Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A well-known horticulturalist, frequently on air and a prolific author.
On the island
Eight records
Webster Booth is going to sing it. I'm very fond of him as a singer, and he's got a voice, the timbre of which is something like my father's.
I am a boy and my aunt suddenly says to me, I want to take you to a concert. ... And then this man comes on the stage and sits down at the piano and starts to play. And I am absolutely entranced.
Vat Jy Goed en Trou
And we always used to call it Yanimed Yopalbin, and we used to sing it round the campfire. And it reminds me of those wonderful days in South Africa on the wine farm at Constantia.
The Lass with the Delicate Air
Well, I fell in love one day with a most beautiful girl. ... And the song I loved that she sang at that time was The Lass with the Delicate Air, and I'd like to have it with me. This is Mrs. Shural Cooper.
Concerto Grosso No. 1 in G major
Yehudi Menuhin and the Bath Festival Orchestra
Because Yurimenuin is a great composter, he's a great believer in whole food, a great believer in health in the soil. ... I want to take something with me that will remind me of Yehudi and all the help he's given to the compost world.
He's Got the Whole World in His HandsFavourite
Well, it's a tremendous comfort to know on a desert island that God has got you in his hands, and I know that this is going to be a great comfort to me when I'm lonely and I hear Bev singing this.
The Reluctant Cannabis / The Misalliance (mishearing of 'The Reluctant Cannibals'?)
A record which is amusing. And it's about a couple of plants which climb up one another and it's called the mesians. And I remember first hearing it when I was driving from Thaxted to Bishop Stortford. Now everybody must have thought I was dart because I was laughing my head off.
My wife was with me and we heard of a German Bible college started by a Canadian by the name of Parsha. ... Suddenly this little girl of seven with her father playing the guitar sang this song. ... This is why the Lord Jesus Christ came, that we might know that we have eternal life.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:57How well do you think you could adapt yourself mentally to solitude?
Well, I think basically I should hate it because I love people. I'm gregarious. I like talking. So I don't think I really should like it very much.
Presenter asks
1:09What would you be happiest to have got away from?
Oh, I'd be happiest to have got away from noise and chemicals of all kinds, particularly chemical fertilizers, machinery and smoke and soot.
Presenter asks
5:45Your family background was military. What was your first ambition?
Oh, I always wanted to be a gardener. I never wanted to be anything else.
Presenter asks
5:52How did that interest start?
It started as a boy of five or six. I started collecting flowers. I started to press them, as my governor showed me. Then I stuck them into books and... Well, I've still got that first book I ever did with every plant labelled today.
The keepsakes
The book
Matthew Henry
I want to take Matthew Henry's commentary with me so that when I'm reading my Bible I'll have a Matthew Henry to help.
Presenter asks
6:20A part of your childhood was spent in South Africa, wasn't it?
Yes, my father was sent out to South Africa in command of the Royal Artillery and took me with him. So I went to school there at the Darsison College. And I'm glad I did because I made friends with a great fruit farmer at Constantia and so I went on to the fruit farm and learnt to grow grapes.
Presenter asks
19:46Which are the most enlightened countries about natural growth, natural composting?
I think those that haven't had the opportunity of being able to buy chemical fertilizers, countries like Spain, for instance, where they're still using compost and manure because they can't afford to buy chemical fertilizers. This is sad, but it's true.
Presenter asks
22:08Would you have a shot at escaping [from the island]?
No, I don't think so. I'd have to be quite sure about it. I'm a great believer in God having a plan, and I would want to be in that plan before I did any escaping.
“Oh, it was nostalgia. I'm tremendously interested and keen on the past and my father and others who have played a great part in my life. It's these peaks somehow in my life and career that made me choose these records.”
“If I have a handful of my soil, I have 28 million living organisms in my hand. And these are the wonderful creatures that God has given to do the work in the soil, together with the worms.”
“The better flavour, the better colour, the better texture, the the better value for money, i the better health giving properties. Well, the health is worth paying a little extra for.”
“Well, it's a tremendous comfort to know on a desert island that God has got you in his hands, and I know that this is going to be a great comfort to me when I'm lonely and I hear Bev singing this.”
“I'm a great believer in God having a plan, so I would want to be in that plan before I did any escaping.”