Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A former private secretary to Queen Elizabeth II for nearly thirty years, and later Provost of Eton.
On the island
Eight records
The Hebrides, Op. 26 (Fingal's Cave)
London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Claudio Abbado
which will make me think of my early youth when I used to go to my holidays to the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, and there I learned to love solitude and wilderness.
God Who Made the Earth and Sky
composed entirely of Etonians, either boys or beaks.
Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat major, D. 898 (Op. 99)
in Christmas 1938. The lady who is now my wife. gave it to me when we were courting. Therefore I obviously got to have that with me to remind me of those golden days, and I would particularly like it to hear it played by the Israel piano trio, because we were later married in Jerusalem.
I want something to remind me of the desert, and it simply has to be Lily Marlene, um, which was of course the song of the Afrika Corps. But they were honourable opponents. And if I could have it sung by that creature I loved so much, Marlena Dietrich, I should be very grateful.
that will remind me of the early days and touring in Australia.
Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers
Well, you see, I've got to dance. I adore dancing. And I shall have to dance on the sand. And therefore, I'm going to take some rock and roll, and I want to rock around the clock.
Symphony No. 94 in G major ('Surprise')
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Sir Colin Davis
And my record I've chosen is the symphony called The Surprise. And why I've chosen that is because you never know what's going to happen next to the National Heritage Memorial Fund. It's full of surprises.
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 ('Emperor')Favourite
Vladimir Ashkenazy with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Georg Solti
I need to have this because I think it's a bit of music that keeps one's courage up. And I imagine that for all the delights of your desert island where you're going to incarcerate me, there may be moments when one needs all the strength and courage that one could find.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:07Do you think you were always cut out for [a lifetime of service in and to some of our great institutions]?
No, I don't really think I was. I mean, I was absolutely flabbergasted when I was asked to be private secretary to Princess Elizabeth. but not nearly as flabbergasted as I was when I was asked to be Provost of Eton.
Presenter asks
5:51Do you remember your father [Lord Elcho] at all?
No, I don't remember him at all, because he'd been out of the country for a year and a half. And so I never knew him.
Presenter asks
17:26What qualities do you think you had which qualified you for the invitation [to work for Princess Elizabeth]?
It's I'm afraid I must say it was a question of nepotism. And a jolly good way of appointing anybody, if I may say so. The point really was that. Jock Colville had served the Princess Elizabeth... and wanted to go back to the Foreign Service. And Princess said, Well, that's fine, but you'll find me somebody else. So Jock set to work to do it, and he happened to know me, happened to know my wife, and I suppose he thought I'd be the suitable. And I also happened to know Sir Alan Nassles, who was the private secretary to the King, who'd been a great friend of my mother's, and there it was.
The keepsakes
The book
Leo Tolstoy
Yes, I had terrible trouble over this because my choice laid either between some great book about people and things, or. A pottery book Because few things are so nice as to read about. uh recipes but I decided on the whole that I'll take one piece by Tolstoy.
The luxury
Well, may I have some wood carving tools? Which might be useful in building that boat instead of ... Well, not for that. Or will I simply want to create beautiful things for my own satisfaction out of driftwood?
Presenter asks
19:00Can you at all define the job of a Royal Private Secretary? What are his duties?
Well, the job of the private secretary It's first of all, I think, he is a contact. Between the Queen and her government. or governments, because not only the king governments of the United Kingdom, but also the governments. or the governor generals of the countries the Commonwealth of which she is sovereign. The Private Secretary also looks after the Queen's engagements. He's responsible for looking after the artists who paint her or the sculptors who sculpt her. And um responsible for arranging her audiences, and so on and so on.
Presenter asks
22:19Were [the Royal Family film and the walkabouts] conscious decisions to bring the monarchy into the modern age?
Yes, I mean, I think that that everybody, starting starting with Prince Philip and the Queen, um, realized that they had to get into this world. And I mean the decision to make the Royal Family film was of course deliberate. I think the decision to do the walkabouts was also deliberate, although that wasn't quite as much a change as you might think, as it had always been a bit of walkabout. It was just made more of. So I think the answer to your question is yes, but Looking back, it's a sort of gradual process.
Presenter asks
25:18What are you proudest of having saved [as chairman of the National Heritage Memorial Fund]?
I think The most important thing we've done is probably to help save. Some of the great country houses, particularly Belton And Keddlestone? Cannons Ashby. Fivey Castle... Because I think that these great country houses represent the greatest or one of the greatest contributions which Our country has made civilization, because it's not only the house, it's also the works of art. which are in them. And it is also the memory of the life that was lived there, which was very often political and very important to the life of the country.
“I came from families that lived in great houses, so none of it was unfamiliar. I mean, the furniture polish at Buckingham Palace smelt exactly the same as the furniture polish at my grandparents' house.”
“I'm a lucky man. I came to the top. And of the twelve people In that lifeboat four came to the top, and the other eight were never seen again, so they must have been sucked under.”
“the Queen's a marvellous person to work for, and she's a buck you up-oh person. She makes you feel much better when you're doing business with her.”
“the monarchy will not survive unless it retains its mystique. ... Their survival depends on mystery.”