Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Secretary of State for Health known for his remarkable rise from a deprived 1950s Notting Hill childhood to being one of the most influential politicians.
On the island
Eight records
And Your Bird Can SingFavourite
I think it epitomizes their great musicianship. But, you know, this was released this week. People would say, this is fantastic. This is a phenomenon. They stuck it away as kind of whatever it was, track seven.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Elvis Costello does little slices of life in his songs, none better than You Little Fool.
Now what epitomises the 60s for me is this song, and it's not a British group, it's an Australian group. They're a one hit wonder, never heard of again. It didn't even get to number one. I think it's fantastic.
I really loved Bowie and this is from Aladdin Sane, I think it's a great record's driving setting.
This was a time of my life in the early 70s when I was thinking about maybe I should be doing something different with my life. And this song, I just remember this as being in the background while I was thinking, should I go for a promotion in the post office? Am I ever going to get back into the music business...
Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Frank Shipway)
Mahler is is one of my favorite composers, and I picked here the Fifth Symphony in C sharp minor... Because it's the most luscious and most beautiful piece of music. And on my desert island this will be me sitting back reflecting about the past and perhaps the future.
This is a song. That begins with the line She came in smelling of cabbages, Pumpkin Roots and All Winter's Ravages. Just listen to it, it's beautiful.
I live my musical life now vicariously through my son... I'd love to have this on a desert island. It would remind me of Jamie, but I actually think it's a bloody good song, Beneath the Sun.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:52Why did you decide not to stand [for the leadership of the Labour Party]?
Well, I don't think I'd have been good enough, frankly. I don't think I've got the capabilities. I've got to kind of every level where I became an executive member of the union and thought, oh, I could be a national officer... You get to a level and you look around and think, perhaps, I could go to the next level. I don't think I could go to that level, which is kind of the only level up from being a cabinet minister.
Presenter asks
5:00What was life like [in West London in the 1950s]?
Well, it w it was rough, a lot of s squalor... I remember hunger and I remember cold... the lack of a bathroom... it was violence. I remember women fighting bare knuckle in the street. I remember, you know, I was attacked lots of times. I had to look after myself and all that. It, you know, it wasn't this world of sedate gentility that people suggest the fifties was. It was a very, I remember it as quite a violent time.
Presenter asks
6:24How did you feel when [your father] left?
Um, yeah. Um It was, but, you know, we celebrated. And this was a happy day for me and my sister. I'm not sure how my mum felt about it. Um you know, he'd gone, he'd cleared out... And you know, we were pleased about that. Me and my sister... I don't think he was a very pleasant person.
The keepsakes
The book
Samuel Pepys
I'm fascinated by Pepys. ... I feel a kind of empathy, but it's so much entertainment. You've got history, you've got drama, you've got a crime thriller, everything in Pepys' diaries.
The luxury
My luxury would be a digital radio on which I can hear the programmes I like now, which includes BBC Seven, incidentally, which I think is great. It's it's enhanced my life.
Presenter asks
10:10How aware were you of your own poverty [at grammar school]?
When you got changed in the dressing room, you noticed, you know, the state of my underwear compared to them. Uh it was quite embarrassing. I was on free school meals and the teacher every week did say, Johnson, to come up and give your money, and I always had to say, Free, sir. He shouldn't have done that. They should have just known if you're on free school meals. He shouldn't have made you go through this every week.
Presenter asks
15:19Where did the politics in you begin?
Um, yeah, I think so. When I joined the Post Service we had a big strike when I was twenty, just before my son was born... I was just a twenty-year-old postman going up to London to the rallies, marching around slough and all that. That really got me involved.
Presenter asks
21:58What can you remember from those heady days [of the 1997 election victory]?
Oh gosh. Well I mean well I'd been through the 18 years, you know, in opposition. I'd been a member of the party right through that. I'd been a member since the early 70s. I'd been a trade unionist, battling away, seeing lost causes. It was just amazingly exciting. And that's why I wanted to be part of it.
“I think Gordon was the best man to be the Prime Minister and I don't think I can't see myself doing that job.”
“I knew, you know, they wanted me to be Cannon Fodder in the class war. That's that was their only interest in me.”
“I don't want to be defined by my class or my background. I've never had that. Neither has my sister. We've just got on with life and, you know, where we came from was where we came from.”
“I was very young and I was a bit immature and I was a London mod and London mods didn't get seen walking around the streets pushing prams. Now, you know, God, when Oliver was born, I just wanted to be out there with a buggy all the time.”