to come out of school for a couple of months. And when she was well enough for me to go back, the dean thought it was better if I came back when the new semester started.

Bertice Reading6:50

and during that period that I had to stay at home.

Bertice Reading6:53

I went to work in water makers in Philadelphia and I used to sell

Presenter6:56

Discount stores.

Bertice Reading6:57

Yes, and I used to sell.

Bertice Reading6:58

Mink coats for doll babies.

Bertice Reading7:01

And it was a terrible experience.

Bertice Reading7:03

Uh, with these little brats these little brats paying seventy five dollars for a mink coat for a doll baby, and I didn't even make half of that for a week's work.

Presenter7:04

That's a very funny idea.

Bertice Reading7:13

and they never said thank you to their mother.

Bertice Reading7:15

And then you'd see the little poor children coming in, and I used to give them all the broken toys. And I used to get in trouble for that, so after a short time I left. And when I was leaving I walked past the theater, the Earl Theatre, and um they were having a talent contest, so I went in.

Presenter7:32

What sort of act did you give me?

Bertice Reading7:34

I sang a song called Can't Help Lovin' That Man of Mine.

Presenter7:36

From Shellboat

Bertice Reading7:37

Yes, and uh that was it. I got it and then I won the prize.

Presenter7:41

What was the prank?

Bertice Reading7:43

A week's booking with Lionel Hampton's Orchestra.

Presenter7:45

With the orchestra as featured vocalists.

Bertice Reading7:47

Yes.

Presenter7:48

That's what's mildest.

Bertice Reading7:48

This was marvelous. And um it was only for one week and I thought that was marvelous.

Presenter7:53

And in your home town, where all your folks could go and see you.

Bertice Reading7:53

And in your home

Bertice Reading7:55

Oh yes, everybody came. And I was so upset.

Bertice Reading8:00

with working with them.

Bertice Reading8:01

The thought that they were going to leave me there was absolutely horrifying, and my mother finally went to Gladys Hampton and said You'd better take her with you, because we can't live with her any more. And so they took me with them, and my mother went with me as well.

Presenter8:14

Yes.

Bertice Reading8:15

And we run on the road.

Bertice Reading8:17

And when I was on the road I met Dinah Washington.

Bertice Reading8:21

She was my idol at that time.

Bertice Reading8:23

And every one used to say that I looked very much like her when I was younger. And she took me under her wing one night and took me around and introduced me to everyone in in New York and all the clubs and every place. And she brought me home at seven o'clock in the morning.

Bertice Reading8:36

And I had to open at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

Bertice Reading8:41

And uh when I walked in the hotel room, my mother knocked me down and gave me a black eye.

Presenter8:49

So you opened up the Apollo with a black eye, yes. Well, you've chosen one of Dinah Washington's records. It was a memory of Dinah.

Bertice Reading8:50

With a black eye, yes.

Bertice Reading8:54

Yeah.

Bertice Reading8:57

Diana had so many songs, and she was such a great interpreter of songs.

Bertice Reading9:03

I didn't know exactly which one to pick.

Bertice Reading9:06

And um

Bertice Reading9:07

Well, I guess the the best one is come rain or come shy.

Speaker 39:12

These may be cloudy or sunny.

Speaker 39:19

We're in on, we're out of the money.

Speaker 39:25

But I'm with you always

Speaker 39:31

I'm with you, comrade.

Speaker 39:35

Arcam Sha.

Presenter9:42

Dinah Washington. Now your week's engagement with Lionel Hampton's band grew into several years, didn't it?

Bertice Reading9:49

Four.

Presenter9:50

Yeah.

Presenter9:51

and you were touring all over the United States.

Bertice Reading9:54

And all over Europe and, um, South America.

Presenter9:57

Yeah.

Bertice Reading9:57

Basically.

Presenter9:58

In the in the States, did you travel by train or by day coach or?

Bertice Reading10:01

In America we had our own special bus.

Presenter10:04

Yeah.

Bertice Reading10:04

And we had four bus drivers.

Presenter10:04

Okay.

Bertice Reading10:06

And they changed, intermittently. But we slept on the bus most of the time, especially when we went in the South.

Bertice Reading10:11

because we had um a lot of white musicians with us as well.

Presenter10:15

Yeah.

Bertice Reading10:15

And it was still a time that white and black People couldn't sleep together.

Presenter10:18

Hams was one of the first integrated bands, wasn't it?

Bertice Reading10:18

Uh

Bertice Reading10:20

That's true, yes.

Presenter10:21

Were you playing mostly one-night stands, or did you stay in in a theater for a week or whatever?

Bertice Reading10:25

Well, we did mostly one night stands, but of course we did do weekly things as well.

Bertice Reading10:30

But the theatres were beginning to dwindle during that period.

Presenter10:34

Did you ever come into contact with the other bands who were on the road?

Bertice Reading10:37

Oh, yes, we used to meet Baisie.

Bertice Reading10:39

Count Basie and um

Bertice Reading10:42

And our musicians used to change over. You mean you'd have some that would leave us and go to Basie.

Presenter10:46

Just get on the next bus isn't it?

Bertice Reading10:47

Yeah, I mean, they they just changed. And of course, there was Duke Ellington's orchestra. And, um

Bertice Reading10:53

Old vocalists and things that he had.

Presenter10:55

Did you sing with any other bands as a as a guest, sort of unofficially?

Bertice Reading10:58

Oh, I've sang with Basie's band, yes.

Presenter11:00

Yes. And your European tours.

Presenter11:03

There was one particular tour that brought you to Paris that was very important, wasn't it?

Bertice Reading11:07

Yeah.

Presenter11:07

What?

Bertice Reading11:07

That was, I guess, the first tour that we did over here. We came in at uh Holland.

Bertice Reading11:13

We worked for a French agent, and so that made us go all through France to every little small place.

Bertice Reading11:20

and we always went back to Paris for our days off and things. And I really fell in love with Paris.

Bertice Reading11:27

And I think it's the most beautiful place in the world.

Bertice Reading11:30

It's very arty and I think when you're young.

Bertice Reading11:33

It's lovely to be in a place where you can be really arty if you want to be.

Presenter11:37

There.

Bertice Reading11:38

And um oddly enough.

Bertice Reading11:41

My next artist is a woman who I left behind when I came to Europe.

Bertice Reading11:46

and no one is very rarely ever heard of her here.

Bertice Reading11:49

I was actually surprised to find that you had a recording of her in your library.

Bertice Reading11:53

But she was very famous in America, Miss Kate Smith.

Bertice Reading11:57

And um I think she does a great job on The Last Time I Saw Paris and If I Was on a Desert Island.

Bertice Reading12:03

I think I'd like to think sometimes about my days of when I uh planted my oats in Paris. Wild ones? Oh, very wild.

Speaker 312:15

The last time I saw Paris

Speaker 312:22

Her heart was warm and gay.

Speaker 312:28

I heard the laughter of her heart in every street cafe.

Presenter12:40

Kate Smith singing Jerome Kern's The Last Time I Saw Paris.

Presenter12:44

It was while you were in Paris that you were invited to come to London for the first time, wasn't it?

Bertice Reading12:50

Well, they asked Lionel's band to come to London.

Bertice Reading12:53

And of course Gladys Hampton had parrots, so she wouldn't let the band come because they wouldn't let the parrots in.

Speaker 312:58

So I missed life.

Bertice Reading12:58

So I missed London. That was the only place that we did miss. But I used to go to a nightclub when we finished called the Mars Club, and all the artists used to go in there and

Speaker 313:02

But

Bertice Reading13:08

get up and sing. And I sang one night and Mervyn Nelson, who was the director of Jazz Train, was there. And he asked me to come for an audition.

Bertice Reading13:20

and he would like me to do jazz train in London.

Bertice Reading13:23

And it's very funny because I tried to get in it when I was in America and they didn't want me because I was too fat.

Presenter13:28

Okay, okay.

Bertice Reading13:29

Of course jazz training was for me uh a very terrible eye-opener because I mean I just thought I was just one of the cast, which I was when I started.

Bertice Reading13:38

and on the opening night here in London, where they told us the audiences were quite different than they were in the outposts of England.

Bertice Reading13:44

And um when I came in I expected everybody to just be very blase about the whole thing.

Bertice Reading13:50

And I found that they made me a star that night. I mean there were flowers coming on the stage, and every time I would put my head out the curtain everybody would just scream and I would applaud and stand up.

Bertice Reading14:00

And from the stage.

Bertice Reading14:02

I thought they didn't like me.

Bertice Reading14:04

which was the most horrible thing that I can ever remember.

Bertice Reading14:07

I really felt that if they got their hands on me they would kill me.

Bertice Reading14:10

Because I was doing so terrible.

Presenter14:11

Yeah.

Bertice Reading14:13

And then I realized that it was just the opposite that they really liked it.

Presenter14:16

and it turned into a great night for you.

Bertice Reading14:18

But the next morning was great. I I couldn't I couldn't digest it that night.

Bertice Reading14:21

and the press came back for the first time.

Bertice Reading14:24

They'd been out for quite a while here in London, and they came back and we had the critics that night.

Bertice Reading14:28

and they were absolutely marvelous, and suddenly my picture was on every paper and

Bertice Reading14:33

The silver-haired uh

Bertice Reading14:35

They call me a cottage loaf, I think.

Presenter14:37

You didn't resent that? I didn't know what a college loaf was.

Bertice Reading14:40

I didn't know what a college loaf was.

Bertice Reading14:45

Duh.

Presenter14:46

Yeah.

Bertice Reading14:46

Yeah.

Presenter14:46

Anyway. Well, you had a success, but the show didn't run all that long, did it?

Bertice Reading14:49

Well, it could have run, but y you see, it it didn't have proper backers like um uh in those days that they had.

Presenter14:55

Well, after the jazz train came to a halt, you decided to stay around in London. You became part of the London scene, didn't you? Well, jazz train when it finished here actually

Bertice Reading15:03

till he went to Paris.

Bertice Reading15:05

and I went with it to Paris.

Bertice Reading15:07

And we did it in Paris for a bit.

Bertice Reading15:10

And then I stayed in Paris for a little bit.

Bertice Reading15:13

And then I was asked to have a audition with um Tony Richardson and Oscar Lowenstein.

Bertice Reading15:20

to read for Member of the Wedding.

Presenter15:22

Mm.

Bertice Reading15:23

And I read for it. And

Presenter15:25

From the London production.

Bertice Reading15:26

Yes, at the Royal Court Theatre.

Presenter15:27

Uh-huh.

Bertice Reading15:28

And, um, they talked me into doing it.

Presenter15:31

So that was your first experience as an actress, as a straight actress?

Bertice Reading15:35

Yes, and um at first I thought I couldn't do it, because the book was very thick for Remember the Wedding. That's all you do is talk.

Speaker 115:42

But

Bertice Reading15:43

And I couldn't imagine how I was going to memorize all those words.

Bertice Reading15:48

And I

Bertice Reading15:50

Also I was a bit afraid because acting to me was something that you had to go to school to do and you had to study it to be able to be a good actress.

Bertice Reading15:59

And um, now I realize that if you can sing a song.

Bertice Reading16:04

And do it with depth, and make people understand it in three minutes what you're trying to say in one song.

Bertice Reading16:10

Then you certainly ought to be able to make people understand in two hours what you're trying to do in a play.

Presenter16:14

You did a couple of plays at the Royal Court. What was the other one?

Bertice Reading16:16

And the other one was a Requiem for a Nun with Zachary Scott and Ruth Ford.

Bertice Reading16:21

Which I did also in New York with them.

Bertice Reading16:23

And was nominated for a Tony Award for the Best Supporting Actress in 1959.

Presenter16:28

And you were in a very promising little show that opened at the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, a musical by Sandy Wilson. That's right.

Bertice Reading16:35

Right?

Presenter16:35

Bowman. Did you stay with the show when it transferred to the West End?

Bertice Reading16:39

No, because you see we did the the whole amount of time we were supposed to, and it was just around Christmas time. And in those days every theater was booked out for pantomime, and we had no theater to go into. That was we would have finished on the fourteenth of December.

Bertice Reading16:54

And we had no theater. And up till two weeks before there was no theater. So it looked like I was going to be out of work.

Bertice Reading17:00

And in that meantime I got a telephone call from New York asking me to go and do Rayquium on Broadway for the Theater Guild. And um I asked uh everybody and they said they had no theater. So I took it.

Bertice Reading17:13

And on the last night.

Bertice Reading17:15

They announced that they had found a theatre.

Bertice Reading17:18

and I had already signed a contract.

Presenter17:20

That's show business. Yes. But still, you played in Valmouth in in the New York production.

Bertice Reading17:25

Yes, I did.

Bertice Reading17:26

But I always felt a bit guilty about Balmouth, because I always thought, and I'm sure Sandy always thought, that if I had stayed with the show it would have lasted.

Bertice Reading17:37

And um by not staying with it, I always thought that he blamed me that it didn't continue.

Presenter17:42

Mikan'ta blamed you very much because you were in the recent revival.

Bertice Reading17:46

Yeah, well that that's been they've been trying

Presenter17:47

Trying to do that all those twelve

Bertice Reading17:48

Twenty some years to get it back together again.

Presenter17:48

Some years to get it

Bertice Reading17:51

Yes. I'm out of that now. I mean, I've done my

Presenter17:51

Yes.

Bertice Reading17:54

My duty now.

Presenter17:57

Let's have your fifth record.

Bertice Reading17:59

Well, I'm a great lover of films, and especially art films, and I don't know whether people call this an art film or not, but I thought it was absolutely wonderful, Death in Venice, and of course one of my favorite composers is Gustav

Bertice Reading18:13

And I have his Adagietto Symphony number five.

Bertice Reading18:19

From Death in Venice.

Presenter19:23

The Adagietto from Mahler's Fifth Symphony.

Presenter19:26

The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rafael Kubelik.

Presenter19:31

Now, Bertie's what decided you to return to Europe?

Bertice Reading19:34

Well, I think that what really sent me back to Europe

Bertice Reading19:38

was that I had um done Rayquium here in London, and I was the first black woman to do it because they used a Russian when Camus did his production in Paris.

Bertice Reading19:47

And I did it in New York, of course, as well, was nominated.

Bertice Reading19:51

For Tony Award?

Bertice Reading19:52

And when they were going to do the film, Tony Richardson was going to do the film.

Bertice Reading19:56

I was quite sure that I would have the role.

Bertice Reading19:59

Because he'd found me, of course.

Bertice Reading20:01

And

Bertice Reading20:02

When they call me to come to Hollywood to have a screen test.

Bertice Reading20:06

I was quite positive I was going to get it.

Bertice Reading20:09

And I went to see the screen test when it was finished.

Bertice Reading20:12

and Tony told him to keep the lights down.

Bertice Reading20:16

And then he told me that he had no control over people who would be in the film. It was his first film in America. Sanctuary.

Bertice Reading20:23

And um

Bertice Reading20:25

They had already signed a woman to do the role. It was a woman who had never done any acting before. Odetta.

Bertice Reading20:33

And uh

Bertice Reading20:34

I went back to my hotel and

Bertice Reading20:36

I cried for about three days.

Bertice Reading20:39

And then I called Gladys Hampton.

Bertice Reading20:42

And I said, When are you going back to Europe?

Bertice Reading20:44

And she said we're going back in two weeks. So you went back with the band? I said, Well, I'll come back with the band and I went back with the band to Europe.

Bertice Reading20:51

I felt good.

Bertice Reading20:54

I would never do anything in America. You had to know the right people or be with the right people or

Bertice Reading21:00

And I thought that was purely an American thing, because in Europe I had found that no one knew me in in London.

Bertice Reading21:06

and I'd come in completely with no one behind me, no managers, no agents, nobody.

Bertice Reading21:11

and they had made me a star.

Bertice Reading21:13

I could work anywhere I wanted to work.

Bertice Reading21:15

And I thought it was better to come back to Europe. Mm-hmm. So I did.

Bertice Reading21:20

And that's when I met my first husband.

Presenter21:21

We lived in Switzerland for for quite a few years.

Bertice Reading21:24

Yeah.

Presenter21:25

I'll back in London.

Presenter21:27

You widened your scope by appearing in Shakespeare.

Bertice Reading21:31

Hm, yes, I was in the Measure for Measure, the National Theatre, and I played Mistress Overdone.

Bertice Reading21:38

Yeah.

Bertice Reading21:39

I think Shakespeare must have known me in another life.

Presenter21:42

And you were in one more time? Yes, one more time.

Presenter21:46

It's time we had another record, number six.

Bertice Reading21:49

Well

Bertice Reading21:50

I couldn't go anywhere without that magnificent voice of Miss Barbara Streison. She's a wonderful study for singers, I think. It's like listening to a professor, and she has a lot of soul and depth.

Bertice Reading22:04

And I love very much her rendition.

Bertice Reading22:08

My man.

Bertice Reading22:10

That she didn't funny girl.

Bertice Reading22:11

and every time I hear it it just brings chills up my spine.

Bertice Reading22:15

And I'd like to have some chills up my spine when I'm on a hot island.

Speaker 322:18

Oh my man, I love him so

Speaker 322:24

You'll never know.

Speaker 322:28

All my life is just despair.

Speaker 322:33

But I don't care.

Speaker 322:37

When he takes me in his arms

Speaker 322:41

The world

Speaker 322:45

Right.

Speaker 322:47

All right.

Presenter22:49

Barbara Streisand, My Man.

Presenter22:52

Recently you've been having a wonderful success with your one woman show, Every Inch a Lady. This must be great fun to do, but rather exhausting.

Bertice Reading23:01

It's very exhausting and it's very lonesome.

Presenter23:05

You don't even go off the stage to change, you you change from one gorgeous gown to another behind a a small screen, and you keep singing while you're changing.

Bertice Reading23:12

Oh, you'd better everybody would leave otherwise.

Bertice Reading23:17

I don't have any dancing girls that come on and dance while I go and change, so I have to keep'em busy.

Presenter23:23

And what's for the future?

Bertice Reading23:25

For the future. Well, I'm making an L P at the moment.

Presenter23:28

Hmm?

Bertice Reading23:29

I'm doing the type of songs that people like to hear in my show.

Bertice Reading23:32

And I imagine that uh when the show is finished

Bertice Reading23:36

I probably will start again doing my cabaret stints in different places. And there is of course another show in the offering from Ned Sharon, which would be done in the um autumn.

Presenter23:47

You talked about your travels. You've traveled pretty well everywhere, haven't you?

Bertice Reading23:50

Yes, I've travelled everywhere, on ponies, camels, everything.

Presenter23:56

Riding on a camel? You mean we're going from one deck to another?

Bertice Reading23:59

Yes. I mean, I there was some place I had to go, and it was on the desert, and uh we couldn't go in the car, and we went on camels. And it was quite interesting. And when we got there there was a big meeting of uh Bedouins on the desert.

Bertice Reading24:15

and um one of them, or a couple of them, had heard me singing an Arabic song and doing a sort of a belly dance with it, and they asked me to come and do it, and I went, and the only way I could get there was on a camel.

Bertice Reading24:27

I must say that if I had known how sore I was going to be afterwards, I wouldn't have gone. But it was quite interesting and uh it it was quite enjoyable. In fact, one of those gentlemen who was the head of him I think they call him cheeks he wanted to buy me. Really? Yes, but it was a flattering offer because, you see, if you can speak languages you g then they give more.

Presenter24:40

Was it a flat?

Bertice Reading24:46

And if you can sew, you get a certain price. If you can use a sh sewing machine, oh, you're really in business. And if you can cook, and all different things. And when we added it all up, it was a lot of of sheep, you know, that my husband would have got sheep and and camels and so forth and so on. He would have been quite wealthy if he'd have lived on the desert.

Bertice Reading25:03

And I was quite afraid because I thought maybe he might tell me to get rid of me.

Speaker 125:05

Here.

Presenter25:05

But

Bertice Reading25:08

Uh

Bertice Reading25:11

But he didn't.

Presenter25:13

Record number seven.

Bertice Reading25:14

Uh

Presenter25:14

Uh

Bertice Reading25:15

Well, I would imagine that if you could have the peace and serenity of being on an island alone.

Bertice Reading25:23

Peaceful.

Bertice Reading25:24

That maybe you would not have that desire for hope very much any more. You wouldn't need it.

Bertice Reading25:31

You'd be so completely

Bertice Reading25:33

at ease with everything.

Bertice Reading25:36

And I would like this next record.

Bertice Reading25:38

Just to keep me up to date with my emotion of being able to hope.

Bertice Reading25:44

Because even if you're on a desert island today.

Bertice Reading25:48

You have to hope that, wherever other people are, that they're not planning for your island to go up in the air.

Bertice Reading25:54

So

Bertice Reading25:55

I picked the War of the Worlds.

Bertice Reading25:58

Jeff Wayne's.

Bertice Reading25:59

Musical version.

Presenter26:00

This is the closing sequence, isn't it?

Bertice Reading26:02

We're doing the closing sequence and it's from NASA and I find it quite

Bertice Reading26:09

in a way funny.

Bertice Reading26:10

But also very essential.

Speaker 326:13

Can you hear me, Madrid?

Speaker 326:16

Can anybody hear?

Speaker 326:19

Come in.

Speaker 326:19

Come in!

Presenter26:44

A closing passage of Jeff Wayne's musical version of The War of the Worlds.

Presenter26:50

Bertise, could you look after yourself on a desert island? Would you be good at building a shelter, a hut?

Bertice Reading26:55

Oh yes, I'd be very good. I was a Girl Scout and I had twenty eight badges. Twenty eight badges? Yes.

Presenter27:00

Not enough room on one sleeve for twenty-eight badges. You use both of them. Both sleeves. Great.

Presenter27:06

And what about food? Any good at fishing? Ever done anything of that sort?

Bertice Reading27:10

Well, I think that w if you're on a desert island and there's nobody else there, you could get fish very easily. It's like up in Norway and places like that where the fish just they practically beg to be taken out, you know.

Presenter27:21

Yeah.

Bertice Reading27:22

So I'm very good, I think, at picking up fish that way, but I'm not very good with those very expensive rods and all that sort of thing.

Presenter27:28

You wouldn't have any anyway. Oh, yes, of course.

Presenter27:32

Would you try to escape? Would you try to make a raft? Sail off into the sunset?

Bertice Reading27:36

Oh no.

Bertice Reading27:37

No, I wouldn't. No, I I mean, I'd be very happy right there with letting the sunset shine on me.

Presenter27:43

I think you're very wise. Your last record.

Bertice Reading27:47

Well

Bertice Reading27:48

I guess if the setting sun was going to set on me on an island.

Bertice Reading27:53

I would like to be laying in the sand.

Bertice Reading27:56

listening to the water lapping up at my heels.

Bertice Reading28:00

and watching the sun go down slowly.

Bertice Reading28:02

and I would like them to be playing.

Bertice Reading28:05

Cachechurians, Spartacus.

Bertice Reading28:08

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Presenter29:10

Part of the first movement of Spartacus by Cachurian, with the composer conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Presenter29:18

If you could take only one disc out of the HU playlist, which would it be?

Bertice Reading29:23

I think it would be the War of the Worlds, because I love story telling. I'd love to hear another voice speaking. And um I think it would be War of the Worlds. And of course the music is absolutely beautiful.

Bertice Reading29:34

Yeah.

Presenter29:34

And one luxury, Bertise, any one object that you would like to have, an object of no practical use whatever.

Bertice Reading29:40

Well, I don't know if you consider this of no use at all, but I would like to have a king size brass bed with a feather mattress, because I don't think I would fit too well.

Bertice Reading29:52

Oh no.

Presenter29:53

Hammock

Bertice Reading29:54

I hammock yes.

Presenter29:55

Right.

Presenter29:56

And one book you already have the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare as standard equipment.

Bertice Reading30:02

Oh really?

Presenter30:02

Ready, guys.

Bertice Reading30:04

Well, actually, I would take the profit for mister Gibran.

Presenter30:08

Profit

Bertice Reading30:09

The Prophet

Presenter30:10

And the author's name again?

Bertice Reading30:11

Gabran, Cahil Gabran.

Presenter30:12

Very short book.

Bertice Reading30:14

No, but it it has so much in it.

Bertice Reading30:17

Uh

Presenter30:17

I take it every

Bertice Reading30:17

Yeah.

Presenter30:18

Yeah.

Bertice Reading30:18

Okay.

Presenter30:18

Yeah.

Bertice Reading30:18

With me I wouldn't be without it.

Presenter30:19

Right.

Presenter30:20

And thank you, Betty's Redding, for letting us hear your Desert Island Discs.

Bertice Reading30:24

Could I ask one other thing?

Presenter30:26

Well

Bertice Reading30:27

Well, I know that you're not allowed to have anybody living on that island with you.

Bertice Reading30:32

But

Bertice Reading30:33

think it would be possible that maybe you might pass by once and say hello to me.

Presenter30:38

I'll do my very best. Lovely. Goodbye.