Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A writer known for bestselling novels with short titles including Hotel, Airport, Wheels, and The Money Changers.
On the island
Eight records
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 (Third Movement)
It's something that has always induced in me a mood of mellowness and sentiment, and uh I can't think of anything better to help one begin writing.
I love all of Vera Lynn's songs, but I've chosen I'll Be Seeing You because I'm not sure if she actually sang it during World War II, but I mentioned my time in the RAF. I remember hearing her frequently, and of course it brings back that particular period in my life.
Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, 'From the New World' (Largo)
I remember that I heard it first in Calgary, first became aware of it when I was there with the RAF. And it's always had a special meaning for me because Canada and the United States did in fact in my life turn out to be the New World.
Lara's Theme (from Doctor Zhivago)
Sheila and I saw that film together one day in San Francisco. It's one of the most beautiful films I think they've ever seen. I have it in my video cassette collection at home and in that film I was haunted by the music of Lara's theme.
Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat major, K. 495
I spoke of Zest a moment ago, and I think there is nothing which gives me more of that than the music of Mozart.
This is My Foolish Heart, and this is something of a family joke because it is the music to which I seduced Sheila, and I must admit, a little while before we were married, in the early days of our relationship, we saw the film My Foolish Heart, and we're both quite sentimental about it even now.
Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
Well, I love all of Tchaikovsky because there are so many melodies in there. But I've chosen, in this case, Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. It has some beautiful passages.
O Peaceful England (from Merrie England)
It's not, I think, a terribly well-known piece, but I have it at home in my own record library, and I love it. And it says a lot of things better than I could say them myself.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:57Was there any sort of literary strain in your family at all?
There could have been. My dear mother, who is now dead, only had education until I think the age of eleven. But when I was a boy, she was always making up stories to tell me. When she became grandmother to our children, she'd tell them stories. And I'm convinced that any storytelling ability I have in me came from her. But apart from that, there was no tradition in the family.
Presenter asks
6:42Why did you decide to emigrate [to Canada]?
I'll give you an honest answer to that. I didn't like Winston Churchill being dumped out of office. I'm not ardent about politics, but all my life I've been a political conservative. I believed in the free enterprise capitalist system, even though I didn't have any money. And I had been to Canada to do my flying training as a pilot. I'd like the country and decided that that was a place to go.
Presenter asks
9:02Did you ever get close to despair at this time [when you were divorced]?
Yes, I did have an unhappy time. I had got married quite quickly during the war. I was a pilot flying. One didn't know how many times there were. I was an ardent young man and didn't seem to have the live-in arrangements in those days that they have now. Anyway, I did get married, and my first wife and I had three children, three sons. But after the war, we found that we were mentally incompatible. My first wife is a nice woman who doesn't have a mean streak in her, and we're the best of friends, and we're very close. But we did get divorced. You've used the word despair. I don't believe ever in my life that I've despaired, but of course it was a traumatic experience.
The keepsakes
The book
Webster's Third New International Dictionary
Noah Webster
I could learn all the words I don't know and perhaps put them together myself in some sort of order.
Presenter asks
14:37What effect did this illness [and heart bypass operation] have on you? Did it change your perspective of your life?
Yes, it did. There were two things which did that, actually. One was when I came out on the far side of World War II and realized that, unlike some of my contemporaries, I was among the survivors. And from then on, life seemed pretty good, in some ways, a bonus. And after the heart surgery … when I recovered from it, I began to think, well, this is a bonus too. And however long it lasts, I'm going to make the most of it, which was one of the reasons I went back to work and did another book. One of the reasons I really fill every day and I have a zest for life, and I'm going to have that for as long as it continues.
Presenter asks
22:23Does it get more difficult to keep the hunger up, to keep the energy up [when you can demand millions for a book]?
I don't think so, because the money isn't something that is important in my life now. It's pleasant to have and comfortable to have. But there is such a great sense of achievement when one has finished a book, and no matter how long I go on doing that, I'm sure I'll continue to possess it. I don't know how much longer I'm going on, but I'll certainly go on as long as I can.
Presenter asks
26:36Do you, as you get older, perhaps feel a greater tug back home [to England]?
Oh, absolutely. Yes, I do come back when I'm selling a book, but I also come back to England because I love this country. I'm still British because of my Canadian residence. I'm also a Canadian citizen, but I use my British passport frequently. I suppose it's growing old and the sense of being drawn back to one's beginnings. And so much of my life was lived here, and Britain is a good place now. My wife feels this, and we feel this tug. We come at least twice a year, and occasionally a little more. I love coming here.
“I'll work anywhere. I'd work in a coal cellar if I had to. I might not like it much, but I'd go on writing.”
“I never assume that what I'm writing is going to work because the day I become overconfident, which has happened to some writers, I'll take a good hard look in the mirror because that's when you're likely to fall flat on your face. So I live with insecurity, to an extent with loneliness, and it's a long haul.”
“There's no question that a writer has to be dedicated and to an extent ruthless. And I think those words that Celia used are to an extent true, and particularly in the early days of my writing, when I was maybe a bit more inflexible than I am now. Yes, yes, you've got to be tough at times.”