Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A novelist, best known for her English village stories.
On the island
Eight records
Piano Concerto No. 5 in A major, K. 488
I like it because it reminds me of how a piano should be played. This is I think Dennis Matthews at his very best.
a very nostalgic, lovely little record, I think, which reminds me of Whitney, because sometimes I took my small daughter to Whitney station, where we sat and imbibed the peace of it all, and a train came about once an hour, it seemed
Sir Hamilton Harty (conductor)
on the one o'clock news it said that France had fallen, and this I felt was quite shattering, and I remember putting on this record and I found it great comfort
Rhapsody No. 3 in C major, from Four Rhapsodies
I think it is the most wonderful tune. I first heard it when I was at Cambridge, played by one of my fellow students, and I find it very haunting and beautiful
I think this is a wonderful tune. I heard it first as a young girl, and it's literally haunted me. I think it is the most marvellous thing
What Is Life? (from Orfeo ed Euridice)
I couldn't have a collection of records, I don't think, without at least one of Kathleen Ferrier, this marvellous voice. And this I think is one of her very best records. This piece Fascinates me
BBC Dance Orchestra, Henry Hall
It's a nice, cheerful, gay tune that I'm sure would cheer me up on the island
The Importance of Being Earnest (handbag scene)Favourite
which I think is a superb play and is the one thing I wish I could have written. I think it's quite perfect. And this is a record of the handbag scene
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:40Have you ever imagined yourself as a Robinson Crusoe?
No, I haven't, until I was invited to come on your programme, and then I rather like the idea of being a castaway.
Presenter asks
2:52When you decided [at sixteen or seventeen] to write and go to Fleet Street, did anything happen about that?
My father was quite horrified at the thought of any daughter of his being mixed up with such a racketing crowd as the Fleet Street crowd, and he persuaded me that it'd be far better to go in for teaching.
Presenter asks
7:37Did you find writing your first book after these articles [in Punch] a great tussle [given the difference between 1500 words and 60000]?
I found it terrifically hard. It was the real headache of that book … and in the end I did the obvious thing. I broke it down a school year into three terms … and so I managed to find that I could get the right length then by making this little banister for myself.
The keepsakes
The book
James Woodford
I've really rather loved James Woodford for the last forty years, and I think probably he'd last me up my time.
The luxury
a large number of exercise books and a large number of ballpoint pens
then I could get on with a new novel.
Presenter asks
11:40[Critics use words like 'innocent charm', 'artless' and 'gentle', and] in your books there are no murders, no rape, no violence, hardly any sex, against current literary trends. Is that deliberate?
I think people are fed up with uh this enormous amount of um violence and sex and rape and so on. I think that probably there are heaps of people who'd far rather pick up a book like mine and have an escape from the tough world that one reads so much about.
Presenter asks
14:22Tell me about your writing discipline. Do you write regular hours every morning? How do you set about it?
I wish I could say I did write every morning, but I I can't settle to things like that really. There are too many other things to do. But um I make a certain amount of discipline for myself by telling the publisher when the book will arrive.
Presenter asks
22:12If you could take one disc out of the eight, which would it be?
I should take the last one because it's voices. and I think one might get rather lonely and like to hear the sound of a human voice rather than music.
“I like it because it reminds me of how a piano should be played. This is I think Dennis Matthews at his very best.”
“on the one o'clock news it said that France had fallen, and this I felt was quite shattering, and I remember putting on this record and I found it great comfort”
“I think that probably there are heaps of people who'd far rather pick up a book like mine and have an escape from the tough world that one reads so much about.”
“I should take the last one because it's voices … and I think one might get rather lonely and like to hear the sound of a human voice rather than music.”
“I think I should take the Diary of a Country Parson by James Woodford … he was an eighteenth century parson who spent most of his time in Norfolk.”