Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Actress and writer, known for acting and for books on domestic life.
On the island
Eight records
I've chosen this because it's the first record literally as a disc that I can remember putting onto our wind up grammar phone at home when we lived uh in Great Portland Street in London.
The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham
Well, talking of my mother, as I say, she was an oboeist. So I've chosen an oboe piece she must have played a thousand times when it comes into a um an orchestra piece.
Brightly Dawns Our Wedding Day
Margaret Eales, Jean Templey, Edmund Bowen and Michael Wakem
Yes, if the second one was really in a sort of homage to my mother, this one is very much for the memory of my father. He loved Gilbert and Sullivan.
Yes, I do. Uh my dear brother was very much involved in the rock scene at that time with his partner Gordon, Peter and Gordon, had a lot of hits and had terrific fun. And there's one of theirs I particularly like, called Woman.
Yes. Well now we come to the man in my life, my husband, Gerald Scarfe. And this song we always felt was our song.
Keith Lewis with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink
I lo I love opera, and I think if I had to pick one it would be Don Giovanni as my favorite opera of all. And this particular tenor aria is quite beautiful. Dalla suapace.
Oh, well this I thought it would be good to have a bit of a laugh on a desert island,'cause one could get really quite grim in introspective. And Bill Cosby is one of my favourite comedians.
Ode to JoyFavourite
Vienna State Opera Chorus and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Claudio Abbado
I thought one might need to be lifted out of the glooms on an island. I think you could get very miserable and also lose perhaps moral perspective.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:53Do you actually like being famous?
Well, I suppose if I am honest, I can't dislike it that much, or I would have stopped doing all the things that uh get notice and get you written and talked about. But there are certain aspects of it I dislike intensely.
Presenter asks
5:33Why and how did your mother get you into films and television?
Well, I know how. I still don't quite know why. It's a strange thing. It's not until you're in your forties as I am, I think, that you really begin to analyse exactly what went on your young childhood. I think they had some friends who had children who'd done little bits in films and television, and thought it was great fun. And the three of us had, as you say, bright red hair, and looked rather cute. And my mother and father took us along to an agent who said, Yes, wonderful, we'll get them little bits of work.
Presenter asks
9:24Would you let your own children go into acting?
Oh, no, I I wouldn't. I mean, I haven't. There have been many tempting offers, as you can imagine. ... No, the answer is I wouldn't. I think it's much better to go through a relatively normal childhood and then make your own decision. When you leave school.
The keepsakes
The book
Thomas Hardy
If I have to take one, I'll take Tessa the Derbervilles. I think that's the book, well, one of the books I've enjoyed immensely.
The luxury
a hot bath with a tap that has cold champagne coming out of it
My luxury is a hot bath, preferably with a little extra tap that has cold champagne coming out of it. I know this may be asking a bit much, but I think if I could squeezing a lot out of the system, if I could lie in a hot bath with a glass of champagne listening to Beethoven... it might be bearable.
Presenter asks
10:11Why would you rather your children didn't go into acting?
Mostly because I think the chances of getting work and making any sort of reasonable career are so remote that I'd rather they were in something with a little more prospect of success and happiness and fulfilment. And the other thing is I think secretly, deep down. I have a guilty feeling that it's really rather a silly job. ... Not a proper job.
Presenter asks
13:27What are your abiding memories of the sixties?
I had fun, undoubtedly. I think at the time I just felt I was a teenager having a good time. Whether I felt that it was especially exciting, wonderful period, I I don't think I did. I had all the insecurities and anxieties that one does when you're a teenager. Looking back now, I think it was a very special time, probably.
Presenter asks
17:04What would you say was the turning point in your career?
I think talking of turning points, something like look back in anger at the Royal Court, I think that was there was a certain fork there, I think, at that time, and I took that route, going to the Royal Court, rather than some of the more sort of perhaps glossy options that were open to me. And I think that made me realize what I really wanted in that I did want to be a series actress and do a lot of theatre.
“I have a guilty feeling that it's really rather a silly job. ... Not a proper job.”
“I wish I could have two or three lives. I would love to try a life of being a doctor, a nice quiet, private doctor that nobody knew about. ... And things like I'd like to try being a farmer's wife.”
“I think it'd be difficult to keep your standards when you're all on your own. And I mean moral standard.”