Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Actor known for stage and screen roles, notably Swiss Family Robinson.
On the island
Eight records
I think that Bing is a master. And I remember Bing from his first record with the Paul Whiteman Rhythm Boy.
Romeo and Juliet (Fantasy Overture)
It's one of my favorite, favorite pieces of of music. I think it's a marvellous, romantic, stirring piece of work.
It's to be a record of, I think, probably one of the most marvellous characters that I've ever met or will ever meet, and that's Noel Carr.
Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
Vladimir Ashkenazy, London Symphony Orchestra
It reminds me very much of Men in Shadow because Mary played it continuously um while she was writing the play.
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 'Moonlight'
I think occasionally I would need to meditate on higher things on the island and I think I could possibly meditate for the Moonlight Sonata, probably better than anything else.
Nimrod (from Enigma Variations)Favourite
I've just chosen this because I like it.
Last Night of the Proms (including Land of Hope and Glory)
Colin Davis, Royal Albert Hall
I would have to have Land of Hope and Glory. It was a very important landmark for me. I think it's it's absolutely glorious and I love it.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:05What would you be happiest to have got away from?
The pressure and the traffic and the pollution and the build up and the things that happen to to cities now, I think I would be very happy to get away from that.
Presenter asks
1:24What was your plan in choosing this pathetic ration of eight [records]?
Well, it was very difficult. I spent a great deal of thought on it. I'm not greatly educated musically. I wish I was better educated, but I did try and choose things that I thought that I could live with. And I'm rather an emotional character, and therefore I think that the memories have become very precious. And so I do find that most of the things that I've chosen, although I've chosen them because I like them musically, do remind me of various things that have happened to me in my life and which I treasure.
Presenter asks
4:57What, in fact, did you do when you left school?
Well, I sold lavatory paper and uh disinfectant and uh various things very, very unsuccessfully because uh instead of selling them in the morning I was going to Zelia Ray's dancing academy and um having bought some tap shoes I was trying to learn to dance. I really cut down my visits to the afternoon and I I had very little success. I had a bowler hat and an umbrella and although I was 19, I looked about four.
The keepsakes
The luxury
Presenter asks
5:21What was your first job in the theatre?
My first job in the theatre was the back row of the chorus at the London Hippodrome in a show called The Five O'Clock Girl with George Brosmith and Ernest Truix and Gene Collin. And I got the job. There were 16 chorus voice. I think there were 142 for the audition. And I just managed to scrape in.
Presenter asks
15:13Which other films do you like particularly to remember?
Well, I don't like many of them really. I um they say many of them keep popping up on the television screen, don't they, these days? Um I like Tunes of Glory. Yes. Um I had a marvellous time with Alec Guinness in that. I think if I had to pick at random I'd say probably Tunes of Glory, Hobson's Choice, because it's another character and I've always enjoyed character acting much more than straight acting, and possibly Ryan's Daughter.
Presenter asks
19:34Could you run up a shelter fairly easily [on a desert island]?
I think I could. I'm always happiest when I'm outside a building. Um I love being in the open air and I love everything that that I would have to do on an island. I think I and I love fishing. I love underwater fishing, underwater looking. I'm a good swimmer and diver and um I don't think I'd have any problems in that direction. I think I would love it.
“I wouldn't find it easy, but I think that I could take a certain amount of loneliness on a desert island because I'm mad about desert islands.”
“I spent a great deal of thought on it. I'm not greatly educated musically. I wish I was better educated, but I did try and choose things that I thought that I could live with.”
“And Noel, driving through Singapore in a rickshaw, saw the Victoria Theatre Singapore, and it said the quaints in Hamlet. And he said, Well, this I you know, I simply cannot miss.”
“I think if I had to pick at random I'd say probably Tunes of Glory, Hobson's Choice, because it's another character and I've always enjoyed character acting much more than straight acting, and possibly Ryan's Daughter.”
“I'm always happiest when I'm outside a building. Um I love being in the open air and I love everything that that I would have to do on an island.”