Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Cricketing hero and all-rounder, known for fast bowling, big hitting, and breaking records, nearing 400 Test wickets.
On the island
Eight records
Something that epitomizes my era, rock and roll and the start of rock and roll.
Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 'Eroica'
Ludwig van Beethoven, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
To me, classical music is epitomized by Beethoven.
They brought communities, they brought countries together.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, conducted by Sir Georg Solti
When that goes wrong for me, I go at home and I put on Tchaikovsky's 1812.
I'm Still StandingFavourite
It was a very important part of my life and Elton actually was very influential … he saw me through a very difficult time.
Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1
Edward Elgar, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult
I am very much through and through British … and I can't think of a better way of finishing it.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:20How big a disappointment was it [not being chosen to play this winter in the West Indies]?
Personally it wasn't that great a disappointment because I hadn't particularly played that well this summer … [but] the thing that baffled me, though, was why spend three months talking me into making myself available to go on tour, then not to pick me.
Presenter asks
1:52Do you think [the selectors] were mad not to select [David Gower]?
Well, I think if you're taking the best on in their own backyard … the West Indies, I find it hard to believe that you don't take your best players in England, and David Gower is certainly one of the best players that we've ever produced.
Presenter asks
5:18What sort of schoolboy were you? If you didn't do your homework, were you also quite difficult to control?
No, I was actually a house monitor at one stage … I think the way that one teacher described me a few years after I'd left school, he said, you know, you were actually the most likable rogue we've ever had at that school …
The keepsakes
The book
an encyclopedia of the fishes of the world
the book and the luxury item actually come hand in hand because as I said right at the start I intend to survive and I want to uh I have no intentions of giving up and going away. So, what I'd like to do is, I'd like a book. Whether it be an encyclopedia or whatever of the fishes of the world.
The luxury
I'd like the luxury I asked them to be a fishing rod so I can catch them and eat while I'm on the island and live.
Presenter asks
9:28Tell me about that day in the summer of 1974 when in many ways the legend of Ian Botham began. You were 18, playing for Somerset, facing Andy Roberts?
I had Andy slipped me a bouncer and … as I was a brash young eighteen year old I didn't have much respect for these quick bowlers … I attempted to try something that resembled a hook shot … it knocked two teeth out with my own fist … But two days later, also, you then realise, I'm sure, quite quickly, that you're a hero … how does that feel?
Presenter asks
15:28What do you think, then, are your greatest strengths?
My greatest strength, I think, without doubt, is loyalty. And at times I'm too loyal to people … taking me for a ride … because I trust them.
Presenter asks
17:13You were Captain of England in the early eighties, but it wasn't altogether a happy experience. Why did you ask to step down in the end? Did it cramp your style?
No, it didn't cramp my style. The thing was I was getting fed up of people saying that the captaincy is affecting his play. … I think on reflection I was probably a little bit young for the captaincy but … when that comes along your way, you want it.
“The thing that baffled me, though, was why spend three months talking me into making myself available to go on tour, then not to pick me.”
“I think the way that one teacher described me a few years after I'd left school, he said, you know, he said, you were actually the most likable rogue we've ever had at that school in my time and I thought, well, I can handle that, that's quite a nice compliment.”
“I don't believe that if you go out onto any sports field … you owe them the respect and the right to go out there and try and beat them, because that's what sport is all about, competitiveness. That's what life's all about.”
“It's amazing what people will do … you've got certain newspapers in this country who will pay vast sums of money … to any Tom, Dick and Harry off the street who wants to drop someone in it.”
“If you feel like I'm gullible at times.”
“You're not here for a long time, but you're here for a good time.”