Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A writer and journalist known for her unflinching, excoriating interview style and revealing profiles of Hollywood stars, politicians, and artists.
On the island
Eight records
my father died very recently and he used to sing this a lot and we used to go on walking holidays in the Lake District and it's a song that goes on for about a million verses.
I did it with satisfaction, but this is less well known and actually fabulous too.
Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé
I just love it. It makes me laugh. I love it. I love their two voices.
a lovely happy memory of Oxford parties and punting and gorgeous happy times.
something I very much associate with David and it's Jean Cocteau, it's La Troison d'Or and we he had an LP which was his absolute favourite record and w in one of our many moves subsequently, knowing it was his favourite record, I packed it very, very carefully at the bottom of the suitcase, which apparently is just what you should not do. And that was the end of that.
MacushlaFavourite
this is for David. Um this is Count John McCormack singing McCooshla and David uh on top of all his other talents also sang beautifully so he would sing this and also it makes me think of him.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:27How do you behave when you're actually meeting your interviewees face to face?
I think I'm very nice, you know, but I do ask quite blunt questions and I don't see the point particularly in beating round the bush, you know. I mean, if I'm trying to find out if Harriet Harmon is thick, I mean, it seems quite simple to ask her if she's thick, you know, but I don't know. I mean, I'm I'm not tactful, that's for sure.
Presenter asks
6:54Why on earth do you think people agree to be interviewed by you?
Well, I think I'm accurate for one thing. They can't complain that they've been misquoted. I think some people find it stimulating and challenging. And if I give somebody a sort of rave write-up, it counts for more than if I was always giving people rave write-ups, you know.
Presenter asks
9:16How accurate a portrayal was [the film An Education] of your family life?
Um, pretty good. I mean, because it's Nick Cornby and he's a nice person, it's a much sweeter version than my version that I... Right.
The keepsakes
The luxury
I thought a cyanide pill actually would sort of shorten the agony rather than starving to death over however long it took you to starve to death, I thought I'd just land on [the] island and take the cyanide pill and then I wouldn't have to read Shakespeare or all the rest of it.
Presenter asks
How would you describe your father?
Well, very shouty and bad-tempered indeed. And um... I said at his funeral he's probably the rudest person any of us had ever met and you know there was warm agreement.
Presenter asks
13:03Tell me how you met the Conman [Simon].
I I was at a bus stop and he stopped his car and offered me a lift. And of course I'd been told not to accept lifts from strange men, but I thought, well, he doesn't look strange, he looks okay. And so I got into the car.
Presenter asks
29:42Why did you imagine [that David had had affairs]?
Um well, I mean, what triggered it was that I was sent a photograph of him um in which he appeared to be um smiling slightly drunkenly and very lovingly at whoever was behind the camera. And it wasn't me. But I mean it was more that I don't think I was thinking very straight, but I mean it was more that I felt this incredible weight of guilt because I kept thinking there must have been something I could have done to have prevented it... And then from this photograph I thought, oh he's looking at somebody who he's obviously in love with and it's not me. Therefore he had affairs. Therefore I don't have to feel at all guilty.
“I think that people are well served actually by quite blunt or quite rude questions because it forces them to sort of fight back and come back strongly, you know, which should be quite good.”
“I always sort of look for the worst first”
“I was never unselfish like he was. I mean, I'm still quite a selfish person, but it did bring a sort of new... morality, I think, into my life.”
“I couldn't do caring, you know, and I felt very bad about that. And I'd see other wives, you know, on the ward who never left their husbands' bedside, and I was always dying to run away as soon as I got to hospital.”