Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A politician, former airline pilot, close Thatcher ally who pushed through union reform and survived the 1984 IRA Brighton bombing; later a fierce party critic.
On the island
Eight records
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
the first piece of classical music which I enjoyed at all was Tchaikovsky's eighteen twelve Overture. Now perhaps it's held by some purists to be a bit naff, but I loved it, and it introduced me to that world.
Nabucco: Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (Va, pensiero)Favourite
Orchestra and Chorus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli
I think that of all the operatic composers Verdi is the greatest by far. His chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco seems to me to embody such enormous strength and compassion
Central Band of the Royal Air Force
I think at times I'd like to remember my Air Force days and my flying days of that kind. I can't think of anything that would bring it all back to me more clearly than to hear the Royal Air Force march past
Don Carlos: Dio, che nell'alma infondere
one day my wife and I were on a trip to Vienna. And we went to that marvellous opera house ... And the opera was Don Carlos. I didn't know anything about it. But again, nah, it was Verdi, and you really can't go wrong in an opera house with Verdi.
The Planets: Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult
The planets a marvellous suite of music but my favourite of all of them, Jupiter not least, because in my mind, as I heard it, I would always be singing ... those words I vow to thee, my country.
I heard the first performance of Lloyd Webber's Requiem while my wife was still in hospital, and I was only just out of hospital, in Westminster Abbey. It's a beautiful piece of music. But it has memories too.
Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Otto Klemperer
this is a record chosen not for any particular associations, but just for the sheer glory of its music.
Claude François and Jacques Revaux
the last record, of course, for my life has to be Frank Sinatra Singing My Way. I think it sums it up. I I did do it my way. It hasn't always worked out quite as I'd hoped, but uh I think that might well be my epitaph.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:17Do you miss the House of Commons?
In some ways, yes, it was a large part of my life, twenty odd years. And I had my good days there, and some of my bad days as well. But I'm very glad in the evenings, when I'm at home or out with my wife ... that I'm not stuck there on a running three line whip, or something of that kind.
Presenter asks
2:03Who are the politicians you've most admired in your political lifetime?
Well, taking on, I suppose the the arch um enemies were Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan. I think Jim Callaghan um one of the most instinctively right politicians that I've ever met. And a very warm man as well. Indeed, as was Harold Wilson. They were both particularly kind to me at times when I was just a really rather nasty little backbencher, intent on goading them into saying something indiscreet.
Presenter asks
4:39Where do you get [your aggression and determination] from? Were your parents like that?
Not really. I think there were some members of my family who were. My mother's uh father uh was a butcher. Um runs in the family, doesn't it? And uh he he was a pretty tough guy.
The keepsakes
The book
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples
Winston Churchill
I'm hoping that somebody has bound into a single volume Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples. I know it's not terribly good history at times, but it's beautifully written.
The luxury
Drinking fountain with two taps marked San Cerre and Claret, connected to French vineyards
a drinking fountain, but an unusual one, uh with two taps. at one marked San Cerre and one marked Claret, and connected by a pipe line to decent vineyards in the heart of France, just to show my European credentials and to give me comfort on dull days.
Presenter asks
9:18Why did a Tory emerge from that deprived background? Why not a young Socialist?
I think it was in the jeans. I'm uh not a collectivist. I think that's at the heart of it. I never wanted to be into the pack in in the sense of of um joining things. I was not a joiner.
Presenter asks
19:46How much did you want at one point to succeed [Margaret Thatcher]?
I think I probably was her natural successor, but that wasn't to be. Things didn't work out that way. As you know, the most populous club in politics is the club of ex future prime ministers, and I rapidly not rapidly I eventually realized that I was in that club.
Presenter asks
23:02What was the first you knew of the [Brighton bomb] explosion?
Well, the sound of it woke us. And um I remember very vividly um as the room began to keel over and the chandelier came crashing down. And then after that all was um confusion and uh noise and dust and uh a series of pretty hefty blows from either pieces of debris hitting me or me hitting pieces of debris.
“I think it really came to me when I was at grammar school. And I suddenly realized that I did have a greater skill with words than most of my contemporaries.”
“We were not a family that showed much emotion and I found the whole of our life in that part of London rather depressing. And my liberation from that was similarly on two wheels. And I roamed particularly the Herefordshire and Essex countryside with my chums on our bicycles”
“I'm not sure that fairness and equality um can both be achieved. You can either be fair or you can be equal. You certainly can't be both, can you?”
“I think she'd be ill advised, actually. She had a extraordinarily good innings. She changed this country for the better in almost everything that she did. And I think in some ways that it's a pity that um she didn't retire earlier from office, or alternatively, that she wasn't just a little bit more ruthless in the way she handled her Cabinet.”