Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Eight records
The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
Well, it's just a good example of the Baroque era, and that's one of my favourite times in in the classical music.
Right, we've changed atmosphere a bit from the first one. We've now gone to Elton John.
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 ("Emperor")Favourite
Daniel Barenboim and the New Philharmonia Orchestra
The fourth record, we go back to the classics again and Beethoven, and we've gone to the The Emperor Concerto, number five.
Right, this time we're on to Super Tramp, a favourite band of mine.
Well, I like their music. They're the sort of people where you could pick almost any track.
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Right, we go back to the classics now, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. And he composed a thing called The Phantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis, an old an old hymn tune, which he made rather a nice job of.
The keepsakes
The book
I thought about relearning French, but that wouldn't be much use. There'd be no one else to talk to. So I thought I might as well develop another of my hobbies or another of my likes, and take a sort of compendium of wines. Yes. I'd just like to know more about it. One of those subjects where there is so much to talk about, so much to learn, and so much confusion. It'd be nice to sort some of that out.
The luxury
A video cassette of Rumpole of the Bailey's best moments
I think if he had a video cassette of some of his best moments, I think that's the sort of thing that would sort of keep you cheerful, keep you relaxed.
In conversation
Presenter asks
Did you find it hard to choose this eight [discs] that may have to last the rest of your life?
It is hard. I think i if you look through a record collection of any size and to try and narrow it down to eight is not easy.
Presenter asks
Why were you in Africa?
My father was in the colonial service for twenty odd years out there. And uh I mean he he obviously enjoyed it'cause he stayed there for that long.
Presenter asks
What was your ambition at that time, for a career?
The recording
Timestamps play the recording from that turn
Speaker 1
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.
David Gower
Our castaway this week is a cricketer, and he's a very good batsman indeed. It's David Gower.
Presenter
David, are you fond of music? I am indeed. It's one of my sort of main relaxations, I think, any time I'm at home. Do you have any skill in it yourself? Do you play any skills? And then found that there are other things that were taking up the time, mostly on the sporting field. So that I now had a str
David Gower
Ah, what
Presenter
Leave it at listening and humming, I suppose.
David Gower
You played this quite a lot.
Presenter
Oh yes, and any time I'm at home it's it's the first thing that goes on. I'd sooner listen to records really than than even watch television. Did you find it hard to choose this eight that may have to last the rest of your life? It is hard. I think i if you look through a record collection of any size and to try and narrow it down to eight is not easy. Let's start with the first one. Well the first one we've got here is Handel and the arrival of the Queen of Sheba.
Presenter
So a fairly bright little piece. Why do you choose it? Well, it's just a good example of the Baroque era, and that's one of my favourite times in in the classical music.
Speaker 4
Yeah.
Presenter
Yeah. And it's one of those pieces I've known for quite a while which has just stuck with me, stuck in my mind, so let's give it a go.
David Gower
Then, the version you have there is Sir Thomas Beacham conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Let's play that one, a little class.
David Gower
Handel's Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.
Presenter
You come from a sporting family, don't you, David? Yes, my family all had sporting links. I think my grandparents on both sides could do something. My mother
Presenter
was a natural tennis player or something like that, so a a good bumbling sportswoman. And your father was a good all rounder? My father, yes, he was probably a better all round sportsman than I am by a long way. His school records in virtually every sport, be it cricket, hockey
Presenter
Fives, whatever were good. He tended to be in the side.
David Gower
So you couldn't escape, you had to follow in the tradition.
Presenter
Well, I started, I suppose, about the age of four. The earliest photograph I've seen of myself is out in Africa in front of the soap box. Yes. With a small bat and a tennis ball and a pair of shorts. That's me and the shorts, not the tennis ball.
David Gower
Yes.
David Gower
That's why I'm not sure.
Presenter
Why were you an African? My father was in the colonial service for twenty odd years out there. And uh I mean he he obviously enjoyed it'cause he stayed there for that long.
David Gower
Yeah.
Presenter
Uh
Presenter
Your left
David Gower
Cut.
Presenter
And a
David Gower
Did you app
Presenter
Pair
David Gower
Uh Did anybody try to change? Yeah.
Presenter
To that.
David Gower
Yeah. Yeah.
Presenter
Well, my father actually was keen to make me a right hander, thought it was the right way to play and the way I should do it. But this is where my mother gets credit because she said when he he picks it up left handed, leave him that way. I think I probably benefited from that.
David Gower
You went to boarding school very early? I was about eight, I suppose, when I went down to Kent, yes. And a lot of cricket, because in a prep boarding school there isn't a lot else to do, is there?
David Gower
Yeah.
Presenter
Well, it's all good healthy stuff in its sport, so you get good opportunities there. I mean, you could play every sport that was going. And I played quite a bit of football, a bit of rugby.
Presenter
Bit of tennis, so I learnt all the sports that I now use as a relaxation, or have used since then as relaxation. Yeah. And, you know, with good facilities.
David Gower
I'll have you.
David Gower
But have your Second record, what's that?
Presenter
Right, we've changed atmosphere a bit from the first one. We've now gone to Elton John.
Presenter
And a track off his album Goodbye Yellowbrick Road, and the track is in fact the title track Goodbye Yellowbrick Road.
Speaker 4
Where the dark clouds
Speaker 4
The cat black mini front house Go
Speaker 4
Bye to my love.
Speaker 4
Back to Haven Logan
David Gower
Elton John, goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
David Gower
At thirteen you went to King's Canterbury. That had been your father's school. That's right. He had been there just before the war. And he had been head boy. Did you reach that distinction?
Presenter
No, I I had a bit of trouble there, actually. I was
David Gower
No.
Presenter
Almost well not quite thrown out, but uh authority didn't seem to quite agree with me at that stage and I left without really achieving those heights.
David Gower
Still, you did all right at cricket, then.
Presenter
Yes, I managed to to captain the side there in my last year, my last summer term there, and played probably about four seasons of school first eleven cricket. You played for young England schools? Not really. I played
Speaker 1
Not ready.
Presenter
The only real side I've played for was a touring side that was picked from half a dozen public schools round about the Kent area.
Presenter
which went to that place called South Africa.
Speaker 4
Mm-hmm.
Presenter
Which of course nowadays we're not really allowed to go to, but then was okay.
David Gower
Kings.
Presenter
Well, yes and no. I had I got three A levels. I got something like eight A levels before that. I think that's doing very well. Well, I was quite happy. I think at that stage people were quite happy and people said I could actually think.
Presenter
What was your ambition at that time, for a career? Well, I hadn't really sorted out my ambitions too strongly at that stage. Other people assumed really that I should be going to university, doing a degree course three years, collecting the piece of paper at the end of it, and perhaps using that to start a career in business or whatever.
David Gower
You had started doing some professional cricket in several ways.
Presenter
Well that's right, because I had the season of seventy-five after leaving school and before going to university and that's when I made my debut.
Presenter
And that, I suppose, sowed the seeds. That's where my ambition probably hardened to become a cricketer for good, to take it more seriously, to make the most of it.
David Gower
You you were playing for Leicester because you had moved from Kent up to
Presenter
Oh yes, I mean my my parents had been up in Loughborough for a long time then. Mhm. And it was a natural place for me to play. And so really I suppose that
Presenter
was probably quite an influence on my university career because with cricket in the background and my mind sort of half thinking about cricket most of the time, especially when the summer came round and exams. What were you playing for the second eleven? Well, yes, when that previous year seventy five I'd played mostly second eleven cricket but made my debut for Leicestershire in first class competition.
Presenter
And played possibly about three championship games and half a dozen Sunday League matches. So I knew I could play. I knew there was a chance that.
Presenter
If my progress continued,
David Gower
Yeah.
Presenter
But I'll be all right there.
David Gower
But nevertheless, there you were in London University. What were you reading?
Presenter
Yeah.
David Gower
Freedom
Presenter
Bing Law Yeah. Very infrequently.
David Gower
Yeah.
David Gower
We are
Presenter
How about
David Gower
wasn't really in it.
Presenter
Not really. The cricket I think was was too much in the back of the mind. What sort of law were you thinking of? Well, I mean I always sort of taking it as it came or as it went really.
David Gower
Well I
Presenter
and I think at the end of it had I stuck with it.
Presenter
I'd have been looking to be more of a solicitor, but I think that there'd have been every chance that even if I had succeeded in passing the law degree.
Presenter
I'd have changed tack immediately afterwards.
David Gower
Yeah.
Presenter
When did you make Well when it when it came round to the summer of'seventy six and the exams, etcetera, and I'd been playing cricket down in Kent the weekend before just for a club side there, I didn't really hold much hope. I didn't really sit the exams very seriously. And it all happened very quickly. I finished the last one, packed the bags. I had a phone call from Leicestershire saying can you come to Worcester and play in the Benson and Hedge quarterfinal there? And that was two days after I'd finished the last exam, so having packed the bags.
Presenter
And left London. That was it. How old were you? I was nineteen then.
David Gower
Well, this was a a complete break in your life. So let's pause at this point for...
Presenter
Your third record? Right, my third record is by Genesis.
Presenter
It's an album called Selling England by the Pound.
Presenter
and the track I've chosen is I Know What I Like in Your Wardrobe.
David Gower
Genesis, I know what I like in your wardrobe. Now, this changeover from being a university student to a professional cricketer a very junior professional cricketer was there a living wage in it?
Presenter
Yes, there was for me, really. I I was in the lucky position, I suppose, of being able to be supported by my parents. They were wealthy enough to look after me, and I was living at home then, anyway.
Speaker 4
Hmm.
Presenter
And what I picked up I think that first year after university was probably about two or three thousand pounds for the summer.
Presenter
That was my contract fee. It might have been slightly less actually,'cause I wasn't there all the time. Just about enough to live on. So what happened in the winter?
Presenter
Well, that following winter I stayed in Leicester.
Presenter
and work with Bostig.
Presenter
And they supplied me with, again, more pocket money. What sort of job did they give you? Various jobs actually, from printing labels to driving a van to stacking tins in a warehouse.
David Gower
So what sort of
David Gower
You didn't want to go into industry after that?
Presenter
Not quite at that level. I think uh that was another incentive to play cricket well.
David Gower
So you were just a part-timer in the sticky business. Who was captain of Leicestershire at that time?
Presenter
Well, Railingworth was in charge then. He finished his England days then, and therefore was able to devote his entire time to Leicestershire. And that was in fact the first year that we won the championship and the year I made my debut for three games. Do you think there's a connection between the two?
David Gower
Yeah.
Speaker 4
Uh
Presenter
Well, my contribution to the championship wasn't that much. I mean, the three games, I don't know if I contributed too many runs to the side. Were you very nervous? Not too badly, Achilles. I was nervous enough, I think. I was a young man.
Presenter
Wanting to do well. And I think that produced its own nerves. I think I was feeling my way a bit. Who helped you in the countyside? Who took you up?
David Gower
Who took you on?
Presenter
Under his wing. Apart from Ray, who as captain was responsible for the side and therefore myself, there were a number of people, people like Jack Birkenshaw, who was in the side then, a fellow called Mickey Norman, who was virtually retiring from the game at that stage.
Speaker 4
Yeah.
Presenter
And in fact virtually any member of the staff you cared to mention.
Presenter
'Cause there was a plenty of advice coming. I think
Presenter
That's the beauty of a setup like that is that when people want to talk, there's always going to be good advice available.
David Gower
All is Good.
Presenter
Good advice? Oh, there's gonna be some bad advice as well, and I think y in the end you sort it out or you try and sort out what you can and what you cannot do. What was your first game as a county cricketer? My first three day game was in Blackpool.
Presenter
Against Lancashire. What did you score? I remember thirty-two. Oh, that's not a bad one. I thought that was a good start.
David Gower
But I thought that was
Presenter
I thought I was a happy star.
David Gower
And of course, I'm sure Leicester found you a good investment because with your golden curls you were getting a lot of female spectators into the ground, which is
Presenter
Well, I I think that'd be slightly flattering to say that. Our attendances for three-day games mid-week don't actually include too many.
Presenter
young newborn ladies, but uh
Presenter
There's a few around at the weekend.
David Gower
Now your distinctive appearance is an asset professionally because anyone who switches on the television and sees you lashing out knows immediately who you are. You are very distinctive looking.
Presenter
Yes, there is a certain identity there, I think. I never complained about it, yet it's done me no harm at all. You'll never wear a helmet? Oh no, I wouldn't say that. I certainly wear a helmet.
Presenter
When I think it's worth it.
Presenter
It's just an arbitrary thing, but if if there's anyone such as, you know, the West Indies are happened to be bowling against us, then I think I'll probably wear a helmet.
David Gower
Number two
David Gower
You've got a sort of helmet list of bowlers that you keep in your mind.
Presenter
Yeah, so I've got a feeling for the sort of people that it helps, you know, that the insurance policy comes out and goes on the head.
Presenter
Yeah.
David Gower
Right. Record number four.
Presenter
The fourth record, we go back to the classics again and Beethoven, and we've gone to the The Emperor Concerto, number five.
Presenter
And the piece I've picked out of that is the The Start of the Second Movement, the Adadgio and Pocomoso.
David Gower
The beginning of the second movement of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, number five in E flat,
David Gower
Daniel Baremboim with the New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Otto Kempere.
David Gower
What was your first Test appearance, David?
Presenter
That was in nineteen seventy eight at Birmingham.
David Gower
And you sent your first ball to the boundary. You began the way you meant to go on.
Presenter
Yes, I remember that very well, and I remember it removed most of the nerves that had built up inside me before I went out to bat. What was your first Test century? That was the same year in the next series against New Zealand at the Oval. How many Test appearances have you made now?
Presenter
As I remember, it's about fifty-four or so, I think. With a test-batting average.
David Gower
Rip.
David Gower
Uh
Presenter
In the forties, mid-forties, somewhere like that.
David Gower
In the full
David Gower
Yeah.
Presenter
Now you have a style. You you make it look very easy. Yes, I'm accused most of the time of being casual about it. I think people don't like it when it looks casual and it works. They like it even less when it looks casual and it doesn't work.
Presenter
But it's a style which, you know, I can I can only thank God for, I suppose, is what I was given.
Presenter
Are you a bowler? I mean, do you ever bowl?
Presenter
Only in extreme circumstances. The the last time I bowled was at Lancashire when the idea was to give runs away quickly, and we certainly did that. And in fact Steve O'Shaughnessy then scored a hundred in thirty five minutes to equal
David Gower
Dead then.
Presenter
Percy Fender's record from way back in nineteen thirty something.
David Gower
Do you read wisdom? Are you interested in the records?
Presenter
No, I don't pay that much attention to records. I think statistics they keep one or two people in business.
Presenter
Yeah. And obviously people make quite a bit of money. I mean the Bill Frindles of this world who
Presenter
devote their lives to statistics and and make a living out of it. Good luck to them.
Presenter
But to me the game really is about playing and enjoying.
David Gower
Are you superstitious? Do you have lucky shoes, a particular shirt you like to wear, anything of that sort?
Presenter
Well, yes, I keep changing them though. I tend to sort of find that if it's gone well one day I'll keep the same gear on for the next day, or the next time, within reason. There are certain things you can't keep on.
Presenter
for too long. And then when it doesn't work then I start changing round again.
Presenter
You have
David Gower
Price captain of the English side last year.
David Gower
What do you feel about being captain? Do you think it's a it's a big responsibility that you're prepared to take?
Presenter
Well, it is a big responsibility, that is that is for sure. It's a big job.
Presenter
I think the Captain of England has probably one of the most demanding jobs in sport.
Presenter
Inasmuch as his thinking is going on all the time. You've got solar responsibilities on and off the field. You're mid-twenties now, what, twenty six? Twenty six, that's right, yes. Do do you feel that you're ready for it? I would like to do it, I'm prepared to do it.
David Gower
Yeah.
Presenter
And I've used this last year or so as vice captain to try and learn more about it, to try to get my thinking.
Presenter
In the right direction there.
Presenter
So it's a challenge I'm looking forward to.
Presenter
If Fennel wants to give it to me.
Presenter
Where do you usually bet?
David Gower
Uh
David Gower
No, I mean
Presenter
Well, I've I've ended up batting three in the last twelve months for England. Does that seal two or would you like to open? Not really. I think three or four is my my best spot.
Presenter
And it so happens that we set off on the Australian tour and decided that someone needed a battery decided it was going to be me, and if it worked I'd stay there. So it did work and I did stay there.
Presenter
One of these days I might pay for that.
Presenter
Who are your special mates that you like to partner at the wicket? Anyone who's making runs, I suppose. In the England side, people like Alan Lamb and Ian Botham, who are sort of both good friends of mine, you know, probably better friends than one or two of the other lads playing there.
David Gower
And that helps a lot if you've got sort of friendly vibes coming from the other side.
Presenter
Yes, what I like. I enjoy the the odd conversation in the middle of the wicket. I think a lot of people wonder what goes on. And when you when you see two batsmen meet at the end of an over in the middle of the wicket and talking earnestly, most people assume that you are in fact discussing the bowling and what should be happening next and tactics and
Presenter
Sometimes it varies a bit. It depends how well you know people, and with someone like Alan or with Ian, I mean the conversation could range to someone in the crowd over there to what you're doing last night, what you're gonna do tonight.
Presenter
When you're going to do it, how you're going to do it?
David Gower
Fine, that's good.
Presenter
Sort of relaxation. Keeps you going through the day.
David Gower
Course.
David Gower
I think we've got to your fifth record now.
Presenter
Right, this time we're on to Super Tramp, a favourite band of mine.
Presenter
And the album is Breakfast in America.
Presenter
And the track is Breakfast in America.
Speaker 4
Take a look at my dog
Speaker 4
The only one I got
Speaker 4
Not much of the girlfriend
Speaker 4
But never seem to be alone
Speaker 4
Take a jumble across the water, like to see America.
Speaker 4
See the girls in California, I'm hoping it's going to come true.
Speaker 4
But there's not a lot I can do
David Gower
Super Tramp, Breakfast in America.
David Gower
David, looking back.
David Gower
What was the happiest, most exciting, most relaxed innings you've ever played, in Test or County or wherever?
Presenter
Well that's about three different categories, isn't it, really? Um the the most satisfying knock I remember was against the West Indies in Jamaica in the the fourth Test that we played in that series which we saved at the end of the day and I got one hundred and fifty four of the runs that helped us save it. And that to me was sort of a major landmark in my career. It was the first time I batted for
Presenter
More than about six hours. About seven hours and a bit of priest there and it quite warmed.
David Gower
Pretty tiring.
Presenter
Yes, I was happily tired at the end of the day.
Presenter
Very satisfied and quite proud at that stage.
David Gower
You're being tipped to be the first cricket millionaire.
David Gower
I I know inflation has helped, but you are doing exceedingly well financially. You're sponsoring a lot of sports gear.
Presenter
I
Presenter
Yes, um when things go well in the sports world there are there are people always prepared to help you out and who really want your name on their product. And I think just going back slightly there, Ian Botham I think is probably making more inroads to be a millionaire than I am at the moment. He's done rather well himself out the game.
Speaker 4
Uh
Presenter
I think if if there is a race on, he might just win it. Depends how long he can keep playing.
David Gower
Do you enjoy the business side of it? I mean, you like looking at the books and and working out the figures and and all that sort of thing.
Presenter
By looking
Presenter
Not so much. Again, like the statistics we talked about in the cricket game, I'm not one sort of keep checking the bank balance every five minutes. I like to know it's coming in. It's a comforting feeling. And in in fact, it's quite pleasant to be involved to help out people like this in in the sports world or in
Presenter
Well in publishing, so it's nice to sort of have a look at someone else's way of doing things at someone else's business. Publishing.
David Gower
Yeah.
Presenter
Uh
David Gower
She's got a new one just add.
Presenter
Yes, we've called it Heroes and Contemporaries, which is fairly self-descriptive.
Presenter
And we've talked probably about eighteen of the people I've played either with or against in the last five years, mostly in Test cricket, although we we slipped one fella in.
Presenter
who I've played with at Leicester, who has been a very good friend of mine, a fellow called Brian Davison. Hmm. Sort of light hearted character studies. It's yeah, some of it's fair or most of it's fairly serious actually. There there are the lighter moments to keep you going.
Presenter
I think uh
Presenter
Yeah, I think it's it's quite a good read, actually.
David Gower
I thought so, too. I enjoyed it. And uh you do a newspaper column?
Presenter
Yes, I've been writing for the Mirror for the last couple of years. That's a ghosted column, which comes out sort of probably once a week or sometimes slightly less.
David Gower
You don't worry about the pressure because you're doing a lot of things.
Presenter
Well, it's it's nice to do something very I think if you
Presenter
If you've stuck on the one subject all the time, it's very limiting, and I think it's nice just to get out and try and do something else and to encourage other hobbies, other interests.
Presenter
Yeah. Uh
David Gower
Of course you've got time on your side. The retiring age for world-class cricket is, what, thirty-five?
Presenter
That's about right, I think, yes, that's the sort of age that most people will be happy to get to playing Test cricket.
David Gower
So you're all right for a few years yet. Do you see yourself in the end in the business world, or would you like to stay with cricket? Run a cricket school near a beach or something of that sort?
Presenter
Well, the beach sounds okay, yes. I'm I'm not so sure about running a cricket school. I think uh
Presenter
I think I'd like to try and do something different or
Presenter
Just to get away from cricket perhaps not entirely.
Presenter
I mean, one or two things have crossed my mind, such as, for instance, organizing travel.
David Gower
Mm-hmm.
Presenter
And it's one of the main things that I've enjoyed through a cricket career the last five, six, seven years is the travel.
David Gower
Yes, you do. You do plenty of that nowadays. There's usually a sunshine tour in the winter somewhere.
Presenter
Oh, yes. I mean, it it's all quite serious.
David Gower
I mean this is uh you've got uh New Zealand and Pakistan.
Presenter
In this place.
Presenter
That's right. We we spent two months in New Zealand and play three test matches there. We follow that with a month in Pakistan which I think will feel like the two months before and play three more test matches there.
David Gower
And then you get a month or two off before you start the season.
Presenter
Well again, not really because we finish that tour at the end of March and normally we start training for the new season in the start of April, the first week of April or so, we report back and start running round the streets and sort of getting freezing cold when the snow comes down. And pretending we're gonna play cricket fairly soon. Right, so it'll all go. It'll it'll run on quite quickly, yes. Although I think I'll get a holiday in between. I might sort of go skiing or something and try and break a leg.
David Gower
Record number six.
Presenter
Record number six is Dire Straits and their album Making Movies and the track I've chosen is Tunnel of Love.
David Gower
What Particularly special about this one. Why do you like this one?
Presenter
Well, I like their music. They're the sort of people where you could pick almost any track.
Presenter
And it's just a question really of picking an album, I've picked this one, and the first track and the first side is as good as any of'em.
Speaker 4
Everyone on Bendy Spever
Speaker 4
There was an arrow through my heart and my skin And the big wheel came on turning
Speaker 4
Neon birded
Speaker 4
Tire on the world
Speaker 4
Alright
David Gower
Dire Straits, Tunnel of Love. Now you're not married, David, but you've had the same girlfriend for a long time.
Presenter
Yes, lovely lady called Vicky, who has been looking after me as best she can.
Presenter
sometimes from a long distance.
Presenter
It's obviously quite hard for people in in our line of business, as they say, to maintain
Presenter
this sort of relationship in some ways. We spend so much time away both during the summer and during the winter that sometimes they can be forgiven if they give up and sort of go elsewhere.
David Gower
But Vicky is a cricket enthusiast. She's been on one or two tours with you.
Presenter
She's come out she came out last winter to Australia, and she came out to Barbados and Antigua during the West Indies trip a couple of years back. Mhm. And yes, that's as much for the company, I think, as as the cricket. And like most of the wives that do come out, she tends to spend her time quite a bit away from the cricket, not always watching.
David Gower
What's the next excitement? What happens after New Zealand and Pakistan? Next summer you've got what?
Presenter
Well, it does get quite exciting then, because the West Indies are due to play in England.
Presenter
And uh th they make it hard work for you. You normally have four fouls bowlers of the
Presenter
You know, supreme quality there. So that makes it quite nasty. I will have the helmet on, I think. I think we'll we'll play safe there and make sure it does hurt if it hits the head, you know. I've I've found that once or twice that
David Gower
So that makes it quite nasty.
Speaker 1
You will have the helmet.
Presenter
If you don't wear a helmet, it can hurt. I'm sure it can.
Presenter
Back to music. Number seven. Number seven is a a very great favourite of mine, Al Stewart.
David Gower
Diversity
Presenter
And he did an album a few years ago called Year of the Cat, which went very well for him, and in fact the title song went well for him. But the song I've chosen is called On the Border.
Speaker 4
Late last night the rain was knocking on my windows.
Speaker 4
I moved across the darkened room and in the lamp glow.
Speaker 4
I thought I saw down in the street the spirit of the century Telling us that we're standing on the border
David Gower
Al Stewart on the border.
David Gower
David, this this desert island question could you look after yourself?
David Gower
Uh
Presenter
On a desert island?
David Gower
Yeah. Are you going to bought the house for a start? Can you build things? Can you mend things? Well, I built some wardrobes this year.
Presenter
Good morning.
Presenter
went to uh went to MFI and organized a series of packages that were going to turn themselves into wardrobes. And I spent sort of probably four months this summer on the various odd days trying to get the screws in and get them upright.
David Gower
Went to a
David Gower
But without the kid could you put up a shelter?
Presenter
I think I could have a go. I think I could just about.
Presenter
Just about managed. Not seeing the odds for a survival programme on Telly.
David Gower
I'll see.
Presenter
Done any fishing? Very little, actually. Very little. I've I've not got quite the same yen as say in both them for for that sort of pastime. Can you cook?
Presenter
Well, now some people will say no. Some people have seen me cook and be very dubious about that.
Presenter
But I can I can survive. Yes, I in my bachelor days when I didn't have Vicky's help and no other outside help, but I'd left my mother.
David Gower
You pressure my mother.
Presenter
Then uh yes, I've had my successes. I've I've coped before like that.
David Gower
What about small boats? Would you try to escape? Could you make a small boat? Could you make a raft?
Presenter
I suppose a raft, yes. I wouldn't be too confident about uh creating a seaworthy craft such as a boat. I think uh the skills there uh possibly need learning. Could you navigate? I think I'm going to start the struggle fairly soon. I think I think I'll just have to sit there and wait.
David Gower
Buzzer
David Gower
A watch at your needed back home, and we've got to your last record.
Presenter
Right, we go back to the classics now, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. And he composed a thing called The Phantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis, an old an old hymn tune, which he made rather a nice job of.
David Gower
The Raughan Williams Fantasier on a theme by Thomas Talis.
David Gower
The Sinfonia of London, conducted by Barbary Raleigh.
David Gower
If you could take only one disk out of that eight, which would it be?
Presenter
Well, in the end I think, although it's never easy choosing one from eight, after all the trouble I had choosing eight from plenty, I think I'd stick with the Beethoven Emperor Concerto.
David Gower
And one luxury to take with you, one object of no practical use, purely for the senses to enjoy.
Presenter
Well, I was sitting there in bed the other night watching a bit of telly when Rumpole came on.
David Gower
You can't take a look.
Presenter
And I thought, well, I don't want to take him as such. You know, he'd need feeding. There'd be two people to feed.
Presenter
But I think if he had a video cassette of some of his best moments, I think that's the sort of thing that would sort of keep you cheerful, keep you relaxed.
Presenter
You probably quite enjoy it.
David Gower
All right, a V T yarns and some cassettes. Solar batteries, by the way, to make the
Presenter
Solar batteries? Well, of course. I mean the technology is there. Why not use it?
David Gower
Exactly. And one book, apart from the Bible and Shakespeare, which you will find on the island when you arrive.
Presenter
Well, yes, they might stay fairly dusty as well, actually. I think um well no, time for education, isn't it? Time for education. I thought about relearning French, but that wouldn't be much use. There'd be no one else to talk to. So I thought I might as well develop
David Gower
I don't know.
Speaker 1
Uh
Presenter
another of my hobbies or another of my likes, and take a sort of compendium of wines. Yes. I'd just like to know more about it. One of those subjects where there is so much to talk about, so much to learn, and so much confusion. It'd be nice to sort some of that out.
David Gower
All right, the best wine encyclopedia we can find. And thank you, David Gower, for letting us hear your Desert Island Discs. Have a good season.
Presenter
Thank you.
David Gower
Goodbye, everyone.
Speaker 1
You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co. uk slash radio four.
Well, I hadn't really sorted out my ambitions too strongly at that stage. Other people assumed really that I should be going to university, doing a degree course three years, collecting the piece of paper at the end of it, and perhaps using that to start a career in business or whatever.
Presenter asks
What do you feel about being captain [of the England cricket team]?
Well, it is a big responsibility, that is that is for sure. It's a big job. I think the Captain of England has probably one of the most demanding jobs in sport. Inasmuch as his thinking is going on all the time. You've got solar responsibilities on and off the field.
Presenter asks
What was the happiest, most exciting, most relaxed innings you've ever played, in Test or County or wherever?
Well that's about three different categories, isn't it, really? Um the the most satisfying knock I remember was against the West Indies in Jamaica in the the fourth Test that we played in that series which we saved at the end of the day and I got one hundred and fifty four of the runs that helped us save it. And that to me was sort of a major landmark in my career.
“I'd sooner listen to records really than than even watch television.”
“to me the game really is about playing and enjoying.”
“I think the Captain of England has probably one of the most demanding jobs in sport.”