Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Swimmer who won a gold and a silver medal at the Montreal Olympics.
On the island
Eight records
Heaven Is Ten Zillion Light Years Away
Well I suppose it represents to me some a religious flavor and uh he speaks of God in here and he speaks of God being so far away from people on earth and uh I suppose not being a very religious person it uh it means a little bit more to me than you know going to church and listening to it to from a minister.
the reason I chose this was just because it's uh it appeals to my musical taste.
I read in a magazine that Eric Clapton had been addicted to heroin for four years and I think this record is a plea by him to God to give him strength to fight the addiction of heroin.
The reason I chose this one was because my girlfriend is Kate Curley is always complaining about me being out with the boys. So I suppose it reminds me of her and it's a comical appearance.
I remember seeing this record being played on top of the pops at boarding school, so it brings back a few pleasant memories of my life at Daniel Schwartz College.
John McLaughlinFavourite
The reason I picked this one was because the roommate I had in Miami was a great Miles Davis fan, so I had to listen to a lot of Miles Davis. And I got used to it eventually by listening to it so much.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:12What would you be happiest to have got away from [on a desert island]?
I think the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Um it'd be nice to escape from the the cars and the streets and the people walking around and everything.
Presenter asks
4:22As a schoolboy, what did you want to be?
Um I suppose there were many things I wanted to be at first. I think my first uh job I I wished to be was to become a pilot, but then I grew out of that and I wanted to become a a marine biologist.
Presenter asks
5:58You decided to go for the nineteen seventy two Olympics at Munich, or was it decided for you?
Well, I suppose up to then my my father and the schoolmasters had been putting a bit of pressure on me to continue swimming. But after the Commonwealth Games it was my decision to continue swimming to head for the Munich Olympics. So I was a person that was fully, you know, committed myself then.
The keepsakes
The book
while I'm on the island I can learn a lot of English words and also translate them into Spanish, so uh I won't be wasting my time for the fascinate you?
The luxury
Well, I've decided to take a painting set with me. I haven't had much time to do a bit of painting, so uh In my spare time on the island I'd uh I'd like to do a bit of painting.
Presenter asks
What about the psychological buildup to a race, David? Can you hate, or is it an ice-cold analytical approach?
I think for me it is an approach of not ice cold, but of not really caring about your competition, just pretending that they're there but they don't really exist. I don't think I'm capable of hating somebody that I race against. Especially when I I race against John, you know, it's more of a, you know, get in there and beat him. And I tend to I think we both do this. We tend to ignore each other and pretend each other, you know, we don't exist to each other.
Presenter asks
12:08The first Montreal event was mild and disastrous. John Mencken beat you in the final of a hundred metres. What went wrong as far as you were concerned?
Well, I suppose it was uh the start that really lost me the race. I had a a slow start. Once I got in the water, I came up and I kicked air out of the the start, which uh probably cost me point three of a second there and the race was won by John by point three.
“I think the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Um it'd be nice to escape from the the cars and the streets and the people walking around and everything.”
“I think for me it is an approach of not ice cold, but of not really caring about your competition, just pretending that they're there but they don't really exist. I don't think I'm capable of hating somebody that I race against.”
“I'd have taken the one we just played, John McLaughlin by Miles Davis, the reason being that it's a record that does take some time to get used to, and it also is a good musical record where there are many, many different instruments playing.”