Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
2 appearances
Drummer for The Rolling Stones, known for his professionalism, consistency and loyalty.
On the island
Eight records
I was thirteen or fourteen when I first heard him, with a bass player called David Green, who lived next door. We were he was about ten, and we played this record and he is now a wonderful jazz bass flower and I'm whatever I am. But thanks to this man in a way.
I come from a big sort of family of and parties he would go on. I mean, they don't really come any better today.
Petrushka: Fourth Tableau: Dance of the Coachmen and GroomsFavourite
CBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Igor Stravinsky
This man is someone who I learnt when I was in the studio via people that worked there who were older than me. And then there's another thing that my wife chose this record f for a show for one of her stallion horses. and then my granddaughter. picked up on it. So this particular section of Petrushka by Stravinsky is uh the dance of the coachman, and uh I will forever see my granddaughter running round the room, galloping to this.
When I was f my first job, I used to go to work and we would Listen to this man, it's Tony Hancock by the way, on the BBC the night before and we go in and do all of his jokes the next day. That's how big a hit he was. And now I can say anything that Simpson and Gorton have written to my wife and she'll answer the same Simpson and Gorton line and my daughter's the same. We could do Sunday afternoon as a family, but I just think he's the funniest.
Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra
Even now people listen to this and wonder how they did it. You marvel at it really. You're not just marvelling like with Stravinsky or that the players are capable of doing it. It's the actual sound they make together that is beyond the symphony orchestra, I think. You know, for me it is.
Nigel Kennedy and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle
Well always reminds me of my wife this. I'm glad you got uh Nigel Kennedy playing it, and Sir Simon, as he's called now.
Jim Laker's 10 Wickets for 53 Runs (Fourth Test, England v Australia, Old Trafford, July 1956)
John Arlott and Michael Charlton
Well, this has send everyone either to sleep or out to make a cup of tea. I have to have uh something on there that would be the summer. And this man's voice is summer to me. It's a game I love. And uh reminds me again with Mikto Lords. It was just. England in the summer
Fred Astaire to me is the ultimate in What you should be of your profession And I think and and also I danced with my daughter at her wedding to this song. So and that's the first time I danced in forty years, I think.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:31How much would you have minded if [The Rolling Stones] hadn't lasted?
No, I wouldn't no, I wouldn't have minded, oh dear, I'm gonna miss that bit, but looking at the life I've led, very nice and very privileged, really. I mean, I get paid very well for doing what I love doing, you know.
Presenter asks
2:18Does it feel like something apart from you when you see all the publicity?
Yeah, you see what you have to see. What them or it. What I mean is my f m Keith is a friend of mine and that's one thing, uh but the rolling stone's a whole nother thing. I know it's as much him and me, but it it's I've always kept it a long way away from me. A,'cause I never really believe it or to be honest with you and uh I feel happier that way. The rolling stones finish when the curtain closes.
Presenter asks
6:48Why do you draw the bed [in your hotel bedroom]?
Started in sixty something. And it was something to do. It's a diary, and now I can't miss one because I it's like ruining a day and a life of. So I just draw every bed that I sleep in when I tour with the Rolling Stone.
The keepsakes
The luxury
I'd [take] a pair of drumsticks, 'cause I'd sit and play on my legs with these drumsticks and it's like a mantra. It would be a time waster or a time passer, one or either one.
Presenter asks
16:51Were the drugs more difficult to resist?
I took a lot of drugs late in life. and didn't do it very well, so I nearly lost the marriage and uh my life. So uh I stopped that
Presenter asks
18:22How did you stop [taking drugs] in the end?
I've I've got to a point where I realized it was I was going to lose everything. I just stopped.
Presenter asks
31:19Are you ultimately a survivor, or would you [go mad on the island]?
I got no idea. I'm I'm I I could live on my own'cause a lot of time on the road you are on your own. I mean, albeit you can go to Keith's room or Ronney or whatever. ... I don't think I could cope with that now, really.
“The rolling stones finish when the curtain closes. And I've always been like that, even when I used to hate girls chasing you down the road and that. I mean it's it's f a bit flattering and that, but I used to actually hate it.”
“The way I live is very uh a bit monastic and very disciplined.”
“I hate people touching my things.”
“I hate people doing things like that. I hate maids coming in my room in hotels. I live in hotels a lot of my life, but I always put they do not disturb and sometimes I'm in there for two weeks and I never have them in there.”