Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
IT entrepreneur and philanthropist who gave away £50 million; arrived in Britain as a Kindertransport refugee.
On the island
Eight records
Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050
I would horror of horrors play Bach. as background music. And so I d I hardly noticed it at all. It just became part of and of course I am a mathematician, so it makes a lot of sense.
Well, my sister comforted me on the journey, and Renata had a very sweet voice, as I remember. She's dead now. And this is one of the songs that she used to sing to me.
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16
Well, Uncle was in a sense the musical one, but Auntie was passionate about greed. She introduced me to greed and taught me in a sense sort of, you know, listen to the bells, listen what's happening here, and then sort of finding out the story. So she really has given me a love of greed as well, and that remains.
Piano Sonata No. 16 in C major, K. 545 "Sonata facile"Favourite
He's very shy, and he really plays for his own enjoyment. And when we were first married, he has stopped this now. I knew he would stop playing as I came into the house. And so I used to walk round the garden, even in the snow and rain. As soon as I opened the front door, he'd stop. And this is one of the pieces that he plays.
Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667 "The Trout"
Daniel Barenboim, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Jacqueline du Pré & Zubin Mehta
The music of the trout has always been a favourite one, and I do associate it very much with Giles. He required constant attention, and I mean constant. One of the few things where he was quiet and happy was playing with water. So he was a very clean child. He had three baths a day. But yes, he's a watery little child. And Derek and I have always loved the Thames, and um it seemed to combine both those streams of my life.
One of the charities that I supported was the Wirral Autistic Society and there's a group of eight of them there including a music t tutor who formed a little band and I've heard them over the years performing in public and they get better every time I hear them. So I would like to hear the Beethovens as they call themselves from the Wirral Autistic Society. It really makes shows autism as what it can be and how you can value it.
Piano Sonata No. 62 in E-flat major, Hob. XVI:52
When Giles died, we had a lot of consideration about what music to play at his humanist funeral, and we did play some sad type music, but also decided to play the most beautiful thing that both of us agreed on. And this is it.
Robert Plane, Northern Sinfonia & Howard Griffiths
From the music point of view, I've discovered fairly recently that the 20th century composer Finzi. had worked at Prowers Court School when it had been a a preparatory school called King's Wood. And I like his music. The piece I've chosen I think is one of the most exciting and it will link me to Pricecourt.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:34Why have you been known as Steve?
My... company was more of a crusade for women... I wasn't really getting any responses to my business development letters and my dear husband of over fifty years sort of suggested that um I sign my letters just as Steve rather than Stephanie. And it seemed to me as if we began to get some responses and the business began to take off.
Presenter asks
4:44Do you remember anything of life before you tumbled out onto the platform at Liverpool Street Station?
Well, like most children, one remembers the uh Childish things, the lost doll rather than the lost home... But I was very lucky. I was with my older sister Renata. I was five, she was nine. And our parents really did a very brave thing. They organized for us to come to England on a kind of transport. Basically, into the arms of strangers, although we knew their name, we didn't know them at all.
Presenter asks
6:08What memories do you have of your parents, of the very early years?
Not very many really, because uh we were moving round Europe trying to find a a safe place. I was told we lived in seven countries, I can't think what they were. I remember the gypsies who stole some washing or were accused of stealing some washing. Um I remember things like the stalks in the chimneys of Vienna.
The keepsakes
The book
A. A. Milne
This has all of life in it, and I think will entertain, and I shall enjoy it.
The luxury
Henry Moore mother and child stone statue
I'm going to luxuriate in a bee. Contemporary stone statue by Henry Moore, one of his mother and child, please.
Presenter asks
6:55What do you remember, if anything, of your mother, then?
She was bossy boots, not very loving to me, efficient, very admirable. Um I respected her more than I loved her because we never really bonded.
Presenter asks
11:46How does this survivor's guilt manifest itself?
Fear sadness at of living. Well, Churchill called it a black dog, but there's sort of heavy weight on your shoulders. To be depressed is a mental illness that really is very hard.
Presenter asks
18:17What was the idea behind [your business]?
As a mathematician I had moved into computer software, and software for me was like was like falling in love again... I did have some flair for it. It hit the glass ceiling and I realized that there were a lot of women like me who had good mathematical training, were in the industry and were leaving never to return. And so it was a crusade for women, a company of women, a company for women. an organization that allowed women to go on working in the software industry.
“the only time I forgot Giles was when I was working. And I am a workaholic, so really the only time that I forget work is when I was with Giles. And so the two two seem to work together.”
“There's a sort of irrational survivor's guilt at having survived. And so for many, many years I suffered from uh depression um quite seriously at times.”
“You look at those men whose behaviour you are hearing about in gruesome detail. And cursed do they look like. The local butcher, the man on the bus, absolutely fine, pleasant faces, even warm eyes. And you just cannot judge people by their opinion.”