Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A campaigner and former head of the charity Business in the Community, known for persuading corporate leaders to drive social responsibility and inspiring young
On the island
Eight records
Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Georg Solti
the piece I've begun to remind me of him and that incredible happy relationship we had is the Dance of the Nights from Romeo and Juliet.
Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor, "Für Elise"
every time I came back from school, my mum would be playing the piano, Bach or Beethoven, and so for me, she was the most marvellous role model, comforter, encourager... she would be playing something like Feralise.
To Begin at the Beginning (from Under Milk Wood)
This is Richard Burton in my father's nineteen sixty three production of Undermont Wood, and uh to my immense pleasure papa allowed me to play a very, very small bit part, so I sat in the studio listening to Richard Burton and that incredible Welsh cast.
City of Prague Philharmonic conducted by Paul Bateman
It takes me straight back to life at Camden with all my girlfriends. We all wore black velvet coats as a result of Lara and we were passionate about the Russian Revolution as a result of Miss MacDonald and her teaching. So it's a hymn to teachers really.
To some extent, saying that one of my pieces that I would have to have on this island is I will survive. Is because of the tough moments when I mean whether there's getting it frightfully wrong on the first marriage... So I will survive would just help me at tough times when, I don't know, the mosquitoes are biting or whatever.
I remember doing great performances in this lovely house he'd built in the Isle of Wight for us with the girls and cousins and lots of friends. And John, I remember for Les Meserables, built the most amazing barricade... And in a way, Do You Hear the People Sing is all about how you actually listen to what's happening in society... So do you hear the people sing for me as a campaigning song?
Panis AngelicusFavourite
Beautiful, peaceful, inspiring piece of work. I would listen to this forever, have it on whenever I'm in a state or too many speeches to write or things I haven't done.
Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer
Dunvant Male Choir with the Band of the Welsh Guards
I suppose takes me back to my Welsh roots... My faith is very important... So Wales is important. So this would be Guide Me, O Thy Great Redeemer. My darling husband always said this is the great team briefing hymn. But actually Guide Me, O Thy Great Redeemer is a great solace and a strength and a shield for me.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:26By reputation you are someone who employs three parts cajoling, one part bullying to get people to do things. Is that a description you recognise?
I think persuasion is always about trying to inspire, encourage, enthuse people that things could be better, we could do it different. Occasionally there's a bit of quid pro quo there's a bit of um if you could do this, a, this would make a difference to Schools in tough times or kids in gone off the tracks. But it could also make a difference to the business that you're running, to the cause you're campaigning for, to the uh you're a junior minister, I'm sure you'd like a photograph of yourself in this particular situation. So I suppose that uh, yeah, there's an element of encouragement and uh I would think bullying's a bit strong. Charm. There's a lot of charm involved, I think.
Presenter asks
7:31You appear to be an inveterate networker. Does the mask ever slip? Do you ever get really exhausted and say, 'Oh, not tonight, can't be bothered'?
Well, no. My fingers itch every time I arrive in a I don't know any gathering as to who's doing what. Could I learn more about what's working? How could X be made to do Y? That poor school hasn't got a decent governor. That teach first and needs more support. So, yeah, I'm my daughters say I'm completely impossible, really. Can't have a conversation about anything other than How the world might be changed.
The keepsakes
The book
All the novels by Nancy Mitford (collected volume)
Nancy Mitford
I think I'm going to take all the novels that Nancy Mitford ever wrote. There is a collected volume.
The luxury
2000-piece jigsaw puzzle of Venice
If I could have a two thousand piece jigsaw of Venice and the table to make it on I love jigsaws, we always do them on holiday, it would take me back to family fights about who's lost the piece and uh it would remind me of the most beautiful romantic place in the world.
Presenter asks
10:23Prior to your safe and successful delivery, your mother had suffered seven miscarriages. Was there a sense in which you were especially cherished because you had been so longed for?
I suppose that must have been true. I mean, when I think about it now, it must have been absolutely heartrending. She spent eight months in bed waiting to have me, and then three years later My younger brother Louis was born, then they lost another baby, and then Ten years younger than me, the Adored Francis was born.
Presenter asks
18:16You were a junior industrial relations officer on the shop floor of British Leyland in the early 1970s, working predominantly with the night shift. How did they treat you? What did you come up against?
They were the shop floor were marvellous. They liked the fact that I was really interested as, you know, what were we doing on the quality stuff? Had anybody told anyone did the supervisors know more than the shop stewards? N never, actually, the shop stewards always knew more than the supervisors. I remember the dreadful factory director, after I made a point at a meeting, saying, Ooh, any more bright ideas, girlie? I learned a hell of a lot about actually what happens that most decisions taken at the top never happen at the bottom. But nothing is more important than team leaders. I learnt some absolutely basic things for the rest of my life.
Presenter asks
19:47You have had great successes, but what do you think has been your biggest failure? What have you walked away from and thought, 'I'm going to have to admit defeat'?
when I think that we started the Race for Opportunity campaign at Business and the Community in nineteen ninety four, which really went back to my time in South Africa, to my understanding of the immense talent Diverse communities, innovation comes from diversity, not from white male public schoolboys. And the race campaign has taken much it was A, very difficult to start. I couldn't find any business leaders who really thought it was an issue in the mid nineties. The CBI wouldn't look at it much better now. But actually that's taken much longer to change than it should have done.
Presenter asks
25:50What about those people who say loudly that the Prince of Wales should keep his head down and prepare to be king, rather than trying to influence policy?
Generally, actually, he is very, very clear, in my experience, about what his role must be and about what corporates could do, charities could do, others could do. He's walked a a difficult but careful line on all of that. The world would be a worse place if it wasn't for the Prince of Wales's engagement in these issues.
“I am very, very clear about if we could do this, this would make the difference.”
“I read the Times Death column on the basis that, you know, while there's death, there's hope, occasionally some maddening character leaves or pops her clogs, and then you can get in and change the influence of that company.”
“My father was trying to get Dylan Thomas to finish writing under Milkwood. And he decided the only thing to do was to lock him in the BBC Library overnight, pay him by the line and give him an enamel bucket for obvious use.”
“I think love overcomes all, and I just of course it was a very inconvenient thing to do.”
“I do now see that I will always campaign. Till my dying breath I will be trying to think what we could do to tackle something that we haven't managed to get right.”