Michael Quinn

Speaker 40:00

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

Our castaway this week is Michael Quinn, who is Maitre Chef de Cuisine at the Ritz Hotel in London. That means he's the head cook and not the bottle washer. Michael, I believe you're the first Englishman to hold such a post in a premier London hotel.

Michael Quinn0:45

Yes, that's very true, the first British Chef of the Race.

Presenter0:48

Well, we'll talk about it in detail later. In the meantime, we have this desert island disc business. Could you endure solitude?

Michael Quinn0:56

I think that I could for a certain length of time.

Michael Quinn0:58

But I think that I really do like company actually. Is music important in your life?

Michael Quinn1:04

Music has played uh a role in my life, and uh I often find that music uh reminds me

Michael Quinn1:10

of certain things that have happened. Do you play an instrument? It's one thing that I would dearly love to do, because I think that with a musical instrument one can have uh freedom of expression as you do in the kitchen.

Presenter1:21

How's it doing?

Presenter1:22

Do you sing?

Michael Quinn1:23

I used to be in the church choir. Soloist, ever?

Presenter1:24

Soloist?

Michael Quinn1:26

Uh not a soloist, no, I just used to rattle in the background somewhere, but uh I did sing, yes.

Presenter1:29

Yeah.

Presenter1:31

Uh

Michael Quinn1:31

Uh

Presenter1:31

Red

Michael Quinn1:31

Uh

Presenter1:31

Disks

Michael Quinn1:33

I must confess that in our house Jane collects the records and uh she creates the music for uh the right atmosphere.

Presenter1:41

Now you have this eight records to last a long time. Pretty difficult to choose?

Michael Quinn1:47

Very difficult to choose, yes.

Presenter1:49

What's the first one?

Michael Quinn1:50

So Limbo, I'm uh a Yorkshireman, I love cricket, and this would remind me of Headingley uh Test Ground.

Presenter2:28

Soul Limbo, which is the signature tune for Tessmat Special, played by Booker T and the M G's.

Presenter2:35

You're a Yorkshireman from whereabouts in Yorkshire.

Michael Quinn2:38

I was born in Leeds.

Presenter2:39

One of a

Michael Quinn2:39

Yeah.

Presenter2:39

Yeah.

Michael Quinn2:39

Uh

Presenter2:39

Yeah.

Michael Quinn2:40

Family?

Michael Quinn2:40

Yes, I have four sisters and a brother.

Presenter2:42

What were you good at at school?

Michael Quinn2:44

Yeah.

Presenter2:44

Yeah.

Michael Quinn2:44

I wasn't really good at anything. I wasn't very academically minded.

Michael Quinn2:48

And in fact, I actually remember being called by the headmaster, Mr Rossiter. He called me and I was thrown out of the GCE classes because I wasn't very good. I never did my homework.

Michael Quinn2:59

But I wanted to uh be a cook.

Presenter3:01

You told him that.

Michael Quinn3:02

What?

Presenter3:02

Yes. But why did you want to be a cook? How did that come about?

Michael Quinn3:02

Yeah.

Michael Quinn3:05

Well, when I was a lad, my mother taught us all at a very early age how to make Victoria sponges.

Michael Quinn3:11

Meat and potato pie. Yeah. We uh had to help in the house. You were the eldest? I was the youngest. You were the youngest? I'm the baby of the family. But it's very nice to be the youngest because even though I'm thirty uh seven years old now, I'm still treated as the baby of the family and all these lovely sisters uh

Michael Quinn3:28

adoringly uh ringing me up to make sure I'm uh okay.

Presenter3:31

And you had this ambition early on to cook.

Michael Quinn3:34

Yes, I wanted to be a cook since I was about uh

Michael Quinn3:37

Fourteen, really.

Presenter3:38

So what did you do about it?

Michael Quinn3:39

Well, what is it that I wrote to?

Michael Quinn3:42

In those my parents still live in the same uh little council house in Leeds, and I wrote to the Queen's Hotel in Leeds, which was I thought then, of course, that Fortune was a very posh, very grand hotel. But it still in fact it was a great place, uh, British transport hotels, marvellous company.

Presenter3:51

And in fact

Michael Quinn3:57

And I wrote for a job and uh I was offered a position as um an apprentice cook. And I started on the 31st of July 1961. I remember the day vividly because uh I never realized that cooks wore checked trousers and my mum took me to buy some chef's wise and I actually, when I went to the change room in the Queen's as a little boy at fifteen,

Michael Quinn4:18

I actually had white baker's trousers and I got a little bit of stick in my first few weeks.

Presenter4:23

Yes, you've got to conform. There's an awful lot to learn starting in a job like that.

Michael Quinn4:28

Yes, and of course I didn't realise that in those days that um well in in fact even today that all the orders were called out in French and of course I'd never been very good at French at school and suddenly I was put on the vegetable section shelling peas and all sorts of things like this and then when the first orders were called out by the aboyeur, the bar colonel, samage, de cuver, carte petit poin, all this, I was absolutely lost. Uh

Presenter4:52

How long did you sign up for? How long Pretty good.

Michael Quinn4:54

Pretty cool. I did five years as an apprentice, and I went to college one day a week, on day release, uh, for my City and Girls examinations.

Presenter5:01

Which you passed.

Michael Quinn5:02

I passed, yes. Good. I scraped through.

Presenter5:02

I pass, yes. Good. I scraped through. Right. Well, that's got you launched. Let's have your second record.

Michael Quinn5:07

M my second record is Albert and the Lion by Stanley Holloway.

Speaker 25:12

There was one great big lion called Wallace, his nose was all covered with scars. He lay in a somnolent posture, with the side of his face on the bars. Now Albert had heard about lions, how they was ferocious and wild, To see Wallace lying so peaceful, Well, it didn't seem right to the child. So straightway the brave little feller, not showing a morsel of fear, Took his stick with his horse's head handle and shoved it in Wallace's ear.

Presenter5:44

Albert and the Lion by Stanley Holloway. So you did your five years in Leeds. You then won a nationwide competition.

Michael Quinn5:51

Yes, I uh became top apprentice chef of Great Britain in nineteen sixty-six. I sort of entered a national competition as an apprentice and uh went in for the regional heats. Mine was the north of England. And the six finalists came to London for the national uh catering exhibition Hotel Olympia is called and uh I was fortunate enough to uh win. What did that lead to? Well then I finished my apprenticeship in 1966 and in October of that year I joined uh Clarigies in London as uh a commie chef. That's the sort of next stage up the ladder. And then one becomes a first commie. On every section there may well be five or six comie chefs and the next stage used to be a first comie which means you're second to the chef de party. Now the chef de party is the man who is in charge of that section of the kitchen.

Presenter6:42

It might be vegetables or grills or or whatever.

Michael Quinn6:45

It may well be the sauce, the fish, vegetables, the larder, the pastry. Those are the main sections of the kitchen, with a head of each department.

Presenter6:54

I see and overall the Metro Chef.

Michael Quinn6:56

At the end you become the yes, the master chef of the kitchen.

Presenter6:59

Did you did you live in or were you living in

Michael Quinn7:01

No, I lived down the Bayswater Road. Found myself a little bedsitter and I stayed at Claridge's for about eighteen months. I became actually.

Michael Quinn7:09

Chef Saussier, the sauce cook in the kitchen. Ran my own department. Now, in those days you were working in French. That's right. A very traditional, a very classical uh French kitchen, very classical dishes. All the dishes were from the uh repertoire de la cuisine.

Michael Quinn7:24

And one uh was very much in that mould, but uh a great uh training ground. Did you have Any ambition to go and w

Presenter7:30

But

Michael Quinn7:31

Back in front. Good.

Michael Quinn7:33

Trollfield

Presenter7:33

Good job.

Michael Quinn7:33

Yeah.

Michael Quinn7:34

I suppose really if there's one regret that I is that I haven't uh worked abroad, but uh at that age I fell in love and um oh it's love, isn't it? But I fell in love and I'm afraid that going abroad uh was stopped. Yeah. So I fell in love and got married. And after your two years at Claridge's?

Presenter7:40

The

Presenter7:42

That's a fine.

Michael Quinn7:51

The next stage, of course, in uh being a cook is to become what we call a sous chef, an under chef. That's been sort of second to the chef. So then I moved to Cambridge, the garden house hotel in Cambridge, and I was a sous chef there, um, taking a little bit more responsibility on to my shoulders.

Presenter8:08

This was a smaller place altogether than the Queen's or Clarington's.

Michael Quinn8:12

Smaller place, yes. At the Claridge used I think there were about sixty cooks in those days in the kitchen. And at um the garden house hotel there was probably fourteen or fifteen. Yes. Very different. But um

Presenter8:16

Right.

Michael Quinn8:24

A very good experience. What's your third record?

Michael Quinn8:27

My third record is Those Marvelous People, uh Lennon and McCartney, and it's a Beatles song, um, A Fool on the Hill. Why do you choose it? Because I think a lot of uh the lyrics

Michael Quinn8:37

are things that uh I would like to have written.

Speaker 48:40

Day after day

Speaker 48:43

Alone on a hill

Speaker 48:46

The man with the foolish grin Is keeping perfectly still

Speaker 48:53

Nobody wants to know him, they can see that he's just a fool.

Speaker 49:00

And he never gives an answer But the fool on the hill Sees the sun going down

Presenter9:09

FOOL ON THE HILL BY THE BeATLES. For the next few years you did move about quite a bit, mainly country hotels, but you had a a spell of teaching.

Michael Quinn9:19

Yes, I did. When I'd finished at the Garden House Hotel in Cambridge, I took a number of uh jobs as the chef. I became very interested in um

Michael Quinn9:28

He can run his stars, good food, uh pestle and mortars, etc.

Presenter9:32

You were getting all these awards, you were doing very well for a young chef.

Michael Quinn9:35

Well, I was very keen, very ambitious. I think I still am.

Presenter9:37

I am

Michael Quinn9:39

And, of course, I was working tremendously hard.

Michael Quinn9:42

And then uh my um my first marriage broke up.

Michael Quinn9:46

But I was very fortunate that uh I had a son by then, who was four years old, and um

Michael Quinn9:51

I kept my son, and um he's still with me.

Michael Quinn9:55

Uh He actually comes into the Ritz kitchen now to help.

Presenter9:55

Uh

Michael Quinn9:57

Nana gets the telling off from his father.

Presenter10:01

But at that time, at that period of disruption, you you moved into teaching.

Michael Quinn10:05

I did. Uh I moved back up north. I went up to Lancashire.

Michael Quinn10:09

bought a very tiny little house just like uh on Coronation Street. Lots of uh street corner shops, working men's clubs, etcetera. My sister lived nearby and um it was a great help with uh Michael.

Presenter10:21

She could look after him for a bit.

Michael Quinn10:22

Mm-hmm. Yes. Record number four. My uh next record is Eric Clapton Let It Grow. Why? Because it's a very beautiful record.

Speaker 410:34

To check out my life.

Speaker 410:38

It hard to get a friend that I can count on.

Speaker 410:43

There's nothing left to show

Speaker 410:47

Ain't your lovely baby

Presenter10:58

Let It Grow by Eric Clapton. Now your experience was in country hotels. You were at the Gravetie Manor in Sussex. That's a very, very well thought of hotel.

Michael Quinn11:08

Yes, Great Tower's a very beautiful uh country house hotel. Elizabethan, isn't it? It is. And I had a very wonderful uh three years there. Uh we uh managed to gain um well, Great Tower was always tremendously good. But whilst I was there we managed to increase the culinary reputation.

Presenter11:08

Uh

Michael Quinn11:24

and also we had a most wonderful vegetable garden. We made our own marmalade, jams, and we had a lovely tank outside at the back of the kitchen.

Michael Quinn11:34

With live trout, freshwater crayfish, and it was all fed by a natural spring water.

Presenter11:39

This makes all the difference when the stuff is all fresh, all your materials are fresh. You belong to a very select little group called the Country Chefs Seven. Tell me about that.

Michael Quinn11:49

Yes, this was a group of British Fs. Britons are changing tremendously.

Michael Quinn11:54

in the culinary world and particularly over the last few years

Michael Quinn11:58

And whilst I was at Grave Ty uh in the countryside, we formed a group called uh Country Chef Seven.

Michael Quinn12:04

And the seven of us were British.

Michael Quinn12:06

were uh dedicated young men.

Michael Quinn12:09

And uh we decided that we'd meet two or three times a year to

Michael Quinn12:14

share ideas, to help each other over problems with uh suppliers, staff problems, and really um lots of things in common. And the group still meet? The the group still meets and we're all s the still the same members.

Presenter12:28

In a way it's French thinking, because most of the great French restaurants are out in the countryside, are they not?

Michael Quinn12:33

Yes, they are, and the great development in Britain has been the uh country house hotels, where usually it's proprietor-owned who's got a personal interest in the business.

Presenter12:40

Yeah.

Michael Quinn12:42

And, of course, people will travel miles to eat well.

Presenter12:46

Yeah.

Michael Quinn12:47

Which is very important.

Presenter12:48

But still, I suppose in in Britain to reach the top of the tree it does mean London.

Michael Quinn12:53

I'd never it never really entered my thoughts that one day I would be the chef at perhaps one of the most beautiful hotels in the world, but

Presenter12:58

It had never it had never entered your thoughts. You didn't feel that this was the apex of your career to be principal chef at one of the great London hotels.

Michael Quinn13:08

No, I'd never really set my eyes all out or my ambitions out that way, it happened.

Presenter13:12

How did it happen?

Michael Quinn13:13

I'd been at Grape Tie for uh about three years, just over, and um I felt that I'd achieved what I could achieve and um to really make a mark I knew that it had to be uh London.

Michael Quinn13:28

And um I quite simply made myself available. Never knowing, of course, that uh at that particular time the Rits were looking for a chef as well. Had you ever visited the Rits? Uh

Presenter13:38

As a cuff

Michael Quinn13:39

Instrument.

Presenter13:39

Yeah.

Michael Quinn13:39

Actually I had a very um unusual experience really.

Michael Quinn13:43

In nineteen sixty six, when I just joined Claridge's, a friend of mine came down from Yorkshire and we decided to um have a night on the town. So I went to the Dorchester for a drink and then to the roof bar at the Hilton and we uh

Michael Quinn13:57

Eventually found our way to the Ritz, and in those days they had a bar called the Tivoli Bar. Well, John and I went downstairs, and the barman said, What would you like to drink? and I think we said, Oh, we'll have you uh two pints of bitter, please.

Michael Quinn14:10

He was very, very good. He said, Well, if you go up the stairs.

Michael Quinn14:14

and go out of the door, turn right, and about two hundred yards on the right hand side there's a a pub, and we were very promptly uh but very politely shown the way out.

Presenter14:23

On the way out.

Presenter14:25

Very tactful, diplomatic. Would you mind, sir?

Presenter14:29

He was a very clever man. Did you have to audition, as it were? Did they ask you to come in and use their kitchen and show them what you could do?

Michael Quinn14:38

When I actually first came up to meet Mr. Duffalo's director and general manager at the Ritz.

Michael Quinn14:43

who's done actually a great job as well in putting the Ritz on its feet. He said to me on my first interview, he said, Would I be prepared to come and cook for the um directors?

Michael Quinn14:54

which I said no, and he asked me the reason why.

Michael Quinn14:58

So I said, Well, um, I haven't got anything to prove.

Michael Quinn15:01

I said, um if you want to taste my cooking.

Michael Quinn15:05

You'd better come down to Gravetown and pay for it.

Michael Quinn15:07

And I think they did. They did. Yes, they did.

Presenter15:10

Good. Did they tell you where they were coming or what?

Michael Quinn15:12

Well that is

Presenter15:14

But there was just that table in the corner that was judging or cooking.

Michael Quinn15:17

I presume there was, yes. I know that uh they did come, but I didn't know when they would come in or what day they came.

Presenter15:22

And they offered you the job.

Michael Quinn15:24

I was offered the job and I accepted it uh with open hands.

Presenter15:28

And this had never happened before, a young man, a young Englishman in his thirties, to take over the cuisine of a great London international hotel.

Michael Quinn15:36

No, it's uh never happened. I was uh very proud that that the uh well, I thought actually they were very wise to choose me.

Presenter15:42

Just over two years ago you were invited to take over at the Ritz.

Michael Quinn15:43

You remember?

Michael Quinn15:45

That's right, yes.

Presenter15:46

Record number five.

Michael Quinn15:48

Uh record number five is a lovely record, one that uh I very much like. It's by Crosby, Stills and Nash, and it's called Our House. It reminds me very much of uh

Michael Quinn15:59

The little house that we have in Sussex.

Speaker 416:03

A house

Speaker 416:05

Is a very, very, very fine house.

Speaker 416:09

With two cats in the yard

Speaker 416:12

Life used to be so hard Now everything is easy cause of you

Speaker 416:27

La la la la la la la la la

Presenter16:33

Crosby Stills and Nash, our house. So there you are, Michael, Michael Quinn, an Englishman, at the Ritz Hotel, London, Maitre Chef de Cuisine. Although it has a commanding sight on Piccadilly and the Green Park, the Ritz, in fact, is quite a small hotel, isn't it?

Michael Quinn16:50

Yes, it is. We have about a hundred and thirty five bedrooms. We have no banqueting facilities, which I think is marvelous because our main business is the restaurant operation.

Presenter16:59

There's no grill room either now, isn't it?

Michael Quinn17:01

No, there's no groom. That's now the casino downstairs.

Presenter17:03

That's right. But there's a very beautiful restaurant, a l a lovely room looking out onto the park.

Michael Quinn17:07

Looking out onto the p

Presenter17:09

The great tradition for haute cuisine in London was established, it's said, by Auguste Escoffier. He was the first maitre chef at the Ritz.

Michael Quinn17:18

Yes, that's right. Escoffier opened the race with Cesar Ritz in nineteen oh six.

Presenter17:23

There's a story that Escoffier never learned to speak English in case he found himself cooking like an Englishman. But but the Ritz cuisine when when you came in was still French.

Michael Quinn17:28

You've never heard that.

Michael Quinn17:38

Yes, it was a very large uh menu, uh written in French, a very classical kitchen, very classical dishes.

Michael Quinn17:44

And then um

Michael Quinn17:46

The boss and I, mister Duffle, got our heads together.

Presenter17:49

Yes.

Michael Quinn17:49

and decided that um

Michael Quinn17:52

We'd moved away from uh dishes from the repertoire de la cuisine.

Michael Quinn17:56

Because we're creating our own dishes in today's world. And so we decided to.

Presenter17:59

Hmm.

Michael Quinn18:01

Write the menu in English and create our own dishes.

Presenter18:05

A new management with new ideas.

Michael Quinn18:07

A new management with new ideas. I lost thirty-one chefs in my first year at the race.

Michael Quinn18:12

And replace them with uh men who felt the same way. I mean ladies actually, we have uh several girls in the kitchen.

Presenter18:17

Uh

Michael Quinn18:18

Replace them with people who felt the same way as I.

Presenter18:20

But some of the old hands quit because they didn't like your new ideas.

Michael Quinn18:23

Yes, we had a number of people left, you know, found positions that uh they probably felt uh much more comfortable with.

Presenter18:29

Another of your ideas is that most of the time the waiters don't use serving dishes. The food is put on the plates actually in the kitchen.

Michael Quinn18:36

Yes, we offer a combination of uh services.

Michael Quinn18:40

We do a lot of plate service because some of the dishes I want to look very pretty on the plate. Yeah. Uh

Speaker 418:44

Uh

Michael Quinn18:45

I want to arrange the food myself rather than the waiters serve it and not arrange it the way I want uh the client to receive the dish. So a lot of our dishes are plate serviced by the cooks in the kitchen, arranged the way we want them to be served to the client. But of course when the guest has a choice of portion,

Michael Quinn19:03

It may be silver served, and there are many aspects of cooking that require um being baked uh in the oven or

Michael Quinn19:11

We use a combination of services depending on the dish. If it's an individual dish, I like it to be served the way I want it to be served.

Presenter19:19

And another revolutionary idea fixed price meals.

Presenter19:23

so that um your diner knew exactly what his meal was going to cost.

Michael Quinn19:27

I think that's very important, because I remember as a young lad taking perhaps a very pretty girl out to dinner.

Michael Quinn19:32

And uh choosing the cheapest dishes on the menu for myself.

Presenter19:36

Mm.

Michael Quinn19:36

hoping that I would have enough money to pay the boat at the end of the evening.

Presenter19:39

We all know that feeling.

Michael Quinn19:42

You see, with a fixed price, you know what it's going to cost you before you sit down, and it's I think it's made a big difference in increasing our business.

Presenter19:50

It has increased your business.

Michael Quinn19:52

The business has increased tremendously over the last actually the rates now turns customers away in the restaurant, which was something that's not not happened, I think, for many years.

Presenter20:01

So the new policy is a success.

Michael Quinn20:04

The new policy is very much a team effort and it's nice to see uh a very wonderful hotel with a marvellous history becoming alive again.

Presenter20:11

and becoming an English

Michael Quinn20:13

Hotels.

Michael Quinn20:14

It's a British hotel with British management in Britain, and we're very proud of that fact.

Presenter20:20

Record number six.

Michael Quinn20:22

Record number six is Claire Delune by Debussy. My my well, my wife uh plays our piano at home and she plays this actually.

Presenter20:25

Why do you

Michael Quinn20:31

And this would give me uh tremendous memories of Jens piano playing.

Presenter21:36

Debus is Claire Delune Tamash Vachari.

Presenter21:39

How many people are there in your department, in the kitchen of the Ritz?

Michael Quinn21:44

Well, uh my brigade uh totals about uh forty eight people. That's forty cooks and about eight people who help to clean the copper pans, keep the floor tidy. They're the kitchen porters.

Presenter21:52

Keep it flowing.

Presenter21:54

The serving staff doesn't come under your jurisdiction.

Michael Quinn21:57

The restaurant stuff comes under the um the restaurant manager. Uh but there's roughly the same sort of ratio. There's about forty in the in the restaurant of the rest waiters. Do you plan the menus for a week? The menus I change to the season. Spring, some autumn wait. I change the big menu four times. I change the luncheon menu every Thursday and the dinner menu every Thursday night. According to what's in the market, the time of year. Yes. And then we do a surprise menu for lunch every single day. Which is really our experimental thing where we plan we use the surprise menu really to uh build our next menu up. How many people choose the surprise? Yeah.

Michael Quinn22:36

I would think about uh ten percent of our lunchtime guests would take the surprise menu, twenty percent will take the fixed price menu, and then the rest will take uh from the um your own composition uh dishes.

Presenter22:49

So you supervise the preparation of all the food, you taste the dishes, you taste the sauces. Do you taste or smell as a as you move around in the kitchen?

Michael Quinn22:58

use every um aspect in the kitchen use sight, use smell, taste, and actually you you can use your ears, you can always uh tell by listening. Uh for example, if something's deep frying, you can often tell by the change

Michael Quinn23:13

Of the tone in if it's, for example, a very simple thing like a piece of fish in a batter, you can tell by listening whether it's cooked.

Presenter23:20

There's not only the restaurant, but also private luncheons and dinners and banquets and so forth. All these may be going on in private rooms. You've got to look after all that as well.

Michael Quinn23:29

Yes, we've got two private rooms and we have the floor service to look after. Plus of course people who are coming into the bar just probably want a club sandwich or people who are coming in Palm Court for um just a drink and a piece of smoked salmon. You have people asking for special dishes that aren't on the menu.

Michael Quinn23:45

We have uh occasional requests. It doesn't happen very often.

Michael Quinn23:49

And the most important thing really, if I've got the ingredients, of course we'll uh prepare anything really, but some dishes need uh a little bit of notice in case I'm not carrying that particular uh commodity.

Presenter24:01

So you have to supervise all the buying and marketing, and also the costing.

Michael Quinn24:06

Yes, just being a cook doesn't necessarily mean you're just cooking, but I employ all my own staff.

Michael Quinn24:11

And I um take the necessary discipline action if necessary.

Michael Quinn24:16

I also do uh all the purchasing of the materials. We don't use anything tinned or frozen. We make everything ourselves, from the ice cream to the chocolates.

Michael Quinn24:24

So it's Christmas pudding still.

Michael Quinn24:26

Everything, so I buy the materials, cost them out, I fix the prices on the menu, and I'm responsible for making the uh kitchen profit.

Presenter24:31

Mm-hmm.

Michael Quinn24:35

So it's quite um an interesting job, very varied.

Presenter24:38

Well, as you know, I visited your kitchens and watched it going on. The thing that astonished me was the calm. I expected panic, I expected clatter and pushing and shoving and all this going on, but it's all very orderly.

Michael Quinn24:52

Yes, there's only one person allowed to uh raise the voice in the race kitchen, and that's Michael Quinn. The rest uh keep in line.

Michael Quinn25:00

Do you live near the hotel? Are you on call?

Michael Quinn25:02

I live uh down in Forest Row in Sussex, which is about thirty miles away.

Michael Quinn25:07

And uh it's uh very peaceful where I live, on the Royal Ashdown Golf Course, and it's very nice for me to uh have a walk into the Ashdown Forest and uh find peace and quiet.

Presenter25:18

And when you get home, what do you ask Jane to cook for you?

Michael Quinn25:21

Actually when I'm at home I do the cooking.

Michael Quinn25:24

See Jane is a very uh she's very pretty, very practical, but she doesn't enjoy the kitchen and I do, so she uh mends the plugs and I prepare the uh cottage pie.

Presenter25:35

That's the family favorite.

Michael Quinn25:37

Oh, we love uh dishes, very British dishes like that.

Presenter25:40

Aha, how many children do you have? You have Michael living with you?

Michael Quinn25:42

Yes, I've got uh three sons now.

Michael Quinn25:45

Andrew James and uh Michael.

Michael Quinn25:47

I'm looking forward to all those pretty girls coming home later.

Presenter25:50

Right.

Michael Quinn25:51

Uh

Michael Quinn25:51

Record number seven.

Michael Quinn25:53

Record number seven is Pink Floyd and uh the track is called uh Breathe. Very uh lovely lyrics I I'm very fond of this one.

Speaker 426:11

Don't be afraid to care

Speaker 426:19

Don't leave me.

Michael Quinn26:20

I believe

Speaker 426:24

Look around.

Speaker 426:27

Choose your own ground.

Presenter26:30

The Pink Floyd breathe in the air.

Presenter26:33

What about some desert island cooking, Michael? What do you envisage cooking for yourself on this little island on a camp fire?

Michael Quinn26:39

Well I would think there'd be lots of um

Presenter26:39

What do you

Michael Quinn26:42

Shellfish? Are you good at fishing? Have you done any?

Michael Quinn26:45

The only fish I've caught oh, no, actually I was in New Zealand in August as a guest preparing some dishes for Air New Zealand and I went on to a lake uh called Lake Taupo, which is on the North Island.

Michael Quinn26:56

And it's the only fish I've ever caught in my life, and it was a freshwater trout. Actually, it weighed about four pounds. I'm quite sure there's somebody underneath the boat planting it there for me. But um.

Michael Quinn27:07

I would uh find lots of fish to cook.

Presenter27:09

Yeah.

Michael Quinn27:09

and um seabirds and some wildlife. Mhm. And I may well discover some lovely wild garlic growing, which had lots of flavour to the dish. Would you try to escape?

Michael Quinn27:21

After I'd enjoyed my sort of uh moment of uh solitude,

Michael Quinn27:26

I don't know whether I'd try to escape or not. I think you could with your hands. Could you build a raft?

Michael Quinn27:33

Well, I think that uh the Rich would be so worried because the numbers would drop in the restaurant because in my absence and I think they would send out immediately a Nimrod aircraft to look for me. I think I'd s just sit there and wait for mister Duffle to come and find me.

Presenter27:47

All right. Good luck. That shows confidence. What's your last record?

Michael Quinn27:51

My last record is being obviously a Yorkshireman.

Michael Quinn27:56

I always remember as a child my father taking me to Roundley Park in Leeds and listening to a brass band.

Michael Quinn28:02

And my final record is by uh the Black Dyke Mills Band, and the track is called North Country Fantasy.

Presenter29:08

The Black Dyke Mills Band playing North Country Fantasy. Have your parents come down from Leeds to visit you at the Ritz and taste your cooking?

Michael Quinn29:16

Yes, actually, they visited me very recently.

Michael Quinn29:19

I've been in the kitchen since nineteen sixty one.

Michael Quinn29:22

And uh my mum and dad came down came down on the bus, of course, from Leeds, and um my sister brought them down.

Presenter29:28

Yeah.

Michael Quinn29:29

And my mum dad never seen me and my chef's wise. When was this? This was about uh three months ago. Mhm. So they came to the Ritz and uh

Michael Quinn29:37

Obviously I showed them all around. They had uh lunch in my office.

Michael Quinn29:41

And I found out afterwards that because mum and dad had never really been to a

Michael Quinn29:45

a posh hotel and um I found out afterwards that she was so

Michael Quinn29:50

Nervous, she couldn't sleep the night before.

Michael Quinn29:53

Which uh I was very pleased uh to show uh my setup.

Presenter29:57

Did you think your cooking had improved?

Michael Quinn30:00

My mum uh was the uh lady who taught me how to make pastry. She can still make it better than me.

Presenter30:05

Ha ha ha.

Presenter30:06

Right now you played us your eight Desert Island discs. If you could only take one of those eight, which would it be?

Michael Quinn30:12

I would take um the last one we've played, uh North Country Fantasy.

Presenter30:17

and one luxury to take to the island, one object of no practical use that would give you comfort and joy to have with you.

Presenter30:24

It would be a

Michael Quinn30:25

Peter.

Presenter30:25

Voltaire.

Michael Quinn30:25

So

Presenter30:25

Wings

Michael Quinn30:26

Uh

Michael Quinn30:26

Can't you swim? I can't swim.

Presenter30:29

Oh, that'll be very, very interesting.

Michael Quinn30:30

So if I fell off a rock, at least uh I would have a chance of uh surviving. I could float though with my large stummy, couldn't I?

Presenter30:34

And what's

Presenter30:38

That would soon go down on the island.

Michael Quinn30:41

Do you

Presenter30:41

Uh Yes. And one book apart from the Bible and the Shakespeare, which are already there.

Michael Quinn30:46

The book that I would really take would be the book that uh

Michael Quinn30:50

helped make me the cook that I am.

Michael Quinn30:52

Uh and it's uh the Kitchen Bible. It's the Repertoire de la Cuisine by Louis Saunier, a most uh marvellous book and um

Michael Quinn31:02

It's as I said, it's our Bible for the kitchen.

Presenter31:05

Right, it's yours. And thank you, Michael Quinn, for letting us hear your choice of Desert Island discs.

Michael Quinn31:11

Thank you.

Presenter31:12

Goodbye, everyone.

Speaker 431:21

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