Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
British aristocrat and landowner, one of the UK's richest men, owner of vast property including prime London real estate.
On the island
Eight records
AlbatrossFavourite
it has this wonderful solitude about it and leading a busy and often confusing life one longs on occasions for solitude
the only piece of music that I think encompasses the tragedy of Ireland so brilliantly
I've always had a great fondness for Liverpool, and particularly the Scouts
it also helps me to forget about the leasehold reform act, perhaps
I remember her coffin being taken out of the cathedral in Inniskillen... it left I think an indelible mark
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
it shows all that flash and dare of cavalrymen of old, and I hope of the modern day one as well
I believe this record really so clearly and so cleverly sums up within and contained within its music the West Coast
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:16If it doesn't belong to you, Gerald, who does it belong to?
Well, it belongs to my family. Um it's part of my heritage as anything else is part of one's heritage, whether it be a building or whether it be green fields. In the context of eternity, if I'm lucky, I might live on this earth for seventy years. Uh that estate has been with us for three, four, five, six hundred years. So I'm only a mere flicker in the process of time and the process of history.
Presenter asks
6:37Do you recall the moment when your father told you all this was going to be yours?
I will never forget it. It was shortly after my uncle died, and I remember him sitting me down, and really the the dawning of the realization of what was ahead of one almost made me run for the door, slam it, and keep on running.
Presenter asks
11:23Would it be fair to say you were traumatized by this business of being sent away?
I think I was actually. I think I was.
The keepsakes
The book
G. A. Henty
One of the only reasons I ever got a history O level was as a result of reading a number of boys books ... I'm going to enter my second childhood whilst I'm on my island, as I shall read through Russian Snows by G. A. Henty, playing Albatross.
The luxury
I would be able to watch my albatross through the telescope ... and when I became very old and exceedingly decrepit and half blind I'd be able to read my G A Hente through Russian snows through it.
Presenter asks
Why did you resign from the Tory party?
My family have been an integral part of the Tory Party, and as I say, my father was an Austrian Unionist Member of Parliament. However, that was in those days very much part of the Tory Party. And so, therefore, our political ties go back a very long time. And I didn't leave it easily. It was a very difficult decision to make. However, I always believed that one of the fundamental beliefs of the Conservative Party, and being what a Conservative was all about, was the privacy of contract, the right of ownership, the sanctity of ownership, the property-owning democracy. When are you part of that property-owning democracy and when aren't you part of that property-owning democracy?
Presenter asks
31:45How will you cope?
I would cope really, I think, very well. I was born and bred on an island, in the middle of a very large lake, with only one or two houses on it. I'd be very happy on my island. I would look forward to it, in fact.
Presenter asks
33:55What about a luxury?
My luxury would be a telescope. And I would be able to watch my albatross through the telescope, um if I'm allowed one and I would be able to watch other forms of life through my telescope and when I became very old and exceedingly decrepit and half blind I'd be able to read my G A Hente through Russian snows through it. So it would have a dual purpose, which I would look forward to.
“In the context of eternity, if I'm lucky, I might live on this earth for seventy years. Uh that estate has been with us for three, four, five, six hundred years. So I'm only a mere flicker in the process of time and the process of history.”
“I didn't actually know that I was going to inherit all this until about the age of fifteen.”
“You don't inherit something just to sell it.”
“I will never forget it. It was shortly after my uncle died, and I remember him sitting me down, and really the the dawning of the realization of what was ahead of one almost made me run for the door, slam it, and keep on running.”
“I was teased mercilessly about it.”
“I'm not very happy in amongst a lot of traffic, a lot of fuss, a lot of people. I'm not an urban boy. Never have been.”