Brendan Foster

Speaker 20:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty 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 eight, and the presenter was Michael Parkinson.

Presenter0:30

Our Castaway is a sporting hero. In the 70s, he was our most outstandingly consistent athlete. For ten years, he broke world records, won European and Commonwealth titles, and built an enormous reputation. But his singular contribution was a crusade to relate his sport to his background, to reveal its possibilities to people who normally wouldn't know a running shoe from a pair of clogs. It was due to him that a neglected part of England became an international centre for athletics and earned him the title of the Pied Piper of Gateshead. He is Brendan Foster. Brendan, are you still living up in Gateshead?

Brendan Foster1:03

Yeah, I still live back in the North East. I've I've been in the States for a year and uh had a very pleasant time out there. But we came back home and we'd actually broken our connections with the North East for a little time, but then when we came back we decided that uh we should buy a new house and settle down back in the north east of England. And at times you don't know why, but uh it's home. What is the attraction, do you think?

Brendan Foster1:25

That's a very hard question. I think if you actually underline it all

Brendan Foster1:30

First of all, it's England. I mean,'cause being in the States for a year, the thing that m really amazed me that I'm I missed England so badly. And it's it's things like the football scores on a Saturday evening and, you know, not knowing quite how badly Newcastle were doing. And and the summer, you know, like June through August, when everything's happening in London and you're reading little clips of it in American newspapers and they don't appreciate Wimbledon and they don't appreciate Henley and I don't really appreciate those things, but it's nice to be home. And to be perfectly honest with you, my wife and I were just talking about the other night and Sue says, you know, the thing I missed most about not being in England was radio four.

Brendan Foster2:08

'Cause there isn't anything like that in the States. And the States is so commercial.

Presenter2:10

And

Brendan Foster2:12

And all the time they're trying to sell you something, and it's pleasant to be able to retreat.

Brendan Foster2:17

into the uh environment of the V V C and not have somebody trying to sell you something.

Presenter2:22

Well, back there in Gateshead, back in the womb then, so to speak, when you were growing up there, I mean, what kind of uh impact did music have on your life, any at all?

Brendan Foster2:30

Not really. I mean, I'm not musical. My family weren't musical and sadly my kids don't seem to be musical either. Even though my wife Sue is probably the most musical of us all. I mean, she's the one who can tune the radio in, you know. I I'm not I can't even I'm totally deaf. I can't even do that.

Brendan Foster2:45

But um

Brendan Foster2:47

We used to listen to music, but it didn't really make a great impact on my life, and I would say that whilst I like hearing it,

Brendan Foster2:53

I'm I'm like um an outsider listening in.

Presenter2:57

So how have you chosen these eight records to accompany you on this desert island then? Uh

Brendan Foster3:01

They all memories? I think they're memories. I think they're things that remind me of certain things that happened in my life. And and they're pleasant and easy listening and it's it's just the kinds of things that I would like to have taken with me.

Presenter3:11

What about the first one?

Brendan Foster3:12

Well, I went to university in Sussex University and um that was about the farthest I could have got away from home. And the first year and a half were difficult times because I wasn't running well and I'd gone to university both to try and run properly and and study.

Brendan Foster3:29

and the running wasn't going well at all.

Brendan Foster3:32

And and whilst I was back in Gateshead my my coach was there and it was you know, things were good there. And so I had about eighteen months of not very happy times at university'cause I was studying chemistry and I wasn't even interested in chemistry. I only studied it'cause I was quite good at it, you know.

Brendan Foster3:47

And whilst, you know, mixing solutions and not really caring whether one came out better than another, more thinking about my running. And uh so Simon and Garfunkel playing home and bound'cause it reminds me of my days at university and and uh back home.

Speaker 24:03

And each town looks the same to me, The movies and the factories, And every stranger's face I see reminds me that I long to be

Presenter4:14

Move the bow.

Presenter4:17

I wish I were more

Speaker 14:20

Oh goodbye.

Speaker 14:23

Home, where my thoughts are scaping home, where my music's playing home, where my love lies waiting

Speaker 24:31

Silent

Presenter4:33

Oh, we're bound by Simon and Garth Uncle. Brendan Foster, let's go back, as I say, to your very beginnings. Um, what were mum and dad? What what did they do? Mum was a housewife, one assumes. They always were in those areas. What about your dad?

Brendan Foster4:44

My dad worked in the local council, he worked for Hebbon Urban District Council, he worked in the rates office. Probably these days he would have been a sort of um

Brendan Foster4:52

higher powered local government officer, but in those days he was the local uh rates officer. And uh things about home that that really have had an impact on my life was that that sport

Brendan Foster5:05

was elevated beyond its uh

Brendan Foster5:08

probably beyond its true level. And Newcastle United was the old dominating thing. It was Jackie Milburn. And 1955, I was seven years old.

Speaker 15:14

Mm.

Brendan Foster5:17

And Newcastle had qualified for the FA Cup final and dad applied for tickets, you know, and and it was one of those times when they did it fairly and they drew them out of the hat.

Brendan Foster5:26

And he had to go to the game before the final to get the application form, so he took myself, my s my kid brother and a mate.

Brendan Foster5:33

And the four of us went at the game and he got these four application forms. And Newcastle played Bolton Wonderers and Nat Lofthouse was playing for Bolton Wondrous. That was my first ever game. Of course, you know, he lifted you over his shoulder and put you on right in the front so you could see the game. And out of the applications, the four went in and one came out and he went to Wembley.

Brendan Foster5:50

and we were left playing football in the street till ten to three.

Brendan Foster5:53

And then running up the top of the street to to watch the game on my auntie's television,'cause we didn't all have televisions in those days. And Newcastle beat Manchester City.

Brendan Foster6:02

Three, two, and Jackie Milburn scored a g a great goal. And that was that was sort of early days of of sport and and in in those days there was only football. But what about the the the background? I mean, it was it was shitbully, wasn't it?

Presenter6:15

Why didn't you go into the shipyards?

Brendan Foster6:17

I was born in a house right down by the banks of the Tyne and every morning you'd hear the buzzer going where and all the men would run down the street and just be in time at seven thirty and at five o'clock every night. You know, got still got this vision of the buzzer going and the doors opening of the shipyard and everyone charging out, r you know, buying the Evening Chronicle at the top of the street and then home in the buzzers.

Brendan Foster6:39

And if I'd been ten years younger, I would have been working in the shipyard. But I went to school and got O levels and A levels and and then went on to university. And it was literally the time when kids of my background had opportunities and, you know, you s you seize those opportunities and, you know, like I was one of six kids from heaven who went to the grammar school. And of course everybody knew you that you went to the grammar school and that there was a sort of undercurrent of support.

Brendan Foster7:05

For you to do well, so he didn't dare throw that away. And even though I had ended up studying chemistry.

Presenter7:09

Meta.

Brendan Foster7:10

And I wasn't that interested in it. I was determined to go all the way and get a university degree in chemistry. Did you want to be famous?

Brendan Foster7:16

Wanted to play a centre vote for Newcastle.

Presenter7:18

That's immortality.

Presenter7:20

No choice of record, breed.

Brendan Foster7:22

The Beatles I suppose are contemporaries of mine and, you know, it was great to see these lads from Liverpool who were totally unconventional in everything they did and eventually made it. And nowadays I look back as being one of the great revolutions in music and just, you know, thinking about the Beatles, you could have filled this programme with Beatles songs, but the one that I particularly liked was Hey Jude.

Speaker 17:43

Hey June.

Speaker 17:46

Don't let me down.

Speaker 17:50

You have found her, now go and get her.

Speaker 17:57

Remember hate to let her into your heart

Speaker 18:02

Where you can start

Speaker 18:05

To make it

Presenter8:08

Beatles and Hey Jude.

Presenter8:10

Brendan Foster, you told me you went to to university, but but was that really do you regard it as being just a sort of um an interruption in your in your career as as an athlete?

Brendan Foster8:19

Well, I mean athletics was an amateur sport and it was very much an amateur sport in the early days. And you had to you know, you had to have some kind of career. And wh whilst I was studying, um athletics was always my top priority in terms of what I really wanted to do. But at the time I had to qualify through university. I I went and became a school teacher. Yeah. And the main reason I went to become a schoolteacher was'cause that gave you some time to train to do what I really wanted to do.

Brendan Foster8:46

And looking back on it, I s I really think that it was the best way to do it, because I would never ever have wanted.

Brendan Foster8:51

to have to run for money. I mean, you know, it was all right getting paid for running, but actually to to have to run to pay your mortgage and be you know, if you finish first then you can live for the next year and if you don't then I don't know. I think I I think maybe because I was always brought up with the idea of it it was an amateur sport.

Presenter9:04

How would you object?

Brendan Foster9:10

And, you know, the sort of boy's own dream is for somebody to just to work eight hours a day and then suddenly go home, get changed and then run for Britain or play cricket for England or kick the winning goal for in in the rugby game for England. And it's a little bit of a British um

Brendan Foster9:27

feel, I think, you know, because it's you know, he's a really good bloke him because he works all the time and he's the best sportsman of of his era, you know, so there's a little bit of

Speaker 19:35

Dear I

Brendan Foster9:37

romanticism about that. And and and I see the boys now who have that there's a dichotomy between, you know, running for a living or running for glory. And it's sometimes the they don't combine it very well because you can't be the best twelve months in the year, which is what you do to earn, and be the best in the Olympic Games. And I think we're seeing

Brendan Foster9:55

the uh the intrusion of um

Brendan Foster9:58

of the professional approach in athletics.

Presenter10:01

To the detriment of the game, you think?

Brendan Foster10:02

To the detriment of the game, because really what what I'm interested in is to see uh somebody running the Olympic Games or the World Championships or the European Championship and just give it everything they have and that be a memorable performance that's written in the history books, because I'm not that interested in them running it week after week after week. But they have to run week after week after week to earn their corn. And it's not like golf or cricket where you can play day after day. It's it's specialized, you have to it's it's bit more like horse racing where you can only produce three or four performances in a year and you can't keep doing it forever. So I think there's some rationalization needs to occur so that you get the big prize, like you get the hundred thousand pounds for the Olympics and you only get a thousand pounds for the others, because to have somebody finishing in the year saying, Well, I did well this year'cause I earned a lot of money

Brendan Foster10:49

But I didn't get a medal is not to me the way the sport should go in the future.

Brendan Foster10:55

Well, the next choice is a poem by Rudyard Kipling, the poem If. I'd obviously read it at school and I'd, you know, taken in some of the thoughts in the poem, but the first time I really thought it became appropriate was in nineteen seventy six. I was sharing a room with Steve Ovette in the Montreal Games, and Steve had

Brendan Foster11:13

been the British favourite for the eight hundred metres and ended up finishing fifth and was very, very disappointed. And then he ran the fifteen hundred metres and he got knocked out in the in the f in the semifinal.

Brendan Foster11:23

And his father came out the next day and he carried a framed poster of the poem if that his mother had sent him. And I just thought, you know, the uh

Brendan Foster11:33

If you can keep your head while all around you are losing theirs. That was a great comment at that particular time. And I think if you read through that poem and if you listen to that poem, there are a lot of

Brendan Foster11:44

Good thoughts to live by.

Presenter11:45

Yeah.

Presenter11:46

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew,

Presenter11:50

To serve your turn long after they are gone.

Presenter11:54

And so hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says to them, Hold on.

Presenter12:01

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Presenter12:06

Or walk with kings.

Presenter12:08

Nor lose the common touch.

Presenter12:11

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

Presenter12:15

If all men count with you, but none too much

Presenter12:20

If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run

Presenter12:27

Yours is the earth, and everything that's in it.

Presenter12:33

And which is more?

Presenter12:35

You'll be a man, my son.

Presenter12:39

That was if, written by Rudyard Kipling and read by Derek Jacoby.

Presenter12:43

Brendan, talking about the the way that's that uh sport's going now, uh athletics particularly, let's let's consider another problem that a lot of people are concerned about, and that's drugs in sport.

Presenter12:53

Now, first of all, what's your attitude toward the present situation?

Brendan Foster12:58

It's simple, it's cheating.

Brendan Foster12:59

When I look back on my sport and I look back on my career,

Brendan Foster13:03

The things that I think about are

Brendan Foster13:05

Private pleasures. You know, I I still go running every day and I'll be out on a Sunday morning running ten miles and I'll think about things that happened and occasionally thi thoughts drift back.

Brendan Foster13:14

And you know, when I was if I'd cheated ten years ago, or fifteen years ago, when I was running,

Brendan Foster13:19

then I'd know I'd cheated and I'd know I'd only cheated myself because people, you know, it doesn't actually make any material difference to your life to to actually win something because you're not winning for any other reason than you have this inner burning desire to win. And if you've cheated yourself, then you can't get any lower than that.

Presenter13:39

What about one of your great opponents, the the Finn Lasseveran, who beat you twice in the uh Montreal Olympics, wasn't it? Uh you never in fact won an O an Olympic medal. He won two on that occasion. Now he had this blood doping, didn't he?

Presenter13:53

You can tell us first of all what blood doping involves.

Brendan Foster13:55

Well, apparently it it involves going into a hospital and having a pint of blood drawn off and then your body recuperates and replaces the blood cells that you've lost and then it involves putting the thing back and apparently your your performance improves as a result of doing so.

Brendan Foster14:12

And that's cheating. And if and if Lassiveran did that, and I don't say he did, lots of people else say he did, but I prefer to believe that he didn't.

Brendan Foster14:20

'Cause i if I believe that he did, then it kinda takes a little bit away from from what I was trying to do.

Presenter14:26

Another choice of record, please.

Brendan Foster14:28

Uh you know, I've I've travelled the world through athletics and I've been very fortunate to do so. But I spend a couple of periods in Africa and uh my kid brother's out there teaching right now and Africa has a strange attraction. It's a it's a amazing continent and you know when you you know, it's one time we were in the bush in in Kenya on Safari and you actually get out of the the uh vehicle and just walk and you sometimes feel that you're walking where no man has ever been before because it's such a vast continent.

Brendan Foster14:59

And and I I know, my my early running days were involved with Kenyans like Kip Kaino and Ben Gypcho and recent World Championships in Rome, the Africans were back and the Kenyans were back and I loved that. And I think the musical Ibbi Tombi is a lot about Africa and it brings out a feeling of Africa.

Speaker 115:18

RBI

Speaker 115:20

Yeah.

Speaker 115:21

A beat me call me!

Speaker 115:24

Yum

Speaker 115:26

In my honey, we're gonna be

Speaker 115:31

Bring soul in

Speaker 115:37

Come with me in Toddy I'm

Presenter15:47

The theme music from Ibitombi.

Presenter15:50

Brendan, you mentioned uh when you were out running now that you let your mind drift back and you you think about the great moments you've had in your in your career. Just tell me one or two. I mean, d what was the proudest moment you think? Was the best moment?

Brendan Foster15:56

You know, in the

Brendan Foster16:01

I suppose

Brendan Foster16:03

Athletically the best moment was when I won the European Championships in nineteen seventy four in the five thousand meters. But sort of, um

Brendan Foster16:12

Emotionally, the best moment was when we opened the Gateshead Stadium in nineteen seventy four and we we'd had we'd never had a meeting on on the track.

Brendan Foster16:20

And I broke the world record for three thousand meters and that started

Brendan Foster16:24

Uh the ball rolling in Gateshead for the development of the Athletic Centre.

Brendan Foster16:30

And looking back, I suppose that's what people remember. Athletically, I I prefer to remember Rome, but I'm quite happy if people remember Gates.

Presenter16:36

Remember Gates? Well, remember how Gates had happened because, in fact, it you you promised them a world record, didn't you? You brought the pressure on yourself there, didn't you?

Brendan Foster16:41

Yeah.

Brendan Foster16:43

Indeed, yeah. It was the year before. I'd broken the motor record for two miles at Crystal Palace the year before and the local council, who had great ambitious plans and a man a great man called Bill Collins was the leader of the council and he decided that, you know, if they have that athletics at Crystal Palace and

Brendan Foster16:58

And that why can't we have it here? And Brendan's as good as anybody else. So and they had a reception for me. And of course it was in the middle of winter, November time, and you know, in that that period of the year you let your hair down a little. And I went along to the dinner and I had a few drinks and that and I was I mean, just a few drinks. And I got up and I you know, listened to their speeches and I got up and I said, Well, I'll tell you what, if you lay the track, which we've heard you're gonna do, and it's installed by next summer, which was August of nineteen seventy four,

Brendan Foster17:25

then I promise you that I'll run a world record on it.

Brendan Foster17:29

And then I sat down, you know, and I thought, dear me, what have I done now?

Brendan Foster17:34

I then followed it up and fortunately, because predicting world records is like predicting the weather, fortunately I was running really well that year and it actually fitted really well into my programme.

Brendan Foster17:44

And uh I ran a world record for three thousand meters and the place went mad. But one of my great memories of it'cause it was on television, you see.

Speaker 117:49

One of my

Brendan Foster17:52

And the local councillors were all dead keen on having it on television. Well, the Gateshire Stadium was built out of an old chemical tip.

Brendan Foster17:59

And, you know, there's all ash on the far side of it. And it was a little bit windy, you know, and the ash is blowing around and everyone left with a black face.

Speaker 118:04

Uh

Brendan Foster18:06

But the thing that I remember most about it was the fact that the park superintendent had sprayed the stuff green so that it looked like grass, you know,'cause he didn't like Geeter looking like a tip on television.

Presenter18:18

It's around that days in the army, you used to paint the culture and oh wonderful. No choice of red coffees.

Brendan Foster18:26

Well, in my time in in running, you know, when I first started running through the streets of heaven and then much later on in, you know, a few years later in Gateshead and in Brighton when I was at university,

Brendan Foster18:36

You know, kids used to run after you and shout at you and, um

Brendan Foster18:40

People used to look strangely at you and that was then, but nowadays it's quite acceptable, even fashionable to be to g to go running and people don't turn a blind eye to it these days. And the London Marathon is something which has has did precipitate that that acceptance and that even that desire for people to want to go out and run. And it's been the most significant change in the sport in in my time because to be honest with you, I'm much more interested in talking about a guy who lives in Inverness or Glasgow or Newcastle or Birmingham or Manchester, looking at that thing on television, getting him off his backside and saying, I'm going to be in that and going in it l yeah later. That to me is a much better story than you know who's the biggest guy who can throw the shot furthest and who took the most drugs, you know. And the London Marathon to me would be memories of a movement which I was involved with and saw a change over time.

Speaker 119:22

Uh

Brendan Foster19:32

And the London Marathon theme music actually was picked by a good mate of mine, John Shrewsbury, who was the producer for BBC Fuelie Athletics. And I always tell him that was his greatest claim to fame, is picking the theme music for the London Marathon.

Presenter20:15

The London Marathon theme music.

Presenter20:18

Recorded by Ron Godwin.

Presenter20:20

Brendan, I remember some time ago before at Olympics in the city, it might have been the Montreal Olympics, I was talking to Jimmy Reid and he used to that uh the the press were knocking our athletes and saying, you know, why don't we win more gold medals? And he took a meeting up at UCS of three thousand people, up there, men, and he said, Hands up, any of you have ever worn a pair of running shoes and nobody did. And he said he had this appalling sense of waste. Did you have the same in the back of your mind when you started your crusade up in Gateshead?

Brendan Foster20:47

I think so, because I remember Chris Brascher talking to me and we eventually produced an article and a photograph and then s uh a guy produced a tapestry as a result of that conversation, as a result of the article, and there was a photograph of me and underneath it said I'm probably not even the greatest distance runner and gates head.

Brendan Foster21:05

And it and it the rea the argument was that everyone else hasn't tried. And I mean, I might be sitting here, I might be the best table tennis player the world's ever seen, but I don't know because I never tried, I never bothered, nobody ever in you know, got me interested in it.

Brendan Foster21:18

And I think if you're looking at the improvement of anything,

Brendan Foster21:21

Then obviously the more people who partake, the more likelihood the top of the pyramid's going to be better. And you know, there are some great stories. I mean, there's a lad running in the North East now who beat Steve Cram a couple of months ago in a cross country race, and he only started running because of the Great North Run, which is a big event that we organise up there in Newcastle. And to me, that's great. That's releasing talent because there's a lot of talent around and for some reason people don't give things a try. And if you can give something people some encouragement to try something and then and then it all turns out as a result of the little thing that you've done, then that gives you a lot of satisfaction.

Presenter21:56

Does it does it actually give to the community, I mean Gateshead itself, does it give it more of a sense of identification and pride that you've now got that centre up there where all the world athletes come and and perform?

Brendan Foster22:04

Oh, I think so. I mean, I I was in the States and we were in we took a week's holiday and went up to Victoria in Canada and uh there was an athletics match happening in Gateshead when I was in Victoria, Canada, and it was England against Canada.

Brendan Foster22:18

and I was we were waiting on a ferry to go across the island.

Brendan Foster22:22

And you know, I went and got a newspaper and turned at the sports pages and there was the results of England versus Canada at Gateshead Stadium and the first in the hundred metres was Ben Johnson. And I got a tremendous thrill out of that because I know that whilst I was there on on holiday in Canada, Ben Johnson would never have been running in Gateshead if we hadn't done what we did years ago. And I I think it's a worthy cause.

Presenter22:44

Another choice of record.

Brendan Foster22:45

Oh, please.

Presenter22:45

Uh

Brendan Foster22:46

Well, the North East's probably like uh like every other part of England. If if somebody comes from there, then you you watch what they do and you identify them a little bit more closely. And then when, you know, Police, the rock band, became really famous, the local newspaper started writing about Sting, the lead singer, who was from Newcastle, and he went to the local school who were a big opposition of ours in the, you know, football and athletics and everything like that.

Brendan Foster23:12

And uh I went to the Albert Hall to see them play in concert, and Sting singing Every Breath You Take is a is a marvellous song.

Speaker 123:35

Let me play as you take

Speaker 123:40

Every move you make

Speaker 123:43

Every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching

Presenter23:50

Staying with every breath you take.

Presenter23:53

Brendan Foster, you've been part of this movement of making people more aware in Britain of sport, of or what can be done by participating in it. But do you think, generally speaking, that we do enough in this country compared to other countries? Are we still backward?

Brendan Foster24:09

We are still backward. We're we're backward in the provision of facilities. We're very, very forward in the organization of events. I mean, some of the great sporting events are held in Britain. But if you if you look at the overall provision for sport,

Brendan Foster24:24

I think it stems back to the old amateur days and the old idea that I was talking about earlier, where it the schoolboy's dream is to, you know, graduate from Oxford or Cambridge with a first class honours degree and pay minimal attention to sport, but happen to play cricket and rugby for England, one in the summer and one in the winter. And and I think that sort of air of just kind of leaving it alone and not really taking it that seriously is something which

Brendan Foster24:51

is British, and it's not bad that it's British. It's better than uh being obsessed with it like they are in East Germany. And I think we get more pleasure out of our sport, and I think we've got a wider uh variety of sports available.

Brendan Foster25:03

And sport is a is a great

Brendan Foster25:05

thing. Without sport I think

Brendan Foster25:08

The the life of the British nation would be a lot a lot poorer.

Presenter25:11

At the yeah, I mean they they the balances of course is while improving facilities, ensuring that people never forget it's only a game.

Brendan Foster25:17

That's right. Looking back and having spent that time in the States, I think we have sport in a good perspective in Britain. And we have such a good variety of sports. And at the end of the day, a guy can be working eight hours a day in a in a shipyard or in a coal mine and he can still play rugby for England. And I think and if you look at other countries, you can't do that in America, for example. And I think there's still that sort of nice story about a policeman from Hartlepool who's bored for the England rugby team. And I think that's what sport is all about.

Brendan Foster25:47

Another choice of record, please.

Brendan Foster25:49

Well, Rod Stewart has written some great songs. And one of the songs he wrote was Never Give Up on a Dream, which was written about a guy who ran across Canada or traversed Canada. He was a cancer patient. And the song was written about that, but it's actually a song. Never Give Up on a Dream is something that, you know, when I look back on my short career in teaching, I used to teach the kids about chemistry and about this chemical mixing with that chemical, producing a new chemical. And I wasn't really that interested in that, to be honest. But I never taught them some of the things that I had to offer, which were things like Never Give Up on a Dream. And if you have a dream, then go for it. And there's nothing wrong in that. And sometimes people and kids and generations should be reminded it's good to dream and it's good to try and fulfil a dream.

Speaker 126:33

Give up on a change.

Speaker 126:38

Shadows Fall.

Speaker 126:41

Gila dance.

Speaker 126:45

Freedom never

Speaker 126:48

Got a place to hide

Speaker 126:52

Stands for all the

Speaker 126:55

For the finish line

Presenter27:00

But never!

Presenter27:02

Give up.

Presenter27:04

On your dream.

Presenter27:06

Rod Stewart and Never Give Up on a Dream. Brendan Foster, you're obviously a man of action, a very positive man. Uh I wonder how you'd uh translate to this desert town. I mean, would you be any good on it, do you think?

Brendan Foster27:16

That'd be terrible.

Presenter27:17

Would you?

Brendan Foster27:18

Oh yeah. Because building things and fixing things and and doing things, I'd be awful at that.

Brendan Foster27:25

What about what about

Presenter27:25

What about

Presenter27:26

loneliness. I mean, are are you a person who can suffer his own company?

Brendan Foster27:31

I I would find that very difficult. I like to be around people that I like to be with. I like to work with people I like to work with. I like to do things with people I like to to spend time with.

Brendan Foster27:41

So that would be difficult. Yeah, that would be a that would be a disaster on the desert island.

Presenter27:43

How would we

Presenter27:45

You'll have to build a boat to escape.

Brendan Foster27:47

But absolutely no chance.

Presenter27:48

Even though it's from a shipbuilding community, no chance. What about catching fish and food and that sort of thing? Killing animals perhaps to eat.

Brendan Foster27:48

Even though

Presenter27:56

Now have we

Brendan Foster27:57

Yeah.

Presenter27:57

Yeah, I'd be really sorry.

Brendan Foster27:58

Yeah.

Brendan Foster27:59

I don't think I should go to this desert.

Presenter28:00

I think we're terrible trouble.

Presenter28:03

They do. Let's have a final choice of record.

Brendan Foster28:06

My final record is by Mark Knopfler, Dire Straits, who are a great pop group, but he's a particularly talented um musician. When he put the music to the film of Local Hero

Brendan Foster28:18

And then when I saw him at the City Hall in Newcastle, where was that was the first place he ever went to watch a a concert he he announced on stage, because he was a l a local lad from the North East, but a marvellous musician and now the Dire Straits group have broken up. I just hope he comes back with something, because I think his talent is uh unbelievable.

Presenter29:08

There was a soundtrack of the film Local Hero written and performed by Mark Knopfler.

Presenter29:13

Brendan Foster, you're now on this desert island from which there is no escape for you. And you've got these eight records. Now imagine uh the terrible catastrophe. Seven are washed away, you're left with one record. Which one would you choose to keep?

Brendan Foster29:26

I think because I'm definitely trapped on that desert island, I think local hero because uh listening to the waves lap on this side of the show and knowing that I'm there forever, not like some of the great people you've had in this programme before who've escaped.

Brendan Foster29:39

Not me, I'll be there forever. Uh I think I would take that local hero.

Presenter29:43

What about the book? Assume you've got the the works of Shakespeare and the Bible there. Which book would you take with you?

Brendan Foster29:49

Well, I would I I was thinking about bringing the complete works of Athletics Weekly since nineteen forty eight, but they've recently changed their format and I've fallen out of favour with that. So I think my book would be since I've got heavy reading with Shakespeare and the Bible, I think my book would be a book of pictures really. WA Poucher has a book of photographs of the Lake District and we spend time in the Lake District and it's a wonderful part of the world and it would remind me of the Lake District.

Presenter30:13

and the luxury object inanimate.

Brendan Foster30:15

The supply of tea.'Cause I like to wake up every day with a cup of tea.

Presenter30:20

Brendan Foster, thank you very much indeed.

Speaker 230:28

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