Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
2 appearances
A quiz show contestant who won Brain of Britain and was a long-standing panelist on Round Britain Quiz for thirty years.
On the island
Eight records
This reminds me of the sheer pleasure I've always felt in singing in a choir.
Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines
I'd like to be reminded of the days when I used to watch my father playing in the band and listen to him
And she has a voice, I think, like white lilac, you know, it's refined and elegant and smooth, like a string of pearls. And she sings this quite unremarkable little number beautifully.
Beguile Your Gwenydh Gwyn (Watching the White Wheat)
I'd liked, I think, on this desert island to take a little Welsh song, which would remind me of all my lovely Welsh in laws and the beautiful country itself.
The Battle Hymn of the Republic
Val Doonican with the George Mitchell Choir
I think is one of the great tunes of all time, even though it was, as it were, the national anthem of the North, it was written by a Southerner.
It's a Russian popular song and it's called The Field and it's sung by a baritone called Yuri Gulyayov.
It's a most eerie, intricate sound, and it's a constant source of fascination to me.
Soave sia il vento (from Così fan tutte)Favourite
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Christa Ludwig and Walter Berry
If I had that record on a desert island with me, I could learn all three parts, couldn't I, and sing them one at a time, sort of sing along a mozza.
Choral singing in small groups I think is particularly delightful. So I've chosen a I think it's a madrigal called Fa Una Canzone, which means make a song. It's by a chap called Orazzio Vecchi.
Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines
I've always loved military band sound, and I think probably the best band in the world. Is the band of the Royal Marines. And they have a sunset call, which is played when the flag is lowered in the evening.
Cambridge University Musical Society and the Choir of King's College, Cambridge
It's the forty part motet by Thomas Talis, in other words, about end of the sixteenth century. And it really is in forty parts, too. Eight choirs of five voices in each choir.
Soave sia il vento (from Così fan tutte)Favourite
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Christa Ludwig, and Walter Berry
And it's the story of two sisters, and this part is where they're waving goodbye to their boyfriends who are sailing off from the Bay of Naples, and with them is an old curmudgeonly fellow, a baritone. And it's called Suave Sialbento.
The next piece is probably one of the finest tunes in the world, the Battle Hymn of the Republic. And it's sung by the George Mitchell singers.
Berg und Burgen schaun herunter
Thomas Allen and Roger Vignoles
Thomas Allan, he's doctor Thomas Allan... And he has recorded the Schumann Lederchreis with Roger Vignals.
The one I think I like best is the Prelude to Act Two, which is a picture of the sea off the East Anglian coast, because Benjamin Britton lived in um East Anglia and Olborough. And it is exactly like the sun sparkling on the waves on a lovely Sunday morning. It's called Sunday morning.
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
The last one is a reminder of all my lovely Welsh in-laws and friends. I think to be part of a Welsh congregation or choir is a wonderful experience, even if you're not very religious, you know.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:40Could you endure loneliness [on a desert island]?
Yes, I could. I'm quite good at being on my own, actually. But I must have an island that isn't too hot or too cold.
Presenter asks
3:15Was it [your father's] influence that made you take up music as you did originally?
Well, he discouraged me a little bit because it was a f and is a very precarious profession, but I think he taught me first to appreciate music anyway.
Presenter asks
4:15Were you especially bright at school?
Yes, I suppose I have to admit it sounds elitist, doesn't it? It's a dirty word these days. But I was, yes. And uh I suppose if we had been a little richer, I would have got a state scholarship and gone on to university. But you could get scholarships in those days, but they didn't hand out as many grants. … And it was a question of being somebody being able to keep me while I was learning, and that was impossible. So I had to go to work.
Presenter asks
The keepsakes
The book
Ludwig van Beethoven
I don't read an orchestral score very well, and it would be a good opportunity for me to try.
The luxury
a teddy bear stuffed with tea bags and carrying a bottle of Lily of the Valley scent
I can't have a cat. ... while another benign creature is a teddy bear.
Were you good as a teacher?
No, Roy, I wasn't really. I haven't got that gift, that spark that a good teacher must have. … The gift that allows you to joke with children and make them laugh and have fun and then in a second to bring them back to the matter in hand and get serious and really teach them something, you know, hold their interest for the rest of the lesson.
Presenter asks
19:02How did the quiz business start for you?
Well, the Radio Times put an advertisement in which said uh women were required for the Welsh team, so very cheekily I wrote and said, I am Welsh by marriage, will I do? and they said, No, you will not do. But some months later they did need female players for the London section of it, you know.
Presenter asks
0:31Are you quietly cross that [Round Britain Quiz] has been axed, Irene?
Well, I must say I'm rather sad, yes. We had a lot of devoted listeners, you know, used to sendless questions. And yes, it will be a very sad loss for us and for them.
Presenter asks
6:13Why didn't they want you [on Round Britain Quiz initially]?
Well, I don't think they never used a woman on their programme, and they doubted whether oh, after all, was I but a jamped up chorus girl, you know, I hadn't got the sort of background.
Presenter asks
7:15Were you intimidated by [the other Round Britain Quiz contestants' Oxford accents]?
No, not really. I've been session singing for some time, and you get a kind of universal accent doing that.
Presenter asks
8:20What do you think they thought of you in the beginning?
I don't know... they're all very highly academic gents, but not once has any of them ever patronized me, which is wonderful, I think.
Presenter asks
22:19Why do you think [the Black and White Minstrels] worked?
They loved it. It was because of the tunes. I mean, they were good songs, beautifully arranged by George, who is a master of that sort of thing. And the people knew the music. And they love to see pretty girls and men being conjured.
Presenter asks
32:25Do you ever wonder if your life would have been very different if you'd gone to university and had a formal education?
No, it's impossible to say, isn't it, at this stage? ... Regrets none now, no. A few years ago maybe. But at the time I had no regrets either. I mean, it just wasn't possible and that was it, you know.
“I think I would have liked to have been a musician of some kind, either a singer or pianist, or even an actress. I rather fancied myself at school as an actress. But I had to put it out of my mind, that was it.”
“I had a few small parts, but they were in very lightweight operas like Marriage of Figura. I was a bridesmaid in that, you know. And in The Magic Flute I had a little part as one of the boys. I loved that. But I could see that I was never going to really be an international opera star. I'm not big enough, not good enough, you know, not strong enough. And not single minded enough either. You need a great determination.”
“It's odd, you know, isn't it, that Elizabethan life that was so dirty and smelly and dangerous and full of bad drains and heresy could throw up this this great flower of music.”
“I did when I first left grammar school, yes, because I was a shall we say, a working class elitist, you know, and I wanted the best of everything. And I knew that if I was going to go into a a good job I would have to speak properly.”
“I'm the one of the world's great telewatchers, one of the great telewatchers of our time.”
“A detachment sometimes, but lonely, never. You know, I'm I'm too fond of people for that.”