Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Artist and founding father of the British studio glass movement, known as the 'Grand Master of Glass'.
On the island
Eight records
As a kid growing up in Bradford, I used to go to a Saturday morning film club. George, my brother, and I used to go... And one of our heroes was George Formby. He was just incredible... and he just raised our spirits.
I would get up early in the mornings... and listen to this lute concerto, feeling quite sorry for myself, I have to admit, but in the most beautiful surroundings, and I would listen to this day after day.
I've chosen Enaudi's Elegy for the Arctic, and I've chosen it partly because my wife Anne has become totally, totally obsessed with the piano... The other aspect of that is seeing a clip of Anaudi with a grand piano on an ice floe... I am so concerned. I'm so worried.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:48What is it about glass that you love so much?
It is truly a magical material. It's a material which is fluid at one moment and solid at another. I'm talking about glass blowing in particular. There are lots of other techniques and other ways of working, casting and slumping and bending and pulling out millions of miles of fibre and that exploring possibilities with it. It just appears endless.
Presenter asks
9:06How do you feel about your surname, about being a Leighton?
Oh, I like it a lot. We're all very happy to be late. There's quite a clan of us now. We're well over forty. And George, my brother, went on to become quite a well-known actor. My sister Viv got an MB for her work, setting up schemes, projects for people with learning difficulties, that sort of thing. And that's all because Edith and Freddie managed to get away.
Presenter asks
14:23What did your mother's creativity teach you, given that she was starting up on her own doing creative work, a lot like you would later?
Yes, I think I I think the truth is I took that a little bit for granted. She was just such an amazing personality. You know, you you wouldn't expect anything less is I suppose is how I would view it. My dad was much quieter. He's was quite a patient, quiet person, a rock really. He allowed her to be who she wanted to be because he slogged away in a you know, in the admin of a textile factory for years and years and years, probably all his life at a job he didn't really enjoy, but in order to let Edith, my mum, blossom, as it were.
The keepsakes
The book
Edith Eger
The choice is about how we respond to any given set of circumstances. We could react or we could respond positively. If I'm feeling down on the island, I could refer to her that book time and time again.
The luxury
digital photo frame pre-loaded with family photos
friends and family have the app and they can send photographs to this frame. And I'm so enjoying it. Every so often I look at it and there'll be a one of my grandchildren on there or several of them.
Presenter asks
22:37You left the woollen trade and spent a year in Israel with a youth movement called Habonim. Tell me about it — was that a pivotal time for you?
Yes, it was. It was. I as I said, we weren't a religious family in any sense. But, you know, the thought that these people of whom I was a part, not by choice actually, were being annihilated left, right, and centre during the war and had nowhere to go and had no home. So I ended up joining a Zionist youth movement called Habonim, the Builders. I went to Israel for a year to learn how to become a a youth leader... I must say that that was a time of great idealism and sacrifice to build something... Having been a refugee, I I feel for refugees whoever they are.
Presenter asks
42:51What legacy do you hope your work leaves behind? Does that concern you?
The studio glass movement has really taken the place of the industry. The industry is depleted, to say the least. We've gone from two when we started up to about we're around twenty at the moment, which is bigger than any factory in the country, I think. And in ninety seven I got people together at the leather market where my studio was then, and we created the Contemporary Glass Society, and it now has about a thousand members. But even Studio Glass is having a difficult time of it because Courses are closing, the National Glass Centre in Sunderland is due to close... To see that go is is very painful.
“When I get together with my family all you know, when I think about my family at all, you know, I just think, what a miracle. They were heroic.”
“Having been a refugee, I I feel for refugees whoever they are. I worry about Ukraine all the time, you know, and uh I am absolutely Gobsmacked, if I can use that expression, that we find ourselves back here again.”
“I've never found the perfect pebble. You know, you think you've got it, and of course then you're on to the next one. And it's a bit the same with the with the glassmaking. You know, I'm you think you've got it and then mm no, I can change that a bit or I can improve that a bit. So I'm on to the next one.”