Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Forensic pathologist who pioneered the Lazarus technique for facial reconstruction and leads Britain's first war atrocities task force.
On the island
Eight records
This particular piece, empty chairs and empty tables, I find very poignant and I think probably very apt sometimes to the kind of work I do as well.
I'd certainly admire some of the qualities that Freddie Mercury had. He really wanted nothing but perfection in his music, and I think this comes through very clearly in this particular piece.
The first seventy eight that I bought from Petticoat Lay Market, believe it or not, I can't remember whether whether it was nineteen fifty six or fifty seven, but it's uh Tommy Steele singing the blues.
Va, pensiero (Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves)Favourite
Ambrosian Opera Chorus and Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Riccardo Muti
Record number four is an old favourite of mine. Actually I heard it on the British Airways airplane, believe it or not. It's a March of the Hebrew Slaves.
Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra
Luis Demetrio and Pablo Beltrán Ruiz
Record number five is something which goes back to my school days really. It's by Xavier Kugat, and it's um something which has been remixed more recently by Shaft. It's a piece of music called Sway, which I used to enjoy when I was younger.
Cavalleria rusticana: Intermezzo
National Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni
I find it's a very beautiful piece of music. I first heard it when I saw the film The Raging Ball actually, and I just like it so much, so that's the only reason that I want to play it to be honest.
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
The next piece of music is uh Natkin Cole, and it's Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square. Reminds me of London, and that's why I've picked it.
Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra
This really takes me back to my roots, I suppose. It's a version by Xavier Kugat of uh Greek song. It's very haunting and I really like to play it because when I first heard it, and I'd heard other versions as well, I thought Xavier Kugat version was absolutely the best.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:34Why do you do [forensic pathology]? How come you chose to do this?
That's a very difficult one actually Sue because I didn't really choose it at the very beginning. I decided to do medicine because I wanted to be a doctor in the conventional sense of the word to treat live patients. But I soon realized that pathology was certainly the field that I became interested in.
Presenter asks
2:20How can you suspend the normal human emotion [when going to killing fields]?
I don't find that difficult in that sense because I've got hopefully a professional approach to it. … Oh yes, it certainly does. And the difficulty sometimes is not to show it to the other people around you, because they all expect you to be able to do a job of work, and it doesn't do really to sort of break down in the middle of when you're doing your work.
Presenter asks
3:42When does [the horror of your work] get to you the most?
It gets to you the most afterwards when you start to think about it, when you put relatives next to the people that have actually died, when you can relate it to the living, and in particular when you relate it to children, especially when you see clothing of children and toys, that kind of thing, that go along with uh with the remains.
The keepsakes
The book
Nikos Kazantzakis
It really portrays human nature in its every facet and what somebody can end up doing to their fellow human being, which I suppose in a way is something I have an interest in anyway.
The luxury
plenty of photographs and a big photograph album of my family, my friends, and familiar surroundings
It's fairly simple really. I wouldn't necessarily regard it as a luxury, I would regard it as a necessity probably, just to keep sane, and that would be to take plenty of photographs and a big photograph album of my family, my friends, and familiar surroundings.
Presenter asks
10:06What was it like being in the room with a 5,000-year-old body [Ötzi the Iceman]?
I think the only word that one can describe it as is awesome. It was unbelievable. It'll stay with me forever, that image of and also the fact that I was able to touch him and look at him, eyeball him eye to eye, so to speak. … It's absolutely amazing to be able to have that window into five thousand years ago into the Stone Age or early Copper Age and look at a man from that time.
Presenter asks
24:00Are you happy that [Henri Paul being drunk] is fact, or do you still think that that's an unsafe conclusion?
If we look at the laboratory results, the way they've carried out the analysis, etc., on the particular blood that they had, yes, I would agree that that's pretty safe. The problem arises in that no one else was allowed access to take any further samples other than the French. And secondly, we do not appear to have secure knowledge of the continuity of those samples. … I'm still not entirely happy with it, no.
“It gets to you the most afterwards when you start to think about it, when you put relatives next to the people that have actually died, when you can relate it to the living, and in particular when you relate it to children, especially when you see clothing of children and toys, that kind of thing, that go along with uh with the remains.”
“I think the only word that one can describe it as is awesome. It was unbelievable. It'll stay with me forever, that image of and also the fact that I was able to touch him and look at him, eyeball him eye to eye, so to speak.”
“I think the problem with the secondary modern system was that you had this sense that you were placed in in the rubbish dump and that uh you couldn't get out of it. And this was drummed into us, that there would there was this other school that was much better than yours and they were the ones that go to university.”