Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Actor who started in the musical 'White Horse Inn' and later acted with Alastair Simm.
On the island
Eight records
Goodbye from Whitehorse Inn, sung by Andy Cole and the chorus. That was the very first show I was ever in. And that will bring back my very first first night in the West End at the London Coliseum packed to the roof. And this particular song stopped the show. And it was a very, very emotional moment.
This doesn't evoke any particular memory … I think there are bound to be some seeds on this island, aren't there? … I would use this as my cry to the gods to help me get them going.
This doesn't have any particular memories, apart from the fact that I did see Kirsten Flagstadt in an absolutely fantastic production of it. But I think I would like to play this on stormy nights.
Polka (from Schwanda the Bagpiper)
This was a piece of music that we had before the second half of Mr. Gilly, the Bridey play I did with Alistair. We were like a couple of Pavlovian dogs with this piece of music … for years after I can still get a very, very vivid picture of this.
I would this would bring back a very happy period dur during that series. Also I think uh I might have a dance on the island with this one, 'cause it's the only bit of music I ever learned to dance to.
I'd like to make an occasion of it and I think I'd like to have Herb Alpert playing El Presidente every time I went in for a swim.
Symphony No. 2Favourite
This I think is probably my favourite piece of music and my wife's favourite piece of music and we both discovered this when we first met. So this would be very happy for me to listen to.
Hallelujah Chorus (from Messiah)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus
This was the playing out music of the philanthropist at the end of the play … at the end of those two years, the last time I heard the hallelujah chorus being played, it was sweet music to me. I think also I'd like this to be played on the island when I come out from having my swim.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:39How did you set about choosing these eight discs for a very long exile?
I found it very difficult um when I started and then I decided that I would like pieces of music that would evoke very happy memories.
Presenter asks
3:17Did you see a lot of theatre as a child [in Tooting]?
Quite a bit. I used to go to Wimbledon Theatre quite a bit.
Presenter asks
5:16You never went to drama school. Do you regret that, or have you ever found it a disadvantage?
Not yet.
Presenter asks
11:55You had a very successful career in films. What was the very first [film you appeared in]?
Uh College [Quiet] Delette, which is the the film of the play that I was in.
The keepsakes
The luxury
Could I take a box of cigars? Yes, good Havana cigars, three hundred and sixty-five of them.
Presenter asks
12:39All through your career, George, you've been the featured player. You've taken second billing and not star billing. Has this been frustrating?
No, not at all. Oh, I think it's through working with Alastair Sims so much. I know when I'm beaten.
Presenter asks
14:43How well could you look after yourself on the island? Could you build a hut?
Yes, I could build a house.
“I think really the thing I'd like to get away from, just for a little while, is my children saying, What are you going to do now, Daddy?”
“R really [working with Alastair Sim], that was really the the form the help took and uh I mean getting rid of my accent, I had a terrible cockney accent.”
“Most of the time I spent shoveling coal. I became quite good at it. Yes, I suppose it made a man of me.”
“This [A Man of Our Times] was one of the most satisfying pieces of work I think I've ever done, because you had a natural time scale in that there were the series took three months.”
“I'm not playing this part longer than a year. If I haven't been rescued, I'll have made that raft by the end of the year.”
“As I'm going to be on my own and I'm not going to have to worry about people saying, my goodness, you don't read that sort of thing, do you? I'd like to take real hardcore fiction. I'd like to take the form book.”