Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
British television mogul and chairman of Carlton Communications, known for building a media empire from humble beginnings.
On the island
Eight records
That reminds me of my early days in business. I was actually employing about a thousand people when I was 21. I was originally in the printing business and we had unions, we had organised labour and it was an incredible awakening to a young man to work out what was happening in the early 70s in Britain.
I remember going to this as a very young boy with my mum. We went to Paris to the Coliseum. Um Edith Piaff was extremely ill. I remember she was carried on to the stage. It's really a wonderful story about tragedy and huge talent.
It was quite an important moment in my life in 1972 in my first marriage to Janet. In Jewish weddings, and this was very much a large Jewish wedding, there is a moment when the bride and bridegroom get up and they dance on their own in front of nearly a thousand people to some music that they've chosen. And this was what we chose.
In 1993, we started broadcasting as Carlton Television. There was this moment at midnight on December 31st, January the 1st, where the music, Simply the Best by Tina Turner, was playing and the last frame of Thames Television was coming off air and the first frame of Carlton was coming on air.
Cavalleria rusticana: Intermezzo
I think it's a lovely piece of music, but it it is actually from uh the film Raging Bull, and it reminds me uh very much of my boys. I've got three sons uh as well as two daughters, and for some reason my boys like to fight me they just enjoy boxing.
Tessa, my wife, has really introduced me to opera. Um we joke about this because Tessa is a little larger than me and her hand is not exactly tiny. I just think it's the most beautiful music.
Record number seven is a piece of music that I was introduced to by a guy called Eric Sharp, Lord Sharp. He was the first non-executive director at Carlton. He really took me from being an owner-occupier to running a large public company... And he introduced me to Madam Butterfly.
JerusalemFavourite
I visited Jerusalem for every year for fifteen years... So the the music reminds me first of Jerusalem, the city. I'm a Jew, I must remember my heritage... But I'm also British and I've done incredibly well in this country and therefore I like the combination of the fact that this is a poem, this is about the North, this is about this is also chariots of fire, this is about an outsider, a Jew again, competing in the Olympics.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:42So are you paranoid enough to survive, Michael?
Yes.
Presenter asks
1:50What do you mean when you said [paranoia] hints of a kind of insecurity?
Yes, it is an insecurity because the moment you start to think you've got a a right to survive, the moment you believe that you've got something that is going to work, you become complacent... I was brought up in a certain work ethic that you cannot take anything for granted. You have to fight to survive.
Presenter asks
4:36Why television? [What was the fascination?]
I was very excited about an industry that you could actually start with an idea with a blank sheet of paper. Have human talent create a product and then sell it.
Presenter asks
6:33Why have you stayed so far in the background in comparison with your rivals?
The keepsakes
The book
The Complete Works of Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
My mother wanted me to be a psychologist. I read probably half of them. He writes as a barrister. He puts each case to you. It he he writes so beautifully. I know a lot of it's been moved on, but he was a strategic inflection point.
The luxury
I am a businessman. I'm very happy being a businessman. I'm very comfortable being a businessman... I'm a little suspicious of the businessmen that are great presenters. When I see businessmen pontificating and very good on television, I'm not certain they're very good at running a business.
Presenter asks
10:18Why weren't you up there keeping up, if not exceeding [your high-achieving contemporaries at school]?
There is a big difference between the three people you've mentioned... but none of them are entrepreneurs. None of them have actually run their own businesses. I was very busy playing cards at school. I was very busy meeting young ladies... I didn't feel that getting a a great uh achievement with my O levels and A levels was going to be the route to my success.
Presenter asks
16:39How much does it worry you that Carlton has something of a down market image?
It certainly worries me. Um sometimes it's very painful... We went out and we made a load of programmes. I am very proud that we did... We made some good ones, we made some bad ones. But we actually made television programmes, and that is what our business is all about.
“There is something about being a nomad. You know, the Jews go back many thousands of years, over five thousand years, and I I do see in lots of my contemporaries that there is this feeling that, yes, one day you might move on.”
“I'm direct. I am absolutely clear in what I think and what I want, and that does worry people to begin with... The shortest distance between two points is straight, and I believe that strongly.”
“I'm a Jew, I must remember my heritage. I think those that forget their heritage, are doomed.”