Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Author who left London to live in Cornwall after being marooned on a tropical island near Tahiti.
On the island
Eight records
Tosca: Act III: Shepherd's Song
I was a fairly lonely boy and I used to invent friends. And one of the friends I invented was the shepherd's boy. who sings a fragment of a song. at the beginning of Act Three in Tosca.
It's a lovely piece of music reflecting water and uh I think it'll be suitable for a desert island.
L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Ernest Ansermet
And that is the memory that I have of that music of the hot July, way back in the early thirties, when the Belarus came over and startled London with these young Russian dancers... We all stood up in our chairs. It was the most exciting and wonderful evening, and I'd love to hear the gallop from the Ger d'Aufront.
Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair
Jeannie was a very, very successful PRO at the Safari and everybody loved her. And uh all the American correspondents always used to call her, Oh, there's Jeannie with the light brown hair and uh often when she came into the restaurant at night Carol Gibbons would see her coming down steps and wave a hand. And then start playing Genie with the Light Brown Hair.
Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27: III. AdagioFavourite
London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by André Previn
What I'd like to have now is the Adajo movement from the Rashbanov Second Symphony conducted rather excitingly by Prevan.
String Quartet in D major, Op. 76, No. 5: IV. Finale
I've never really been very partial. To chamber music until a few years ago, and now I've become very educated to it. And this particular Haydn's got a rather. An exciting beat to it.
Holberg Suite, Op. 40: I. Prelude
Northern Sinfonia conducted by Paul Tortelier
Well, I have really no reason for this record. Uh except I'm absolutely enchanted by Greg. And instead of using the usual Grieg, I've chosen this prelude of the Holberg, sweet.
Bless the Bride: This Is My Lovely Day
A. P. H. was a very great friend of ours and used to stay with us... But uh the song that I would most prefer is This Is My Lovely Day because we wrote the first night.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:33How do you feel about taking things a step further and being marooned on a tropical island?
Well, I was marooned once upon a time on a tropical island, yes, near uh Tahiti... Although physically I got away from that island, mentally I never did. And I started looking, as soon as I got back to civilization, for an equivalent island. And I was lucky enough one day to find this spot in Cornwall which is near Nan's End.
Presenter asks
1:27How important is music in your life?
It's had tremendous importance ever since um... I suppose I was about a child of eight. I was being uh brought up I was brought up in Cologne... both my mother and father were very, very fond of music. and they used to take me to the Klohn Opera House... I used to go there, oh, three or four times a week, and of course I never understood a word anybody was singing. But I got tremendously emotionally excited.
Presenter asks
3:53You were at Harrow. Did you do well there?
No, I was hopeless. I failed at every examination, but um I remember consoling myself because I had a a wonderful precedent about somebody failing in the examination, that was Churchill... He, um, said I was useless to society one day after I'd missed a catch in a house match.
The keepsakes
The book
Marcel Proust
It has had such terrific influence in my life, right from a teenager, when I suddenly realized that all my own inhibitions were shared by other people.
Presenter asks
5:11How long did you stay as a clerk [at Unilever]?
I stayed about um three and a half years, four years... At the corner of Lagy Circus at that time there was a phrenologist... one lunch hour I went uh and had my head bumped and uh I was told exactly what I wanted to hear, that I was unsuited for being a clerk, and that I ought to be a journalist or an interior decorator.
Presenter asks
12:30Was it that book [Time is Mine] which led to your meeting your wife, Jean?
Well, it was really, because she was the press officer at the Savoy at the time... I was introduced to her and immediately said, as your press officer, can you put my book on the bookstall? And um she did immediately, fortunately. So then I got a little bit further with her and asked her her name, her full name, and she said Jean Everold Nicholl... I said you're the girl I'm going to marry, and the reason was that on my world tour I'd had my hand red on a boat... the man said her initials will be JE. And I said the whole thing was foreordained.
Presenter asks
15:44Do you think Blunt was a deep spy? Did he do a lot of damage?
I think he did quite a lot of damage, but at the same time, um from my point of view I always thought he was just an overgrown schoolboy.
“Although physically I got away from that island, mentally I never did.”
“I always remember going back to seeing Jeannie after having a session with Philby. And saying, listen, I just met one of the most hateful men I've ever met in my life. Now, listen, there's no reason for me to say that, because I mean, he'd been charming to me. But there was something in the air, something funny.”
“you always have to get your book, or whatever it is, to somebody on your wavelength. And if they aren't on your way, it doesn't matter what you're going to do, you're never going to have it published or reviewed.”
“It's just a question whether you mentally wanted to get away, because I found a sort of peace that came over one made one feel, Oh, golly, I never want to leave here.”