Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
An anarchic entertainer from Liverpool, Kenny Everett first rose to fame as a pirate radio DJ in the 1960s and later hosted his own TV show.
On the island
Eight records
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
my introduction to classical music. Sweet thing.
he just gave it to me to play and I was the first person in the world to play this glorious record.
It was like Ovalteen for your ears. Such a lovely tune to end the day.
Captain Kremmen (themed serial)
Tune in tomorrow at the same time and find out in Crammon of the Starcore.
I think the most consummate pop record I've ever heard, and the record that started me into my career as a dancer, was Abba's Honey Honey.
The title track from Mike Batt's The Hunting of the Snark.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
I said, 'Yes, I think you ought to, George.'
Symphonic PreludeFavourite
Radio Symphony Orchestra of Berlin
It's just the most beautiful record I've ever heard. ... It's just liquid loveliness. ... It's God with knobs on.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:15Why did you suddenly decide to go public on being HIV positive?
I didn't decide to. I came back from a little holiday in Italy ... there was a bunch of press people waiting with microphones and cameras. It turns out that I'd been spotted going into hospital by a press cameraman ... the next day, there in the front page of The People, a huge colour photograph of me looking annoyed. And the line was: 'The photograph that shows how ill he really is.' And I wasn't looking ill at all.
Presenter asks
3:16Is there a darker side — do you worry every time you get a cold or something that can't be shaken off?
I think if I got a cold and it wouldn't go away, I think I would think, 'Dear God, just please make it fast.' I think it's the lingering that goes with this is the awful bit.
Presenter asks
6:14How did a weedy wimp from Liverpool get into radio in the sixties?
I used to listen to what was called the Home Service in those days ... I always wanted to be a DJ. ... I had a paper round. With the proceeds, I bought two tape machines. I used to make silly programmes for my friends.
The keepsakes
The book
various (associated with Eagle comic)
I need intellectual stimulation, I think, because I've heard all my lines.
The luxury
a bathroom suite with hot shower and a lifetime supply of Badedas
I don't want to be dirty on my desert island and I feel very uncomfortable if I don't wash for at least a day.
Presenter asks
21:32How did your parents react when they found out you were gay?
Apparently at a party, a friend of mine told my father, 'Oh, that's Everett's new boyfriend' and he said, 'Oh, well, if that's what he wants to be, that's all right.' Wish he'd said that twenty years earlier. Wish I'd asked him, actually.
Presenter asks
23:16In the late eighties you turned away from TV, saying it lacked dignity. What did you mean by that?
The last sketch I did for the BBC was the most uncomfortable I've ever been in my life. There I was doing a sketch with Cleo, my busty friend on television. We were wearing harnesses and ... hoisted up into the air, dressed as Quasimodo ... our camera went wrong ... and they decided that it would be less expensive to leave us up there while they fixed the camera. So there we were, slowly rotating amongst these frying lights ... I said to Cleo, 'That's it. I've done now. I've done every possible computational funny sketch.'
Presenter asks
31:01What would you change if you could have your life all over again?
Oh, nothing really. I think it's been all right. ... Even the gay bit, I think that's been very interesting, too. ... I've enjoyed it. I like gay people, I think they're fun.
“Well, I can't see there's any point in depressing anyone, can you? I mean, my views on the next life is it's probably going to be fab the next one.”
“I used to listen to right up until the end, because that's when the announcer used to get intimate. When he thought the Director General wasn't listening, because he was tucked up in bed, he'd sort of ad lib ... he'd have a little chat with the listener. And I always used to stay up for that because it sounded quite cosy.”
“I fell in love with somebody that wasn't in love with me. ... It was quite upsetting really because I didn't know how to approach people, having a sort of solitary life up to then.”
“You are what you're born. If you're born gay, then you're gay forever.”
“I've spent so much time talking to myself in Liverpool that I've probably developed a line of patter. I never disagree with myself. And I'm always there when I need me.”
“Life is funny, it's odd, it's a rather amusing joke, really. ... You can't spend all your time thinking, 'Oh, God, it must be awful to be hungry' — you just got to get on with it and make it as much fun for yourself and other people as possible.”