Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Businessman and Director General of the CBI, previously head of the Audit Commission and management consultant who introduced pre-pasted wallpaper.
On the island
Eight records
Kiri Te Kanawa with the Choir of St Paul's Cathedral and the English Chamber Orchestra
I think the first record I'd like to play will remind me of one of the most enjoyable things that I've had the chance to do, which is sailing. … And I found myself out in the middle of the fast net race in 1979, where we were overtaken by a hurricane. And I learned then a lot about myself and about how people face up to quite terrifying circumstances.
Peter Pears, Benjamin Britten and the Zorian String Quartet
Well, the second record comes from my school days. I was a charth house and in those days and indeed still it was a school which where music was very important and I did English literature where which is where I acquired an interest in language and the the use of language and one of the people that I studied was A. E. Hausman.
Sanctus (from Requiem)Favourite
Choir of King's College, Cambridge and the English Chamber Orchestra
…almost all my close friends. I first met or they became friends of mine at Cambridge, so I'd like something to remind me of Cambridge. And in particular, I'd like to hear the sanctus from Foray's Requiem sung by the choir of King's College, Cambridge. And this would also remind me of our reprobate elder son, who I once heard sing in this very piece.
The fourth record is something first of all to remind me of my first visit to a desert island and secondly to remind me of our daughters, one of whom is now working in southern Africa. … And so I thought I'd like something African.
Impromptu No. 2 in E-flat major, D. 899
And I'm very proud of being a trustee of the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals. And last year. the PDSA. Rather than hire a public relations consultant, which we were advised to do, we thought the nicest thing to do was to give a concert for our friends. And I'd like to hear one of the pieces that was played at that concert...
Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043: I. Vivace
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Salvatore Accardo and the English Chamber Orchestra
One of the most moving experiences that I've had recently was to be down in Dresden at a conference which I was helping. … And the Bishop of Coventry, who was part of our delegation, came and preached a sermon. On the Virtues of Hope in the Midst of Despair, in flawless German. … So I'd like a piece of music to remember that by...
Well the the next record, I suppose, is a reflection of where I was brought up and where I now live. If anyone had asked me at any time in the past forty-five years where I came from … I would have said Cornwall because I'd always believed … that that's where I always felt that I belonged.
The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (from Solomon)
Cyril Smith and Phyllis Sellick
Well the last record will remind me of of the day that really changed my life, I suppose, which is when I um When I got married, I was very lucky to be accepted by someone who's really made a tremendous difference to everything that I've done.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:53Isn't it deeply frustrating to have influence but no power and no hope of any power?
I suppose it is. I was brought up, for example, when I was at the Audit Commission, I used to know week by week and certainly month by month whether I was winning, losing or drawing. Now I have no idea what game I'm playing, let alone what the rules are or where the goalposts are and so on. And it's very di it's impossible, as a matter of fact, to judge whether or not you've had any direct influence.
Presenter asks
5:01Tell me about your experience in that Fastnet race in 1979. It was hit by a freak hurricane, wasn't it?
Yes, it was. This was uh a very, you might say, interesting experience for someone who's never had to, consciously at least, uh, go through a war. When someone puts their hair out of the hatchway on a yacht and you're thirty miles off Land's End. and tells you that a hurricane is forecast. It's quite an interesting experience. And uh we were in a quite a small boat. And there were a crew of five of us, as I recall, four very close friends, and the godson of uh one of the members of the crew.
Presenter asks
6:52Does it feel as though it's really come quite easy?
Yes, I think it does. I I think what it has given me, I suppose, is a sense of obligation. It's a very old fashioned word, but uh my family keep telling me I'm a rather old fashioned person.
The keepsakes
The book
A. E. Housman
I'm not sure why, because he's extremely morbid... I think probably a Housman would so depress me that actually it would have the reverse effect.
The luxury
I'd spent years smoking only other people's cigars. I thought if I had 24 cigars, then among other things, I'd be able to keep track of the time.
Presenter asks
14:40Was that [failing to get the permanent Foreign Office job] your first taste of a kind of failure?
It was. It was a quite a blow uh because I wanted it. I liked it very much. And I probably wanted to do it too much. I've usually now found that if you particularly want a job then the best thing is not to want it too badly and then uh they all fall off the trees.
Presenter asks
18:53Why have you defended some of the big pay awards this year to chairmen of newly privatized companies?
Because I think that pay ought to reflect performance. And the important thing is that people agree in advance how their manager's performance is going to be assessed and how performance will itself be reflected in pay. And it is quite unacceptable. To my mind at least, that there should be one law for the bosses and one law for everybody else.
Presenter asks
26:51Why are they [the government] listening now when they wouldn't listen then [in 1988]?
Well, because uh They realize that we were right and the economic policy establishment was wrong and they don't want to make the same mistake twice.
“I've usually found that um when all the experts agree on something, they turn out to be wrong. So I've always had this It's a iconoclastic streak, I suppose.”
“I've never been interested in making money for its own sake. I've always m been much more interested in what one uh can contribute.”
“leadership can make a difference. You can see companies that are going straight down the pan realize if they're going like this they're going to lose and they're going to have to change.”