Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Artist and naturalist, known for his wildlife paintings and illustrations.
On the island
Eight records
it was the first record I ever bought in the fifties, and it reminds me very much of those times.
thinking of the early time and jazz and the fifties, it must be Dave Brubeck
On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
it very much reminds me of Dorset in May. I always go to Dorset in May and I love to hear the cuckoo.
It's such a fine piece of delicate music, and it reflects perhaps the sunrise of Turner. It's so pure.
Soundtrack of a rookery in spring
I'm thinking of myself being isolated on an island, Roy, and I'm rather worried about that at times. And I want things really to remind me of the countryside, so I'd love a soundtrack of a rookery in spring, because I do have a rookery in front of my cottage.
Thinking of my interest in Dorset always and Thomas Hardy, the lovely old song Bushes and Briars I think Vaughan Williams found in Essex, but I would like to have the soundtrack from the film Far from the Madding Crowd. In which this tune was featured.
reminds me of my family during the war and right up to the present day because I, through my brother, was able to meet the brother of Glen Miller, Herb Miller, who still continues this wonderful sound.
Jupiter (I Vow to Thee, My Country)Favourite
from the planets, Jupiter, and that lovely peace I vow to thee, my country.
In conversation
Presenter asks
3:21Did you take to village life [in Hertfordshire]? Did you enjoy it?
I think it's something I took to straight away. I love the open countryside. … I loved the country life straight away, and I was fascinated by the farms and the wildlife, even at that early stage. My father used to put me on the crossbar of his bicycle … and he used to show me things to paint and draw.
Presenter asks
4:25What were you good at at school?
Oh, very little. Uh well, I could paint and I could draw. I was fascinated with history. I was quite good at athletics. I loved gardening because I could lose myself in the wood at the back of the school, so I could get lost. But really and truly, my school academically didn't exist. But I had a wonderful headmaster who allowed me to paint pictures all the time.
Presenter asks
7:10Did the ecclesiastical side [of the St Albans studios] appeal to you as much as the artistic side? Were you interested in the church and in religious matters?
No, I to be honest, Roy, I was not deeply interested in that. I mean, no more than any young person leaving school and thinking about the subject. But I was very concerned about trying to become an artist.
The keepsakes
The book
The largest manual on how to swim
I would like you to find the largest manual on how to swim, because I can't. If I fall off the raft, which I'm sure I'll be able to make, I've got to learn to swim.
The luxury
A very large sketch book with paints and pencils
I would like a very large sketch book, and could I have a few paints and a pencils? Because there's no way that I'm not going to get back, Roy, and as soon as I get back, I'm on an exhibition. So if I do a lot of painting and drawing while I was there, I perhaps might do that.
Presenter asks
15:59Where did your interest in Thomas Hardy start?
anybody that becomes interested in the English landscape uh and loves to study masters of the past, you can't avoid Hardy. I mean, to me, once I read a poem on Small Peace of Hardy, I wanted to see Dorset, I wanted to see that wonderful heartland which influenced him all his life.
Presenter asks
20:09Is there anything the ordinary citizen with the small garden can do [to help butterflies]?
Indeed, everyone can help. I mean start thinking about the cottage garden flowers, the old-fashioned flowers, which had a lot of nectar. … So look at the old cottage garden and you don't get it far wrong and let plenty of nettles around, certainly won't, because our pretty butterflies lay their eggs on stinging nettles.
“I think if you have any connections with the arts you've got to be interested in music and poetry and sculpture and painting. The whole lot, because I feel that artists are influenced within themselves, within their friends and within artists and composers and writers of the past.”
“I've looked at broad landscape, but then I've got down on my hands and knees and seen the landscape of a butterfly. And I felt they were totally overlooked as an art form, and really overlooked as regards natural history terms in many respects.”
“There's no way you can have those jewels on the wing in the summer days unless you give them wild England.”