Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Former Channel 4 chief executive known for public service broadcasting and later general director of the Royal Opera House.
On the island
Eight records
Quartet from Rigoletto (Bella figlia dell’amore)
the quartet from Verdi's Rigoletto... the first bit of opera that I really heard
Musik ist eine heilige Kunst (from Ariadne auf Naxos)
Irmgard Seefried; Philharmonia Orchestra; Herbert von Karajan (conductor)
I literally think I rose out of my seat in the circle and bumped my head on the ceiling, and I've been dizzy with opera ever since.
Mir ist so wunderbar (Quartet from Fidelio)
the opera which more than any other expresses ideas about the things that really matter in life, freedom and sacrifice and heroism and the triumph of good over evil
String Quartet No. 19 in C major, K. 465 (“Dissonance”) – first movement
the music that has meant most to me in the private moments of my life has always been chamber music
Dunque io son (from Il barbiere di Siviglia)
Teresa Berganza, Manuel Ausensi; Rossini Orchestra of Naples; Silvio Varviso (conductor)
not just the dazzling brilliance of it, but the energy of his music
Conclusion of Jenůfa (Act 3 finale)
I think is one of the great facts of operatic life, namely that as great operas have been written in the twentieth century and are still being written, as have been written in any other century
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:00If you had to choose between producing a great opera or a powerful documentary programme, which would it be?
If I had to do it myself, of course, I could only do the documentary because I wouldn't begin to know how to produce opera.
Presenter asks
4:21Where did your love of music begin? Was it endlessly played in your house when you were small?
I used to listen to the radio a lot. … in those days I believed that every single second of my life was wasted unless I was either listening to music or reading.
Presenter asks
16:42You once said, and it seemed to come from the heart, 'television is only television… no programme, however fulfilling, should keep us from those who love us and need us most.' Do you still feel that?
I do feel that and I don't know how anybody who's captured by the passionate interest of a job can save enough of himself or herself for one's family or one's loved ones, but one should certainly try to do so.
The keepsakes
The book
Benny Green's compilations out of cricket wisdom
Benny Green
I could spend ages and ages and ages just reading about different cricket matches.
The luxury
Snorkeling gear (frogman snorkel equipment)
so that I could explore the beauty around and under the island.
Presenter asks
22:29Channel Four was handed over to Michael Grade, a decision you didn't much care for. Were you very hurt?
Yes, I was at the time. … I wanted to be heeded, but you know, people take decisions. In life one has to accept facts and get on with it.
Presenter asks
25:53You were leaving Channel Four and going to become General Director of the Royal Opera… that was more or less in the bag when suddenly your telephone rang. What happened?
I was still at Channel Four and I had been told by the Royal Opera House that … I would be general director and I was off to see him that evening … And a chap put his head round the door and said Alastair Milne has left the BBC … for all of forty-eight hours I did feel that … I owed it to them not to start swithering and dithering at this point.
Presenter asks
27:02Why did the BBC governors choose not to appoint you as Director-General?
I didn't get it because the governors didn't think I was up to it. … 'Mr. Isaacs, you don't seem to me like a man that would take very kindly to discipline.' … I have the impression that some governors of the BBC had been reading the popular newspapers about Channel Four rather than watching the channel.
“I used to listen to the radio a lot. Um in those days I believed that every single second of my life was wasted unless I was either listening to music or reading.”
“I literally think I rose out of my seat in the circle and bumped my head on the ceiling, and I've been dizzy with opera ever since.”
“I couldn't be content with The World at War unless every syllable of the text and every um second of the soundtrack and every frame of the film had been right.”
“I do find the city more and more um closes in on me and I'd enjoy it whenever I can get to the country.”
“I have the impression that um some governors of the BBC had been reading the popular newspapers about Channel Four rather than watching the channel.”