Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
World expert on Worcester porcelain, former curator at the Royal Worcester Factory, and familiar figure on the Antiques Road Show.
On the island
Eight records
Don Giovanni, K. 527: Act II: Il mio tesoro intanto
The first record takes me right back to London, sung by Count John McCormack, who I actually did meet. I I want him singing a piece of Mozart. His his aria il Nio Tessoro is utterly fantastic in the breath control. I'd I'd sit on my desert island there and I'd try and fathom out how on earth he manages to do these long, long phrases in one breath. I can't do it.
Come Ye Sons of Art, Away, Z. 323: Strike the Viol
Alfred Deller with the Oriana Concert Orchestra
Well, this reminds me of my early days in London, the training to be a singer. I was influenced enormously by Alfred Deller, the great countertenor, and I'd love to hear him singing from from one of Purcell's great works, Strike the Viol.
The Canterbury Pilgrims: The Wife of Bath
Yvonne Kenny with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Richard Hickox
Record number three uh takes me straight back to my student days in London when I I sang with the Alexandra Choir in a wonderful performance of George Dyson's Canterbury Pilgrims. And the the Wife of Bath is just one of those rumbustrious English characters who you can s see her on her palfrey riding along in with a great hat on her head. She's a magnificent character. All the music just drives me mad.
The Choir of Worcester Cathedral, conducted by Christopher Robinson
I'd love to have a piece of Elgar. I got I got fascinated by Elgar when I went to Worcester. Of course, everything breathes Elgar in the air there in Worcester and on the Morvern Hills. He's everywhere. And I thought about taking as my record of Elgar the cello concerto with Dupre and Barbaroli, but I'm sure that record is on the desert island still. You see, someone must have left it there. Just a few people. What happens to all the records? That's what I wonder.
Hugh the Drover: Act I: Song of the Road
More music. I'd like to have James Johnston singing Hughes's Song of the Road from Act One of Vaughn Williams Hugh the Drover. This this takes me straight back to my wedding night because I got married at Worcester Cathedral to Barbara and we spent our wedding night in Birmingham singing with the BBC Midland singers in the performance of Foreign Williams Hugh the Drover. But I shall never forget that night with confetti running down my trouser legs, singing with this fantastic Irish teller who you know his singing of Hughes's Song of the Road is just fantastic.
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048: I. Allegro
Kammerorchester Berlin, conducted by Peter Schreier
The next thing I suppose really ought to introduce the the antique throat show, because the original musical introduction of the antique throat show was Bach's Brandenberg concerto number three, the first movement, and um they've switched it now as a much more modern, up-to-date piece. But um I I've loved Bach's music and I I'd love to have the Brandenberg concerto number three.
Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Op. 31: III. Nocturne
Peter Pears and Dennis Brain with the Boyd Neel String Orchestra, conducted by Benjamin Britten
Well, this is uh a piece of Benjamin Britton. I I've loved Benjamin Britton's work and I've also admired uh the the singing of Peter Piers and the hornplaying of Dennis Brain and all three of them come together in this magical way, which is three great craftsmen at work.
Dies Natalis, Op. 8: III. SalutationFavourite
Wilfrid Brown with the English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Christopher Finzi
It's a work by Gerald Finzy, whose work I've I've always admired, and this is Wilfrid Brown singing a section of Die's Natalis, which is a a newborn baby's look at the world, and Browne singing is is is most incredible. I think he was the finest singer of English words that I've ever known.
The keepsakes
The book
A. E. Housman
Well, I love poetry, and I I particularly love Hausmann, A. Houseman, and A Shropshire Ladd. It's a very slim volume. I can slip it into my pocket, can't I? of of The Shropshire Lad would take me instantly back towards you.
The luxury
A large supply of Indian tea and an 18th-century Worcester teapot with a tea bowl
I'd need gallons of tea a day to keep me going, and um I'd have to take a great supply, a huge supply of a really good Indian tea. Is that all right? And of course I'd I would need uh oh a Worcester teapot, an eighteenth-century Worcester teapot, to make it in, the most perfect shaped Worcester teapot, with a scene painted on it of an Indian fisherman on a desert island. And uh there's a wonderful scene of that, and uh I would take that one with a little tea bowl to drink the tea from.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:29What is it that turns you on about a pot?
Difficult to say is it's like like a love affair, really. It's a tactile thing. It's it's a a heavenly produced thing. I mean, we're supposed to be made from the clay of the earth, aren't we, ourselves? And to dust and ashes we go at the end.
Presenter asks
2:25What's been the most exciting [find on the Antiques Roadshow]?
Well, I suppose it would have to be Ozzie the slipware owl that turned up in Northampton and this dear young lady had no idea what it was. To me it was heaven's scent. It was the the most marvellous thing I'd seen and uh it was wonderful.
Presenter asks
10:45How did this little boy from Soho with Bob the Dog get to do all of that [singing and training]?
Well, I suppose it developed through my army service. I I joined the South East Command concert party and I was the resident baritone uh and that led me to apply for a scholarship at the Sutton and Chee Music Festival there. And I won this prestigious scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music for a year.
Presenter asks
15:35Why Worcester? Is that why you applied to Worcester Cathedral, because of the singing?
Yes, I wanted to sing in cathedrals and a a vacancy occurred at Worcester and I applied for it and went down and had a lovely interview with David Wilcox. He offered me the job and also a post at the Royal Graham School teaching music there.
Presenter asks
18:50Was it like coming home? Did you suddenly think this is what you were put on earth to find out about?
Yes, I think it was a blinding flash of light. You know, it's about like St Paul, isn't he, on the road to Damascus, you know? Bash this this um I the the fi the finding of my my very first important pot in the ground really set me off.
Presenter asks
29:19The purists say the show used to be just a love of antiques, and now it is actually very materialistic, it's about money. Do you think that's wrong?
Well, I suppose people are are entitled to know how much a thing is worth. I mean, they may be sitting there with a with a terribly valuable item, and if it's not insured, they they should be told.
“I always would like myself to be made into a really nice pot at the end of my life.”
“Once it gets into your bloodstream, I mean, clay is just impossible to get out.”
“I love to see things used and used with love.”