Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Actor and playwright best known for his stage work.
On the island
Eight records
Saturday night concerts were great things in my boyhood.
Peu d'Amour (A Little Love, A Little Take)
the first one I ever heard in the theater.
Nocturne No. 18 in E major, Op. 62 No. 2
I'm devoted to the Chopin.
BBC Symphony Orchestra; Colin Davis, conductor
It still thrills me tremendously.
In conversation
Presenter asks
4:13Any precedent for the theatre and the family?
I had a distant uncle on my father's side who was reputed to have something to do with the stage, but not directly. I went into the theatre entirely through the amateur dramatic societies, chiefly at the Bristol University Dramatic Society, which I...
Presenter asks
6:35Did you go straight back to the theatre?
No, I did a little bit of schoolmastering. I was supposed to have been a schoolmaster at one time. I never really took it up.
Presenter asks
12:51You were indeed in the army in the Second World War. You were also a home guard afterwards, weren't you?
Uh I was pre-Home Guard, I think. It was when I came out of the Army, Second War. I came out uh during the summer of 1940. And I got mixed up with the the Fence Corps and the side of the L D V. L D V Z right.
Presenter asks
13:29The keepsakes
The book
Bradshaw's Railway Time Tables
George Bradshaw
I would try and get whole of an ancient copy of Bradshaw's Railway Time Tables. Prior to nationalization of railways, you know, all the companies had their own timetables and they were all bound up in the same book. And I think I better play games by rooting myself. Saying I've got to go from Torque to Inverness, and which is the best way of going. ... When I see Crewe, for instance, I always remember those touring days in the theatre where you met on Sunday afternoons and the all-night cafe. So Crewe is more than a name in a timetable.
The luxury
I think I'd take a winemaking kit. I hope there'd be some fruit on the island. I could sort of with a bit of a luck and well, not a bit of luck, considerable amount of luck. I might be able to make some something drinkable.
Private Godfrey is a glorious character. Is he based on anyone in particular?
No, I don't think so. No, I think he just sort of liked Topsy. He just grew with him. The company gives the impression of being a very happy one. Oh, it is. It's excellent scripts. It's been a very good team thing altogether.
Presenter asks
20:26And one book apart from the Bible, Shakespeare, and big encyclopedias.
Ah, now this is well you may think it's an odd one, but I would try and get whole of an ancient copy of Bradshaw's Railway Time Tables.
“Nostalgia ... I know people are apt to sneer at nostalgia, but when you get to an old man, and I am an old man, I've got to face that fact, there's not much good thinking of what you're going to do in the future, so you may as well go back and revive the happy things that have happened to your past.”
“It's the real vibrations, the vibration you miss with the tape.”
“When I first played this path I just put on a very heavy makeup to look old enough. Now I have to put on a much heavier makeup to look young enough.”
“I'd get on a raft and hope for the best.”