Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Conservative MP and farmer, served in cabinets under Heath and Thatcher, known as the acceptable face of Conservatism.
On the island
Eight records
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 (First Movement)Favourite
Igor Oistrakh, David Oistrakh and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
I don't think I could sing it in the bath exactly, but it has a lovely sort of uh melody and lilt about it and uh I'm fond of Tchaikovsky's music.
Well, this is pure nostalgia. I suppose when I was about sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, seeing Casablanca and of course I fell in love with uh Ingrid Bergmann, who didn't.
Oh, well, I I think because I spent some time in the Tiergarten and because there was a nightclub just opposite which caused us a great deal of trouble because the troops always got into the nightclub and got up to all sorts of things, I think I would like something to remember that by
Well, I've always liked uh musicals and I've ever since we've been married and before we were married been to most of the musicals, the Rogers and Hammerstein and so on. But uh I think probably the best musical since the war in both its tunes and its lyrics is uh Guys and Dolls.
Well, I suppose as I am leaving Parliament with a lot of very happy memories of both people and occasions. Not a bad idea to have another musical and what a bad memory from uh Lloyd Weber's Cats, sung by I think Elaine Page, who I think's a super singer.
The Choir of St Paul's Cathedral
I was just thinking as we were talking then that I think it was the chaplain in the House of Commons who used to say every afternoon that he looked round the members and then prayed for the country. So perhaps it's not inappropriate to have this particular record.
James Galway and Anthony Goldstone
I wanted to have something that um reminded me of my time in Northern Ireland. And um I used to have quite a lot to do with the Harnad and Wolfe shipyard, which I did my best to keep going... And um James Galway... Used to work in Hondenwolf
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 (Ode to Joy)
Well, I've talked a lot about Europe and my commitment to Europe, which by no means everyone would agree with, but now I thought uh a little bit of uh Beethoven's Ninth, the uh Ode to Joy, the European Anthem, would be a fitting note to end on.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:04What were the circumstances of keeping pigs at school?
Well during the war we had r… Rationing… And um if you had a pig club you could keep half the meat, as it were, that you grew without having to give up your rations. And so at school I started a pig club and we thought everything was going well and we came to slaughter our first pigs. And then suddenly we were told we had to give up all the rations and that was too much for us altogether. And the headmaster invited uh the minister of food down… and sat me next to him and uh I told him that this was absolutely scandalous and he'd got it all wrong. And uh unlike most ministers nowadays in my experience in government he went straight back and changed the rules.
Presenter asks
3:48Was it a political family as such?
No, not at all. I mean, we were a very keen games family, and it was a curious mixture, really, because my father used to read the back page of the newspaper. I don't think he ever looked at the front. And we always used to have morning prayers. After breakfast, every morning, we would have five minutes' prayers, and my father had to read the prayers, and he had the paper laid out on the floor in front of him as well, so that he could be looking at the stories about the football, or the racing, or the cricket, at the same time, and that was quite a feat, really.
Presenter asks
9:05Did that background [in Berlin] have any effect on shaping your political convictions?
The keepsakes
The book
The Times
I thought I'd take the Times World Atlas with me, because I've done a lot of travelling and I think I could spend a lot of time going through the travels I've had and perhaps planning some fresh travels, and so uh that would keep me fairly busy.
The luxury
I'm gonna take some golf clubs and um a lot of balls,'cause I shall lose a lot of balls and I shall knock'em out to see.
I think it probably did a bit because I was also there at the time with someone who'd been my headmaster at school, Robert Burley, who was in charge of the education policy in the British zone. And um… I think the influence there and the general feeling there was, by God, we mustn't let this thing happen again, and therefore we've really got to get together in Europe to stop it happening. And certainly I think… That really made me emotionally a European, which I've remained ever since.
Presenter asks
20:21How do you compare Mrs. Thatcher to Mr. Heath?
Well, Mrs Thatcher had very different qualities. She's uh more direct. I think she's better at um assessing uh popular opinion than uh mister Heath. She's also very challenging. When you put a paper to cabinet with Mrs Thatcher, she wouldn't be long before she was asking you extremely challenging questions, and unless you'd really thought it out and done your homework, and were very strong at putting your particular case, uh she'd get the better of you, and uh very often did.
Presenter asks
23:26Is there an answer to the kind of unemployment we have at present?
Well, I think we could do more because if we manufactured more at home, we could employ a few more people, but not many. But we could create more wealth, which could then lead to the employment of people in service industries and so on. And i mean, one of the… Really, dreadful things of the last, shall I say, fifteen or sixteen years has been the fact that our manufacturing output has been absolutely stagnant… So I do think that if we could really pull ourselves together and produce the goods that people want to buy in greater volume and people were prepared to buy British goods… then I think we could help ourselves. We won't cur the unemployment problem that way.
Presenter asks
28:51What will you not miss about the House [of Commons]?
Oh, I should be glad to be… rid of… having to waste hours waiting for the next division and staying up at all hours of the day and night… But there is a certain degree of drudgery in the House of Commons. And of course the other thing is that… Most politicians have pretty rough weekends. You don't get much spare time at weekends, and I shall be quite glad to have more of my weekends to myself.
“I think the influence there and the general feeling there was, by God, we mustn't let this thing happen again, and therefore we've really got to get together in Europe to stop it happening. And certainly I think… That really made me emotionally a European, which I've remained ever since.”
“I keep saying to some of my Tory colleagues over the years, don't forget that the real strength of Britain and its patriotism is founded in ordinary people, and it isn't something which you just find in the Shires and amongst the upper classes.”
“I don't believe that the English can find a solution to the… Northern Irish or the Irish problem. I think it has to be a solution which the people of Northern Ireland find for themselves.”