Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Percussionist who began playing drums when the Boy Scouts gave him a drum.
On the island
Eight records
Saint Nicholas (excerpt)Favourite
chosen because ‘I remain fond of people's voices … particularly if they're singing praise to the Lord’
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan (conductor)
chosen because in silent cinemas ‘Beethoven's music was used much in the incidental music to epic films’
chosen for Lionel Hampton's remarkable technique playing the piano keyboard ‘with his two fingers on the top of this piano’
The Soldier's Tale: The Soldier's March (excerpt)
chosen because ‘the opening march … would make me march along and probably reduce a bit of the fat if I became a bit lazy on the island’
Fifty Years of Broadcasting (excerpt – including chimes of Big Ben)
chosen because ‘What a reminder of home would be those wonderful bells pealing’
James Blades (percussion), Joan Goossens (piano)
chosen because ‘On it my wife accompanies me … and I would think of Ben and I would think of Joan’
Piano Concerto in E-flat, slow movement
Walter Gieseking (soloist/conductor)
chosen because ‘I love Mozart … and I would like it to be played by some one who I loved, and had great admiration and respect. And that was Gieseking’
London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn (conductor)
chosen because ‘Never fails to lift me off my feet’
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:36Why did you become a drummer, a percussionist?
I became a drum player because as a boy I was fascinated by the sound of a drum. … Now ma'am couldn't afford a dram [drum]. But I was told if I joined the Boy Scouts they'd give me a drum. They gave me a drum. And I played it, and I really enjoyed it. That was the beginning of it all.
Presenter asks
1:35You were offered a post in the cathedral choir, weren't you?
I actually got in Peterborough Cathedral Choir … in a rather strange way. … I took along my brother … Tommy was absolutely frightened by the sight and the sound of Doctor Keaton … He shoved a tuning fork in my brother's mouth, said 'Sing that note, boy', while my brother was petrified, and thinking to help, I said, 'Come on, Tom, you can sing that.' Keaton said, 'Here, you sing Ding, boom, boom, boom.' So I went, 'Ding, boom, boom, boom.' Keaton says, 'You're in the choir.' By which time I was too frightened to tell him I couldn't come in the choir, I was an errand boy. … I was earning four shillings a week when I was nine years old … She [ma'am] said, 'Well, you'll have to go tomorrow. He said you'd go tomorrow.' So I went the next day… I plucked up courage after evensong and I said, 'Please, sir, I can't come in the choir because I'm an errand boy, and I've got to help ma'am.' And he looked at me … and the old man changed from that martinet to such a kindly chap, and he said, 'Sonny, I believe you. What I'll do: you've been in the choir. You can always say you're a Peterborough Cathedral chorister; you bring your brother tomorrow night.' And I took Tommy, and he became solo boy in the cathedral choir.
The keepsakes
The book
Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians
George Grove et al.
I learned much from that when I was writing. and I'm sure there's much that I could learn from it.
The luxury
the biggest telescope that you can muster
I could spend many pleasant hours looking at and studying the handicraft of the great architect of the universe.
Presenter asks
5:01What happened after you were an errand boy and playing in the Boy Scouts band?
Towards the end of the First World War I was sent into the engineering factory to become an apprentice to an engineer. I liked engineering, but I liked music and drumming better. … What I wanted most to be was a professional. My father and mother didn't want me to be a professional. In fact, they were horrified when I took my first job. … It was a job in a circus … I answered an advertisement … 'Wanted drummer, Jeannette Circus, Staines on Thames, three pounds five a week and tent.' I got the job. I was four and a half months with that circus, but I never did get the three pounds five. The circus was broke, but it mattered not to me. I was professional.
Presenter asks
8:14In the silent cinemas you moved around a lot. Did they welcome you in London?
I was not met with a blaze or a fanfare of trumpets and there were no red carpets. … the only conveyance I could muster to get myself and my instruments to the Hippodrome in Crouch End Broadway was a coal cart. But I got there, and London smiled on me. On my very first night … a hand touched me on the shoulder and said in a very hoarse voice, 'Are you the drummer, my friend?' … He said, 'And what are they paying you?' I said 'five pounds eight.' He says 'I'll give you six pound at Clapton Rink.' On my very first night.
Presenter asks
15:16You joined the London Symphony Orchestra during the war. Why did you make that decision?
I think the war made a lot of people more serious minded. … I'd grown, of course, to become very fond of … the rather more serious music … I was getting older, I felt, well, I've had a good run as a dance band drummer. I'll change my life's work and become a serious pro.
Presenter asks
22:37You've shown you're a handyman by improvising percussion instruments. Are you handy to the extent of being able to build a hut?
Oh, I'm sure I could build a hut, and there'd be plenty of wood on the island … I could build a raft, but I don't know that I'd be particularly anxious to get back. If I knew all my people were all right, I'd like to stay on the island.
“I was fascinated by the sound of a drum. What boy isn't?”
“Do you know, Roy, I was earning four shillings a week when I was nine years old, and my dad only earned twelve shillings. He was a journeyman tailor, and things were not very good. Now my four shillings a week was very valuable.”
“I've tried hard to live the rank gong down, but perhaps I like to reflect on it.”
“Wagner said: 'Next to my leader, my greatest player must be my tympanist.'”
“I could build a raft, but I don't know that I'd be particularly anxious to get back. If I knew all my people were all right, I'd like to stay on the island.”
“The luxury is the biggest telescope that you can muster, and I could spend many pleasant hours looking at and studying the handicraft of the great architect of the universe.”