Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
First woman on the board of a national newspaper, known for her pioneering fashion journalism on Fleet Street.
On the island
Eight records
And at the end of a very hard-working day on the mirror, about ten of us used to go to a restaurant called Joe Allen's, and there was a wonderful pianist there, Jimmy, and we used to stand round the piano and sing. And then we could each choose our favourite songs. And my favourite song was They're Playing Songs of Love, but not for me.
Chan ChanFavourite
I loved dancing and I had broken my knee 15 years ago, which had been badly mended three times, and I haven't been able to dance. And somebody brought me Buena Vista Social Club, and I suddenly found, to my amazement, I was dancing. I got up in my living room and I started to dance.
By the Light of the Silvery Moon
One of my father's virtues was he had a lovely singing voice, and he used to sing this song to me, in fact to anybody who'd listened.
This was the first musical I remember going to, and when we came out and I was drunk with pleasure and sadness... I think for me the most emotional one in this very emotional story is There's a Place for Us, because we all know there isn't.
Well, I was on the Mirror when the Beatles were born and they went from nowhere to everywhere... We're going to give a ball for the char ladies of Britain. And that's what we did. Our cabaret was Silla Black, Singing Shout, and the Beatles.
June Anderson and Cecilia Bartoli
I've been a film fan all my life, I always will be, and I went to see a French Canadian film about which I remember nothing. But I remembered this piece of music, and every time I listen to it it raises my spirits, and I think two female voices, when they're wonderful, singing together, have a special thrill for me.
Well, I've been a Barbara Streisand fan ever since her first musical in New York. But the record I've chosen is something that for me combines all my enthusiasms. It's the film again called The Way We Were.
Spring (from The Four Seasons)
Gidon Kremer and the London Symphony Orchestra
Well, the final piece of music reminds me of my husband, because when we had friends to supper, I was writing a cookery column, among other things, and I became a really good cook... And Geoffrey used to do the washing up, and I used to go to bed, and I used to listen to him, because while he was doing the washing up, this was the piece of music that he always played.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:33Do you aim to be fashionable or to be stylish?
I've never been fashionable. I think fashion needs to be followed at a very, very respectful distance... My blueprint for fashion was to be simple and stylish. Don't follow the latest fashion. You'll look soppy in a puffball skirt next year.
Presenter asks
6:36Did they have the same enthusiasm as Hugh Cudlip for appreciating that you were bringing something literally to the table, to the boardroom table?
I think, quite honestly, it took them time... I think they appreciated my journalistic abilities. I'm not sure they greeted me with the greatest confidence. But honestly, Kirsty, when you deal with men in situations like I did, you learn how to deal with them. Please believe me, the moment I decided to wear skirts, I had a much easier time. They did not like women in trousers.
Presenter asks
8:38Did you take part in the hard drinking culture [on Fleet Street]?
No, never, never, never. I decided very early on that I was not going to join the girls who were joining the boys. I saw too many girls... Incapable and drunk.
The keepsakes
The book
Stephen Sondheim
I would love that book because every time I read his lyrics I can hear the music in my head.
The luxury
Bronze sculpture of two men on a bench by Giles Penny
I would like to take one with me that is my favourite, and it's by Giles Penny. And it's about eighteen inches high, and it's two men on a bench. It it's in bronze. And every time I pass them, I stroke their heads.
Presenter asks
10:20How did your mum and dad get on?
Not very well. Um my mother was totally deaf, and my father was impatient, and the only way my mother could communicate was lip reading... My father had a terrible temper, and my mother was always trying to persuade him... not to ruin the family, not to spend money we didn't have. He was generous to everybody except us. We had a very, very poverty stricken life.
Presenter asks
11:22Did [your childhood] make you feel nervous or insecure?
It made me feel insecure. It did make me feel insecure. We lived in Dagenham... We were the only Jewish family in Dugenham as far as I can remember. Um I didn't like being Jewish. You know, a child always wants to be like the other children, and I wasn't like the other children.
Presenter asks
28:16Why, what do you think it is about you that might have made you a bad mother?
I reckoned... Being responsible for another person's happiness and future... I just think I couldn't handle it. I just believed I didn't have enough within me to hand on to a child.
“I've never been fashionable. I think fashion needs to be followed at a very, very respectful distance.”
“I don't know how old I'll be when I die, but I'm not going to be wearing beige all the time.”
“I miss having grandchildren so badly I can hardly bear it. When I'm with friends of my age or even younger, and they either produce the grandchildren or photographs of these wonderful children. I can hardly prevent crying.”