Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Soldier, writer, and individualist known for his gallantry, adventurous career, and irreverence; was a prisoner of the Vichy French.
On the island
Eight records
Played by the mass cavalry trumpeters at the searchlight tattoo at the White City in 1957
The Band of the Coldstream Guards
The second March past we had when we marched up and down the front parade at the shop
Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan
I like this tune because I'm very fond of horses. And I can see the horse's legs moving through this tune.
good nose fast
All I want from this is that song which goes Je parquien, je ador, pour tois a bouirir
For all the Saints (Sine Nomine)
Choir of King's College, Cambridge
Reminds me of all my friends who were killed in two wars, of whom I think every day. ... So I would have that to remind me of them and to please me with its beautiful harmony.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:56Colonel Wintle, has your career ever taken you to a desert island?
Not exactly, if you perhaps exclude uh Ireland. But I've been in places which are not unlike a desert island. For instance, I was a prisoner of the Vichy French. I was kept in solitary confinement without daylight for thirty months.
Presenter asks
1:19Do you think you could phase up to it again?
Of course I could. Uh Yes, I mean, after all, I'm never bored if I'm present.
Presenter asks
2:42Why did you decide to become a soldier?
Uh good in the family? Uh my father was not a soldier. He would have liked to be.
Presenter asks
4:35How did that come about in 1940?
Well, it's a long story, but really what it amounted to was this, that Having seen my troops, my men, my soldiers, and my friends, Decimated. Blotted out. by the incompetence of a lot of idiots in Kaiser's war. I saw the same pack of idiots coming up the street again in Hitler's War. And so I thought it was about time to throw a spanner in the works and get him chucked out.
The keepsakes
The book
I think I'd like a very large Blank book so that I could write in it. You know, inexhaustible. Yes. So that there'd be even one page left on the day I was taken off.
The luxury
I think I should have a jolly good dog whip. ... [N]o, no, no, dog whips all I want.
Presenter asks
7:53How long did your hunger strike last?
Uh thirteen days. And then, at the end of the thirteenth day, They gave in and said that the guards would not only be clean but agreed to my inspecting them. They well, they offered me a meal, but I told them that I usually dined at seven And not at seven thirty, so they must start again tomorrow.
Presenter asks
13:15Could you build a craft? If you did, would you try to get away?
Um, I shouldn't get away. You would? I mean, you'll try to get away. I should get away. If I built a craft, yes. Eventually.
“I was kept in solitary confinement without daylight for thirty months.”
“I'm never bored if I'm present.”
“Having seen my troops, my men, my soldiers, and my friends, Decimated. Blotted out. by the incompetence of a lot of idiots in Kaiser's war.”
“I thought it was about time to throw a spanner in the works and get him chucked out.”
“I was so ill-advised as to be represented in the first case in the High Court. which was the lowest court in which I've ever been.”
“I never go into a public place without looking at innumerable empty chairs and think so-and-so ought to be sitting there.”