Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Former leader of Westminster City Council known for a crusade against waste, privatizing services, and championing the Superloo.
On the island
Eight records
Maria Callas, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano & Victor de Sabata
I thought that she was the most wonderful singer, but above that she was also an actress. I mean to listen to her voice, to the emotion in it. Also it's because it reminds me of my husband and when we watched Tosca I really I looked at him and I thought that when she died he was going to die with her.
Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner
Part of my childhood consisted of going on outings. And uh we would always sing Second World War songs. And every Sunday morning my father would take us down Petticoat Lane. I have a background of always mixing with people and being besotted with London.
this is something which is part of the Day of Atonement. Service. And it reminds me of countless, well year after year, of family going to synagogue. It's a moment for reflection.
Bertha Lewis & D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
This I hope will make me laugh madly because it's um used to be sung we did all as everybody does in schools and I just adore uh Gilbert and Sullivan... But Buttercup in this instance was my maths mistress. And the thought of her being called Little Buttercup would keep me in hysterics all the time.
Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Jacqueline du Pré, London Symphony Orchestra & Sir John Barbirolli
brings to my mind the sadness of of when health is not good... And when you have somebody like Jacqueline Dupre, whom I saw when she was in her prime, when she had everything, and she had her art... And then I saw her later on. Sitting in a wheelchair at a concert... it really brings home to mind how very important, how very lucky we are when we are healthy.
Philharmonia Orchestra, Philharmonia Chorus & Riccardo Muti
my daughter, uh, when she was at Henrietta Barnett, she used to sing in the choir and they sang with haberdashes and Carmena Barana. Was with us for a month, solidly... And the other reason is that if ever I should feel like just being a lotus eater and being lazy and sloppy on this island, Carmina Burana would get me up and go.
that, you see, is the music which I do my aerobics to... it's the music that really gets me going.
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 'Choral': Ode to JoyFavourite
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra & Karl Böhm
I think it's full of joy. It's called The Ode to Joy, and it's all about hope and the future. And so far as I personally am concerned, My views on life are that we just go on and there is always something to do and you can make it happen.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:19Why have you stepped down from real power [as leader of Westminster City Council]?
I think that there comes a moment in anything that anybody does when you feel that you have really done your best... It's time to move on.
Presenter asks
5:18What was your life like at the time [you decided to go into politics]?
I got married so young. I was married at eighteen. And I had my children at twenty and twenty-two. So I really didn't think there was anything strange about the fact that I was very busy... And then, round about the age of thirty nine, my daughter She got married and I wondered what on earth uh I was going to do with myself... I became a magistrate. And I remember my great lack of confidence. that I came in there and for the first time I wasn't somebody's daughter, somebody's wife, or somebody's mother.
Presenter asks
6:36Have you ever stopped and thought, 'I never asked for all of this. I'm really just a very ordinary housewife'?
Yes, I have felt it. And uh I think the difficulty about being in politics and public life is... once you admit that you feel sensitive or you are hurt by what they're saying. then of course you can reckon that your career's finished.
The keepsakes
The luxury
I promise that if you let me have the largest Swiss Army knife with the most number of blades, I will not try to escape with it. ... What I really want it for is I want to get my golf club handicapped down, because you see there's all these bunkers there, and I want to practice, so I'd whittle away and make at least one golf club. And then the other thing is I really would love to master windsurfing. ... So I would like to make myself a windsurfer.
Presenter asks
7:16Have you been tougher [as leader] because you didn't want them to see that female vulnerability?
I think as a woman it's extremely difficult to do it right. If we are in any way... sensitive, then it's interpreted as being weak. A man who is strong, that's fine, but the the other side of the coin for a woman is she's bossy... Once I decided that if this is the game, I'll learn it and I'll be better than you. Then it began to improve.
Presenter asks
9:37Where was [your father, Sir John Cohen] in life when you were born?
Oh, I think he was already okay. We lived actually in Cackney and we left there when I was four and they were able to afford to build themselves a very nice house in Finchley... although we've always had the comforts, we also always had constant reminders about other people and a very great emphasis on not being too toffee-nosed.
Presenter asks
13:55Didn't your Jewishness also at that school prevent you ultimately from being head girl?
Yes, well that's one of those things... I suspect that the reason was they didn't really want to put Cohen on the notice board as we came through. Er, but it will remain a matter of mystery to me.
“I suspect that my difficulty arises from my genes. I'm somebody who always wants to make it happen. That becomes a little bit difficult within the narrow confines of local government.”
“I remember my great lack of confidence. that I came in there and for the first time I wasn't somebody's daughter, somebody's wife, or somebody's mother. That's a very, very mind-boggling feeling.”
“I think as a woman it's extremely difficult to do it right. If we are in any way... sensitive, then it's interpreted as being weak. A man who is strong, that's fine, but the the other side of the coin for a woman is she's bossy.”
“I think that life consists always of moving forward. And if you are available and if you're open, if you're learning, it's a learning curve. If you're learning all the time. then there's always something”