Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Children's writer best known for The Gruffalo, author of over 150 books, winner of countless literary awards.
On the island
Eight records
Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24 "Spring"
Yehudi Menuhin & Hephzibah Menuhin
I think it's just the most heavenly tune. I think to me it's about the loveliness of life, you know, despite tragedies and troubles and, you know, this fresh feeling of regrowth and renewal.
I've chosen [it]... because it brings back those days in Paris, those those busking days.
Piano Trio No. 39 in G Major, Hob. XV:25 "Gypsy Rondo"
This is really for my father because we had a... old-fashioned wind-up record player, and he had a big collection of seventy-eights. And this piece of music... my sister and I called it the tune that came back again, because the same little tune kept coming back again, and we used to hide behind the furniture and sort of pop out every time this tune came back again.
Michael Flanders & Donald Swann
I think that really Michael Flanders's songwriting and his use of words has been terrifically influential on me. I I knew their music when I was a child, and funnily enough, Michael Flanders also was a polio victim, like my father.
An die Musik, D. 547Favourite
It's about music for a start, and music is a big part of my life. I just think it's got a very beautiful tune. In fact, when my mother died, this was a song that we chose. My niece, who's got a beautiful voice, sang this at her funeral.
I thought I had to get Malcolm in. If I'm going to be on this desert island, I would love to hear his voice. And also, Malcolm's a wonderful actor and mimic, and in this song, Cochin Blues, he is singing in the voice of a French truffle-hunting pig.
It was a song that Hamish loved when he was a little boy. It's about someone who is looking back on the time of their first kiss. They don't even remember the girl's face, but they do remember this little cloud that was in the sky. The cloud was only there very, very fleetingly, and Hamish used to call this song... Bloomed for minutes... I suppose it you could say it's that's true of Hamish.
All my three boys played the recorder and I think it's a beautiful and quite underrated instrument. And I and I also feel this is quite a calming piece of music. You know, I'd like something quite sort of soothing and calming.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:34When you came to write [The Gruffalo], you got stuck and you were persuaded to continue by a child?
Yes, by my son Alastair. That's right. I mean at this stage you have to remember, I had had a few books published, but most of them were for educational publishers... And I got halfway through, and I did get stuck, and I was going to give up. And I told my son Alastair about this, and he said, No, go on, mum, I think it's really good. So he did inspire me to continue.
Presenter asks
2:33Are you thinking about the parents when you're writing?
I'm just thinking about my creation. I suppose sneakily, yes, I really, really care what the grown-ups think. I've been a parent of young children myself, and I know how awful it is when they reach for... some book that you hate and it's so nice when they choose one that you enjoy reading. So, yes, I do want the parents to enjoy it.
Presenter asks
13:07Do you remember the actual time that you understood the gravity of [your father's polio]?
I think when it first happened it was very gradual... and then next thing we knew he was in hospital and... I suddenly saw [my mother] was crying. And I'd never seen my mother cry before... And just in a flash at six years old, I realized this was a huge, huge thing.
The keepsakes
The book
Nicholas Albery
I've chosen a book which is called Poem for the Day, and it's got 365 poems in it, and you're supposed to learn them. So, I think I'll try and do that.
The luxury
Well, am I allowed to have a cat? No. You're not allowed anything living. ... Um well, I'll h I'll have a piano then.
Presenter asks
26:04At what point in his life did you know that [Hamish's condition] was something with a name?
I mean, really, as the years went on. We knew that Hamish was different. Hamish just had huge behaviour problems and... was always getting sort of sucked out of different schools... I think really by the time he was in his early teens, we, Malcolm and I, really did feel there was something. Very much, you know, the matter. But it... wasn't until he was about sixteen or seventeen that he had this full-blown psychotic episode.
Presenter asks
28:48Do you reach any conclusion about [Hamish's] choice to end his life?
Not really. I mean. Sometimes I think it was a sort of almost an unselfish thing... I used to think, oh no, you know, if Malcolm and I die, or when we die... and Hamish grows old... how difficult it would be for the other two. You know, I sometimes... used to sometimes wish that he would die before us.
“I don't actually think of myself as primarily a writer. I think of myself equally as a performer.”
“I'm not one of these secretive writers, just like I would let my friends read my diary, you know. In fact, what I do, I I tend to give what I've written to one of them to read aloud to me, especially if it's in rhyme. And if they stumble and they're putting the stress on the wrong syllables, which wasn't what I'd intended, then I rewrite that bit because I think it's maddening when a parent has a book which just doesn't seem to rhyme or scan properly.”
“When Hamish died, everyone's then so sympathetic. But I don't think people fully understood. How hard it was. during those twenty-five years of him and his live.”